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(shamelessly crossposted on Advrider)
Ok, gents and gentilles, here's my totally biased review of my Desert Sled.
I picked up my Sled last Wednesday and I have been riding it daily since. Commuting to work (which is like 5 miles if I don't take a detour), canyon carving in the Santa Monica/Malibu canyons, and just cruising. Odo is at 150 miles (only) now.
My last few bikes have all been allroads (BMW G650 XChallenge, DR650SE's, Yamaha Tenere, Africa Twin 750, R1100GS), and my last sportsbikes were in the 90's. This may explain why my observations are kind of different from the journalists that rode the Sled in Almeria in January?
Anyway, the moment you "board" the DS you feel like a hooligan. Bars are wide, and the seat is kind of low, close to the footpegs. Not annoyingly so, but just closer than normal on a dual sport. I know the regular Scrambler has an even shorter peg-to-seat distance. The bars on the other side are quite a stretch and wide.
For me (5'10"/1m78 with a 32" inseam) this leads to a very comfortable, almost monkey like seating position. Legs are a bit pushed apart, and because of the long tank I feel forced in a slight forward lean to the wide bars. Very good, I feel alive!
Anyway, at a cold engine the clutch can be a bit grabby, but apart from that it's really as smoort as peanut butter. No jerking, surging or anything. I nearly completely adjusted the free play out of the throttle cable which makes it even better. I have no idea how snatchy the throttle was on earlier years Scrambler, but I'm actually thinking of trying the "old" throttle tube. Just for shits and giggles. The 2017 engine is smoooooothh, and perfectly behaved in city traffic. The rpm range is amazing (midrange, midrange-midrange!!)
Suspension. What can I say? Ducati really did a good job for this bike's intended purpose! If I were to rate the Sled's suspension I'd give it an 8 for allround use. Out of the box it's a bit lazy steering with my 210lbs on the seat. Which as such is good once you start riding unpaved roads. I have only used it on the road yet and to sharpen the steering I added around 15mm on the preload collar.
(btw, changing preload could not be easier on any bike. Give the locking ring a tap to loosen it, and afterwards just grab the spring and rotate it in the desired direction. Screw the locking ring towards the collar. Done)
Damping feels well balanced front and rear. I haven't dialed any adjusters yet simply because I like the damping out of the box. All I can come up with is that the front high speed damping feels a bit on the harsh side on ruts. Could also be my rotten brain from 15 years of riding all kinds of ill-suspended bikes. I am leaving it as is for now.
Good, most of my miles were racked up in the canyons. Typically the lesser used roads like Tuna Canyon and Old Topanga in the Santa Monica Mountains. This is supermoto paradise and for me the best place to find out how well a bike handles. Very twisty, steep in- and declines. 1st , 2nd and 3rd gear only. With that nice dark Ducati sound, popping on decell every now then. I wonder if I'll replace the exhaust or not. It sounds so "bad" already stock (it is the Termi evo btw). Just a tad too quiet.
The Sled feels well planted and never feels nervous. With the 19" front it doesn't care much if you steer into a blind turn with the brakes still on. Is it the geometry, is it the fact that I a not used to wide radial tires? Steering is quicksilver without ever feeling twitchy. Compared to the Ducati monster 900 I rode long time ago the Sled feels on the "good" side of planted, where the M900 always felt like it could jump from underneath you any moment if the roads gets too bad.
What else can I say? Is it a dual sport? NO! I blame the riding position for this. The engine, chassis, geometry will handle fine, no problem. If you are 5'10" and under you will do fine every now and then you need to stand up. It just feels weird, you can't move forward and the pegs a bit wide apart.
Is it a fun scrambler bike you can take nearly everywhere, including upaved, deserts roads, wide open stuff, giving you a big grin all the time? YESSSS!
I'm in love, this bike wakes up the hooligan in me big time.
Things I see people doing in the future to their Sled?
- higher seat and bars
- 110/80-19 front tire instead of the 120/70-19 (could improve gravel performance)
- 21" front wheel
Ok, gents and gentilles, here's my totally biased review of my Desert Sled.
