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03 Ducati ST4 discussion forum:2004 Ducati ST4s Ride Report |
| 2004 Ducati ST4s Ride Report |
| gg883 said 2004-05-18 09:01 |
| I had an opportunity to ride a brand new 2004 Ducati ST4s on a four day motorcycle trip last week. The bike had 1,041 miles on it when I started and I logged over 800 miles on the bike. Rode with 3 other guys (all on Harleys) and sampled many excellent California backroad twisties starting on Hwy 1 and as far south as Santa Barbara and back up to San Jose all on twisty canyon backroads. Can a sportsbike fanatic be happy with a ST4s as an only bike? Yes. All I can say about the ST4s is WOW! The bike has incredible power with chassis, suspension and brakes to back it up. The power comes on in a mad rush starting at 4,500 rpm. Anything below that lugs the motor. In stock form the bike is PLENTY powerful but lacks the deep exhaust note we love so well. Less restrictive mufflers would fix that. The ergonomics are totally comfortable as long as you grip the tank with your legs to keep weight off your wrists. I safely took the bike up to 125mph in a blink but ran out of road. The bike could have gone a lot faster that that. The essence of riding a Ducati remains in the sense that you feel engaged and part of the bike. You can always tell what the motor is doing but the bike is very smooth. The ST4s is geared way tall and at legal speed of 65mph 4th gear (out of 6 gears) is it. Anything higher than 4th at legal speed and you dip below the 4,500 rpm sweet spot for cruising. I suspect the bike was really geared for high speed riding on Italian freeways where speed limits are ignored. I have heard from other ST4s owners to go up 5 teeth on the rear sprocket and problem solved. Handling and brakes are superb and enabled me to ride over 2x faster than normal. The speedo is digital LED so it was easy to see quickly how fast I was riding. I was truly shocked to glance down and realize I was approaching fast corners at 95mph and tight turns at 65mph! I have never ridden that fast on any bike however I felt totally safe and in control on this bike. I only pushed the limits when I knew it was safe to do so and could see well enough ahead. Most roads we travelled were empty of traffic so it was nice (mid-week). The ST4s power comes on in the upper rev range in a rush and the bike is totally stable and happy on both the sweepers and the tight technical twisties. The new design is stunning and the bike was definitely noticed even over the Harleys with comments like "It looks like a Ferrari" from non-motorcyclists passersby. Perhaps Ducati has created a whole new category with this bike: SUPERBIKE TOURING so they should call it the SBT4s. |
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