VOL. 52 ISSUE 48 DECMEBER 1, 2015 P49
ride the 899 was. The ride has
become a little more subdued,
more relaxed and not quite as
urgent, which only serves you to
want to ride it harder and more
urgently, because the package
wills you to do so.
Part of the reason it wills you
so is to do with the electronics
package you get with the 959.
The Ducati Traction Control
system (DTC) has come along in
absolute leaps and bounds in the
last few years, to the point now
where its intervention is nothing
more than a slight dulling of the
power to the rear, and that again
encourages earlier and earlier
throttle openings, pushing the
boundaries and seeing just how
far you can take it. A testament
to how good the system is now is
the fact that despite me constant-
ly trying to get the bike to slide
out, the DTC simply refuses to
allow anything more than enough
of a drift to get the most out of a
given acceleration. Only when
the rear SC2 is utterly shot to bits
does the rear come around, but
by then I had plenty of warning.
Had traction control not been on
I would have ended up on my
head many times over.
The 959 goes
hunting for
apexes like a
lion and throws
feedback in the
rider's face.
(Right) The new slipper
clutch makes a big
difference to the braking
poise of the chassis.
(Far right) Brembo M4.32
brakes don't have the
bite of M50s but still do
a good job of arresting
velocity.
