Yeah I know what you mean, I think the word is "focused". Rock hard ride, radical riding postion, only makes sense when you are on it. But I must confess I'm a Sunday morning rider so I can live with all that. My bike is just a toy and I know I'm never going to do much more than a couple of hundred miles at a time on the thing.
It's the looks and the noise with Ducatis, as you say. Gorgeous things.
I would have described my 996 as "agricultural"....
at standstill with the clutch out they sound like a bag o nails (dry clutch
And the clutch grabs, the clutch is heavy even though it's hydraulic. The vibrations from the V twin are horrible, the throttle is super sensitive..etc. etc.
Give me an R1 any day...