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What's The Major Difference In These Suspensions?


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I've been considering making the swap from my 1199S to either a newer 1299S or the S1000RR. Brand loyalties aside, I am partial to the Bimmer after spending so much time at CSS, but with the 1299S and the new Ohlins Smart EC Suspension and up/down clutchless shifting, the tech gap between the two has been bridged making the playing field appear mostly level. Can anyone help me to better understand the difference between Ducati's new Smart EC system and the S1000RR's DDC?

 

http://www.ducatiusa.com/bikes/superbike/superbike_1299_panigale_s/chassis/ohlins_smart_ec_semi_active_suspension/index.do

 

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http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/us/en/index.html?content=http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/us/en/bike/sportbikes/2014/s1000rr/s1000rr_overview.html&notrack=1

 

post-24245-0-18059800-1460216328_thumb.png

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I have an obvious brand bias so I won't bother telling you which one I would pick. :)

 

I can't help you on the suspension side of the question as I know pretty much nothing about the Ducati system. Perhaps other's might be of help.

 

Some other things to consider beyond the suspension......

 

How will you use the bike? If it's going to be a road going bike one thing that's often overlooked about the BMW is how darn comfortable it is. This is not a strong point for Italian bikes in general and Ducati's are no exception. That can be fun at times of course but is hard to live with. I love the sensation of going a million miles an hour on my MV Agusta but it eventually wears me out. The BMW on the other hand is VERY easy to live with. Cruise control, heated grips and sane comfortable road manners are standard features. I rode the school bikes and was amazed at how approachable the power was and how easy they were to ride. The first time I took one on the road I was blown away at how manageable it was in traffic. You quite literally could tour on one. I have a friend with over 14K miles on her 2014 HP4.

 

Another thing people overlook is the support for the platform. BMW sells an entire range of factory supported race parts that allow you to retain factory warranty coverage. Parts from rearsets to levers to exhausts and electronics upgrades are available from any BMW HP parts rated dealership. What's more interesting to me at least is BMW does not play the exclusivity game. Beyond the HP4 and DDC equipped bikes which you can't add on (more of a technical problem than anything else) any upgrade part is available for even the base model bike. No need to trade in for a performance upgrade only available on that "special model". One of my bikes has the race ECU that boosts the power and gives me DTC calibration based on a WSBK base map. You can connect a laptop and change the calibrations of any system on the bike with the optional Race Calibration Kit from DDC, DTC, Engine, ABS and many many other subsystems.

 

Ride them both. Figure out the in's and outs of the technology and figure out which one works best for you. You could spend weeks researching and digging into the details about the bikes and that still really won't give you the same level of information that a 10 minute ride will.

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