[BEOW]

hey there all, im new to the ducati way of life. i do have a serious question though. ive been off of a bike for about 2yrs. and was now able to buy my dream bike (which i did). i guess my question is; with all of the hype going around about the s4r, is it really that hard to ride? im picking mine up later in the week and all of the people at the dealership sounded like they were trying to scare me or something. if you could, please give me your honest thoughts on the bike's personality ie. is it too much bike, is the front brake going to make me indo, is the throttle sooo sensitive i will flip it? these are all comments from the dealer. i am beyond excited to have finally been able to by my dream bike and i dont want people ruining it with thier scare tactics. let me know what you think.
thank you
beow

 

[MonsterHooligan]

not a difficult bike to ride...are you a new rider??

 

[kopfjager]

:-X

 

[test-reg]

If you're a ham-fisted rider then you can get yourself into trouble. More than what they're suggesting, you could lock the front and lowside or spin the rear up in a corner if. You have to be fairly smooth with all your inputs. This applies to any bike however, just more so on powerful ones with awesome brakes. Depending on what you rode before, the S4R may not be the best bike for you. If you came off a busa or something like that, it's probably not going to be a huge problem IMO.

 

[beyote]

I love the bike.

Not to much power, amazing brakes (if you haven't been on an S4RS), and decent handling. I personally love the handling, but she is twitchy, especially at high speed corners at lean (ouch).

I personally love her more with clipons, but felt the Magura bar growing on me as she was comfortable and the wide bars felt motard esque.

Love it.


Love the mods, the sound, the dry clutch, the,... I love that damn bike.


That is why she is in my living room I guess.

 

[beyote]

Congrats by the way.


Welcome to the family.

I think you will love her.



and we need pics.

 

[BEOW]

thanks for the feedback all. hooligan, im not a new rider but i have been off a bike for about 2yrs. my bike before was a raced out, suped up, super crai crai SV

 

[simonster]

thanks for the feedback all. hooligan, im not a new rider but i have been off a bike for about 2yrs. my bike before was a raced out, suped up, super crai crai SV

you should be fine if you were pretty competent on your SV and have been riding for a bit. the skills will come back to you. it's just like riding a bike. ;D

the people at the dealership may just doubt your riding skills and think you're a knucklehead if you used terms like "super crai crai SV" out loud and in public. :

 

[BEOW]

ahahaha, too funny. thank you for the reassurance. those are my excited to be riding again terms. hope to see some of you on the road. thanks again.
beow

 

[sconly]

welcome to the site.

I personally dont think you will have a problem, twins are easier to manage anyway imo.

I have found that people can be dicks at dealerships, the one I was at recently the guy was very nice but didnt seem to know his ****. I have done a lot of research on almost all the Monsters and when I went in there asking questions he couldnt answer half of the questions I asked but already knew the answer to (but wanted to ask so I could hear him say it) he was a BMW rider though and apparently just started at that dealership.

I would buy from him though.

 

[hiero]

personally, I think the dealer sounds to be at least a responsible one. the S4R is definitely not a ninja 250 and he's doling out a bit of caution which is more than I can say for a lot of other dealers who would rather you just buy the biggest and most expensive bike they've got with no worry to your safety.

in any case, just start out slow and deliberate as you would with ANY new to you bike, feel how it reacts to your small inputs and have at it, should be a good time for you and the bike [thumbsup]

 

[c_rex]

^^^^ werrrd- hiero speaks gospel (again!) ^^^^

 

[Gracie]

I never understood the the notion of, "it may be too much bike for you," or "definately not a beginners bike." It all depends on how the rider handles the bike. Don't drive too fast and you'll be fine. Don't get yourself in a position where you need to jam the brakes. It's not like any bike requires some sort of magical skill to ride, which is only gained after working your way up through lesser machines. My very first bike was a really heavy KZ GPZ750, and I'm now on an S4. Never once have I had any sort of close call or mishap. The KZ is not a beginner's bike, but you learn to grow into it. More important than the bike itself is your ability to ride safely in traffic. If you don't ride like a moron, the only danger is from other cars. This is where acquired skill DOES play a huge role.

You'll be fine on that thing. Just don't ride like a moron.

 

[mylexicon]

I understand the notion of a bike being too much for you because my s2r was too much for me for the 1st month I owned it, and the s2r isn't even that powerful. I got myself into plenty of trouble riding it, and I never made any squid-like maneuvers. Monsters have an "unsophisticated" power delivery during break-in. Sloppiness with the clutch or throttle, coupled with the super tall gears and lurchy power delivery means you can go from 0 to down in the bushes very quickly.

Or imagine putting a new rider on a repli-racer with an aggressive rear tire profile, steering geometry that makes the bike quick to lean over, and a high center of gravity. Those elements could also spell disaster for an inexperienced rider.

In this instance; however, I do believe that a rider with prior experience on a larger displacement bike can handle ANY monster in the family. But I wouldn't be so quick to encourage people to make the jump from 125cc 2-stroke dirtbikes to the monster as I did.

 

[kc4ag]

I rode an S4R recently and didn't think it was too much for someone who has ridden before. Just be gentle at first and you two will get along just fine.

Had anyone at the dealer actually ridden the bike before?