RIDE: Ryker Meets Monster, roll-on tests, high speed corners, fishtailing in the rain

Today the Ryker meets the Monster for some head-to-head roll-on tests and a little bit of fun on twisty back roads. Skip to the end of the description for clickable time indexes.

It's Saturday morning, and my son and I are headed out for our weekend ride. We swap out the Honda CB500F at the warehouse for the Ducati Monster 1100 EVO, then we get out of town to find some quiet, twisty roads. My son rode about 25 miles on the Ryker at highway speeds, and he didn't like the wandering and tail-wag nonsense... he was ready to switch over to the Monster. He has the same opinion about the Ryker: it's a fun weekend bike and it's fun to spin up the rear tire, but it's not a good highway or touring machine. The wandering and tail-wag make it too much trouble to wrestle in busy traffic or to fight over long distances.

We found a few empty stretches of country highway to play around a bit, and we were able to do the top-gear roll-on acceleration tests between the Ryker and the Monster. The results were exactly as I expected... the Ryker pulls even with the Monster at mid-range speeds (45-80 mph) if the Monster is in top gear (6th). If you drop a gear on the Monster (5th), then it's not a competition anymore... the Monster has more horsepower and less weight, so it walks away from the Ryker without any trouble.

I tossed the Ryker full-send into a few corners to find its traction limits and to see how far I could tease the nanny before she stepped in to ruin my fun. The front end will push (understeer) very quickly at its traction limit without much warning, but the nanny steps in before things get too far out of control and retards the engine power and modulates the outside brake to bring things back to sanity. I hoped that I could encourage a little bit of throttle-steer (oversteer) and swing the rear end out, but the front end pushes first. It would be interesting to see how the Ryker handles with some proper street (or track) shoes on it... things could get really interesting if you could hang the tail out in high-speed corners.

Our normal route is west of the Katy area on Hwy 90, 359, and 1458, but we had to cut it short today because of thunderstorms heading into the area. The rain didn't get us until were near home, so our timing was perfect. We still managed to ride about 120 miles today... that's not bad for a rainy Saturday. I got to play with the Ryker in the rain again a little bit... it's fun on wet pavement! The traction control nanny definitely works to keep you out of trouble. 😉

Time indexes:
0:00 : Stopping to fuel up the toys... $16.50 worth of fun, and it's better than going to the movies!
2:25 : Swapping bikes at the warehouse... we decided on the Ryker and the Monster for today
3:30 : The Monster doesn't have a fuel gauge, only a low fuel light... need to fill this one up, too
4:42 : Top speed run on the Ryker... 102 indicated, same neighborhood as usual
5:16 : Hanging high-speed corners on the Ryker... the nanny kicks in as the front tires start to understeer to keep things under control
6:45 : Top gear roll-on test between Ryker and Monster at 45 mph (6th gear for Monster) = Ryker wins
7:12 : Roll-on test at 55 mph = tied until ~80 mph
7:50 : Roll-on test at 55 mph (5th gear on Monster) = Ducati walks away without any problem
8:35 : Ryker 0-60 test, traction limited run yields a ~6.3 second run... not a stellar result... the Rally needs a stickier back tire, for sure
8:45 : The rain has finally come...
9:45 : Fishtailing the Ryker on wet pavement... it's very easy to break the back tire loose on the 900, wet or dry, but the traction control does a good job of keeping things in check.

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QM
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Видео RIDE: Ryker Meets Monster, roll-on tests, high speed corners, fishtailing in the rain канала QuasiMotard