I picked up my Sled last Wednesday and I have been riding it daily since. Commuting to work (which is like 5 miles if I don't take a detour), canyon carving in the Santa Monica/Malibu canyons, and just cruising. Odo is at 150 miles (only) now.
My last few bikes have all been allroads (BMW G650 XChallenge, DR650SE's, Yamaha Tenere, Africa Twin 750, R1100GS), and my last sportsbikes were in the 90's. This may explain why my observations are kind of different from the journalists that rode the Sled in Almeria in January?
Anyway, the moment you "board" the DS you feel like a hooligan. Bars are wide, and the seat is kind of low, close to the footpegs. Not annoyingly so, but just closer than normal on a dual sport. I know the regular Scrambler has an even shorter peg-to-seat distance. The bars on the other side are quite a stretch and wide.
For me (5'10"/1m78 with a 32" inseam) this leads to a very comfortable, almost monkey like seating position. Legs are a bit pushed apart, and because of the long tank I feel forced in a slight forward lean to the wide bars. Very good, I feel alive!
Anyway, at a cold engine the clutch can be a bit grabby, but apart from that it's really as smoort as peanut butter. No jerking, surging or anything. I nearly completely adjusted the free play out of the throttle cable which makes it even better. I have no idea how snatchy the throttle was on earlier years Scrambler, but I'm actually thinking of trying the "old" throttle tube. Just for shits and giggles. The 2017 engine is smoooooothh, and perfectly behaved in city traffic. The rpm range is amazing (midrange, midrange-midrange!!)
Suspension. What can I say? Ducati really did a good job for this bike's intended purpose! If I were to rate the Sled's suspension I'd give it an 8 for allround use. Out of the box it's a bit lazy steering with my 210lbs on the seat. Which as such is good once you start riding unpaved roads. I have only used it on the road yet and to sharpen the steering I added around 15mm on the preload collar.
(btw, changing preload could not be easier on any bike. Give the locking ring a tap to loosen it, and afterwards just grab the spring and rotate it in the desired direction. Screw the locking ring towards the collar. Done)
Damping feels well balanced front and rear. I haven't dialed any adjusters yet simply because I like the damping out of the box. All I can come up with is that the front high speed damping feels a bit on the harsh side on ruts. Could also be my rotten brain from 15 years of riding all kinds of ill-suspended bikes. I am leaving it as is for now.
Good, most of my miles were racked up in the canyons. Typically the lesser used roads like Tuna Canyon and Old Topanga in the Santa Monica Mountains. This is supermoto paradise and for me the best place to find out how well a bike handles. Very twisty, steep in- and declines. 1st , 2nd and 3rd gear only. With that nice dark Ducati sound, popping on decell every now then. I wonder if I'll replace the exhaust or not. It sounds so "bad" already stock (it is the Termi evo btw). Just a tad too quiet.
The Sled feels well planted and never feels nervous. With the 19" front it doesn't care much if you steer into a blind turn with the brakes still on. Is it the geometry, is it the fact that I a not used to wide radial tires? Steering is quicksilver without ever feeling twitchy. Compared to the Ducati monster 900 I rode long time ago the Sled feels on the "good" side of planted, where the M900 always felt like it could jump from underneath you any moment if the roads gets too bad.
What else can I say? Is it a dual sport? NO! I blame the riding position for this. The engine, chassis, geometry will handle fine, no problem. If you are 5'10" and under you will do fine every now and then you need to stand up. It just feels weird, you can't move forward and the pegs a bit wide apart.
Is it a fun scrambler bike you can take nearly everywhere, including upaved, deserts roads, wide open stuff, giving you a big grin all the time? YESSSS!
I'm in love, this bike wakes up the hooligan in me big time.
Things I see people doing in the future to their Sled?
- higher seat and bars
- 110/80-19 front tire instead of the 120/70-19 (could improve gravel performance)
- 21" front wheel
Once it is broken in, I will push it more, but still heavy to turn around in a tight spot. Here's some pics for ya.
