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This bike is a Sport Tourer with the 4 valve water cooled 916 motor, Hence: ST 4.
This bike does everything pretty good, but I really hate it.
I brought this bike after getting a letter from Q-transport about the loss of demerit points, with the option of a good riving period on One Point for a year. Shiiitt, how the Fook Am I gunna do that.
I know, I'll buy an old man bike, & drive like an old basted, (which I am anyway) & get back on my regulars when my licence is all good again.
This one, I picked up from the Auctions being a repossession, which got at a good price for an 02, with 25,000K's.
It had Stain-tune pipes, & that's about it.
It comes with steel lines as standard, non adjustable levers, & the normal gold 60mm bolt pattern Brembo callipers were fitted, but with those shit steel carrier rotor discs, that are made to look like the 748R ones, while I've also seen these with the better 996 Alloy Petal style rotors, mostly these had been on ST4S's.
So How Did It Go?
These bikes do everything OK, & I've seen many guys ride these really fast, even old dudes on rides surprise me when keeping near by, (although that was while two up on the Busa in the tight stuff) punting it through the corners faster than other boy races.
It seemed real slow to me, & nothing like my 916 Strada that I got back in August 94 (being first shipment in Oz) that felt fast 13 years ago.
The power is doughy, & it feels very heavy, needing to be revved hard to accelerate fast, although it turns well & holds it's line perfect, but scapes the centre stand & pipes on full tilt, especially when Two up, where the stand would scrape all the way round left handers.
Comfort:
For a sport tourer, the seat is crap. It's hard & square on top, & you tend to slip forward too much, & passenger comfort is just as bad. That's easily fixed by getting me to build a custom Mc Roadrunner seat that addresses all these problems.
Wheelies:
It wheelies quite easy with the help of the clutch, (doin them without just doesn't happen) although you need to keep it up @ balance point, or gravity wins with this heavy bike.
Stoppies:
I was quite amazed this thing rode on the front wheel OK, with what I think are shit brakes & all that weight. I pulled some real nice stoppies on my own & two-up. The most important thing is having a good front tyre, & as usual, I'd fitted a Dunlop GPR209. The brakes don't pull into the bar like you expect from a non adjustable lever, but the brakes have a real graunchy sticky feel,
the type that sends a shiver down your spine.
Maintenance:
Just another thing that, shitted me off. You can't get to the fuse box without pulling the left dash panel off, the relays are just as hard to get to, & to get to the motor, the whole thing needs to be stripped down, starting @ the mirrors, top fairing, front, then sides, & don't forget the key trim that needs to come off before the tank can be lifted. To adjust the rear shock, you should
remove one rear pod, but I got away with flexing it out d way.
My 996 SPS recently caught on fire after prolonged wheelies, then doing repetitive doughnuts & burnouts, oil that leaked from the air box onto the red hot exhaust caught fire. The panel came off in 10 seconds, & the fire was put out. If this ST was on fire, I'd run & come back when it cooled down.
To sum it up:
I really never enjoyed this bike, working on it shat me off, & writing this review has given me repressed feelings. If this was the first Ducati I owned, I would never had brought another, although this is the 8th one I've owned to date. This is another gentleman's bike that just doesn't suit my riding.
For those of you living with the ST4, keep enjoying the spirit of motorcycling, & live-to-ride.
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