Hello from the Philippines!

Hi guys,

First of all, I'd like to say "Thank You" to all you guys for the info I got from this awesome site, which made me decide to purchase a Ducati Panigale 959. I've been lurking for about a month now and I can finally add some posts to this site.

Anyway, I initially wanted to buy an 899 late last year but the distributor here sold the last 899 which I thought would be mine the day that I was supposed to get it. So I had a choice on whether to get a second-hand 899 here or wait for the 959. I decided to wait and get the 959 when it arrived.

Fast forward till yesterday which saw me at the Ducati dealer looking at my very own 959. Only 3 units arrived and all were sold even before they were brought out of the crate. I wish I could say that I was ecstatic with my 959 but it was actually the opposite emotion - disappointment - that I felt when I initially saw my 959!

I was told and promised that the 959 models that would be sold over here would be the North American models which had the under-belly exhausts. However, to my shock and utter disappointment, I was met with the dreaded side-mounted exhausts. The sales-lady told me that they were expecting the under-belly versions as well and were surprised that it was the euro versions that were given to them. I was thinking of either cancelling the purchase since I had already paid for the 959, or upgrade to the 1299. The reason I was even making the 1299 an option was that if ever I got the 959, I would HAVE TO replace the side-exhausts with the Akrapovic which were crazily priced here - think $6,950!!!!! The total would put me in the stratosphere of a base 1299! The 1299 eventually was eliminated since I knew that my skill-level would not be on par with the 1299.

I was looking at my options and came to the conclusion of just getting the 959 and then eventually bending over backwards and get fleeced by the Akrapovic upgrade later on.

Anyway, long-story short, I made a deposit for the Akra system and picked-up the bike this morning and rode it home. It was actually a great ride until I hit unexpected traffic in the highway which sullied the over-all experience somewhat. I really don't mind traffic but getting stuck behind buses and trucks at 36deg c is not something that I would wish on my worst enemy! Turns out that the cause of traffic was a 5 car pile-up that caused the almost 2km grid lock.

After getting past the traffic area, I was so pissed that I decided to just put the bike to Race mode and see what it was like. Turns out that it was the best decision of the day! The bike put a grin on my face which is still on right now! I was riding it initially in wet and sport but I agree with most people here that the 959 should be ridden in Race mode!

Overall, I'm really happy with the bike sans the side-exhausts. I'm still looking at ways of getting the stock under-belly exhausts here but I can't seem to find any sellers for it.

Sorry for the looooong post guys. I'll leave this intro with some pics: