Was on my way down PCH back from Long Beach tonight when a black Ducati was playing around next to me. The next light is Beach where PCH south leaves Huntingting Beach downtown and opens up into 3 lanes with nothing on either side of the street. We pulled up together and waited for about 20 seconds. I remember it said 74x on the side so I looked it up- it was a Ducati 749 "Dark" (whatever that means).
He's revving and looking over; luckly I'd been on the road for 25 minutes so the DR's we're nice and warm. Light goes green and I slip the clutch HARD but very fast. I was suprised- a) the DR's actually held and b) 3/4ths or more of the bikes I race KILL me off the line, but I was actually ahead a little. He'd shift and pull to my front bumper or a little more, I'd shift and he'd fall back to near my door/rear quarter panel, he'd shift and make up some ground, but not quite as much as he lost. I was only able to go just into 4th because we were coming up on traffic but given that i'm a larger object and he's a smaller one i'd call it about a draw, with me having a very slight edge.
The second time we both came up to the next light- it was kinda funny because he kept downshifting just enought to stay in his power band- I did the same, it was obvious we both expected the light to change just before we hit the line, but no luck. So off we go again from a stop- his front tire varied between my front and rear tires; again we had to stop just as I got into 4th with his front tire about at the rear of my passangers door and me pulling.
I'm 100% sure that if I was able to let 4th run out he'd have been at minimum 1/2 a car behind me. Ducati is my bike of choice, I love them- but I wasn't impressed with the 749 since I've had other bikes do MUCH more damage to me. I was guessing that I was a little slower, but according to Motorcycle-USA.com it's a 11.51 @123 in the quarter kinda bike.
He's revving and looking over; luckly I'd been on the road for 25 minutes so the DR's we're nice and warm. Light goes green and I slip the clutch HARD but very fast. I was suprised- a) the DR's actually held and b) 3/4ths or more of the bikes I race KILL me off the line, but I was actually ahead a little. He'd shift and pull to my front bumper or a little more, I'd shift and he'd fall back to near my door/rear quarter panel, he'd shift and make up some ground, but not quite as much as he lost. I was only able to go just into 4th because we were coming up on traffic but given that i'm a larger object and he's a smaller one i'd call it about a draw, with me having a very slight edge.
The second time we both came up to the next light- it was kinda funny because he kept downshifting just enought to stay in his power band- I did the same, it was obvious we both expected the light to change just before we hit the line, but no luck. So off we go again from a stop- his front tire varied between my front and rear tires; again we had to stop just as I got into 4th with his front tire about at the rear of my passangers door and me pulling.
I'm 100% sure that if I was able to let 4th run out he'd have been at minimum 1/2 a car behind me. Ducati is my bike of choice, I love them- but I wasn't impressed with the 749 since I've had other bikes do MUCH more damage to me. I was guessing that I was a little slower, but according to Motorcycle-USA.com it's a 11.51 @123 in the quarter kinda bike.
