After watching a YouTube video on the topic I was wondering why others went with a naked over a supersport bike?
For me it's the riding position, growing up I've always owned dirt bikes and dual sports and it feels natural being more upright. Plus I can't get used to being hunched over on long rides. Maybe I'm just getting too old.
https://youtu.be/HMv8pJob3DQ

Riding position and just pure sexy looking, what else could there be???

Riding position for me as well.

Grew up on dirt bikes and started on an old 77' GS750. Super sports aren't ideal for commuting 90 miles a day when you're 6'4 either, and I've found that I can push it in the canyons just as hard as guys on litre bikes I just get left behind on the freeway at 140mph+.

same... dirt type bikes for most of my riding life. Just don't feel good curled up on a sports bike and don't feel the need to 140 either.

Went for the naked to feel the wind at all times. I would have died 6 times over on anything with fairing. Know yourself, it's the start of staying alive on two wheels.

This is a good topic for discussion!

I grew upon bikes in the 1970s that were just bikes - ie. they were naked bikes. We all aspired to the fully-faired racing bikes that our heroes rode in the GPs but very few of us could afford to buy the full-fairing kits available.

Then by the 1990's every super-sports bike that came out of Japan and Italy were all rear-set, clip-ons and full-fairing bikes that made you have to squat, bend your knees and tuck in down the straights (as well as hang off in the corners!) I had a decade of fun on these type of bikes.

By the noughties I was approaching fifty years old and maybe a bit tired of riding flat-out on public roads and trying to recreate my youth all the time. I had realised that some bikes were at least a good as super-sports bikes without all the race-rep stuff and compromised riding that they delivered. I wanted a bike that was as fast and well-handling as the previous Ducatis I'd owned, as practical as the VFR Honda for long distances I'd owned and as mad and indestructible as the KTM Supermotos I'd owned.

Introducing the Superduke!

This is a bike that can be fun and yet all under 100 MPH. Supersport bikes would cost me my license eventually but the naked superbike means that the high speeds are kept lower because of the wind resistance and I rarely go for long over 120mph because it is too hard to hang on. (and my neck and shoulders can take no more, ha ha.)

Best all rounder I've ever imagined was possible. Ten years on I'm still am a fan and am not persuaded to change bikes.

Yep, good question...

Pretty much the same view as Bic.. Riding position and less weight leaning forward on my wrists were the main objectives.
My last 4 bikes were a 2006 Blackbird, 2004 VTR1000, 2001 R1 and a 1996 916.
I've had nakeds before inc. a 78 Ducati GTS 860 but most of my bikes before the SD990 were sports or sports / tourers.
So for me it was seating position and the realisation that I rarely go above 120km...and less tempted to go [too] fast is what made me look for a naked.

Riding position is a big one.

Torque is probably just as big a reason.

Being nimble and allowing me to weave round slow/stationary traffic when commuting is another.

I switched to my SDR990 after a string of ZX6Rs for two main reason. Firstly I tried an SDR at Almeria and had an absolute hoot, felt I could get away with anything. So much less intimidating when it slid and just immediately felt comfortable going quick. The second reason was to slow me down on the roads, even despite my youth I got achy wrists at low speeds riding supersports and they just egg you on, I just pinned it everywhere and often saw double the national limit seconds after leaving a residential area. Could only go one of two ways.

Ironically since buying the SDR I've only ridden on the roads for about 100 miles in 3 years since the track bug has bitten. Have looked at other naked bikes though as a road bike to encourage a slower pace and with two up options. The SuperDuke didn't really slow my road riding down, I just felt the wind more!!

get this, i went from Ducatis, a 748s to a KTM 640 supermoto, i never wanted a sportbike after that, right to the 990SD

went to naked bikes due to mc accident
2 plates n 11 screws in my right knee ended my sport bikes
huskys,ducati,now ktm
love the 1290 R

I grew up in the 70's had dirt bikes, even snuck my dads cb 350 out on the dirt once, I was 17 wrecked it, pushed it home, rolled up some clothes into a sleeping bag, and hitched out to california where I stayed a few months, Old man had a temper back then and I knew he would need a cool down before he saw me again. He was a HD biker in the 50's and the pic's from back in the day with him and his gang looked so freakin cool, it was harleys for me, well Triumphs and BSA's the poor mans harley. being a dad was waay more fun than bikes but after the kids grew up I got my harley, POS, traded for a better harley another POS, sportbikes looked too uncomfortable and all my buddy's rode baggers but I wanted to go fast and sportbikes are too uncomfortable. 251 cams in a 95 C.I. hd made 142 mph, for a second,kaboom. I liked the 2300 triumph R3 for highway riding but the 1290 is so much fun I think it makes most other bikes obsolete. I don't mind guys passing me at 140 mph cause i'm in 5th gear and my front tyre is a couple inches off the ground and he may be faster but i'm still havin more fun!

If the supersport/superbike were ugly no one would have one.

I only remember my pain in the back and knees (am I too old?

Have both/and rather than either/or.

I like nakeds so much I bought two: the 1290 SDR and a 1098 Ducati Streetfighter.
I now think of my Ducati as a sports bike. The riding position is more aggressive and sporty than the SDR but its not as extreme as a true sports bike. Its a perfect compromise. I've had the suspension upgraded with Ohlins and K-tech and it handles like a track weapon but its much more comfortable. The riding position makes moving around on the seat and hanging off the easiest thing in the world and I love the feeling of slenderrness and lack of mass which comes from having no bodywork. Compared to the SDR you sitting on it rather than in it. I can ride it like a sports bike but at road bike speeds. Its been blue-printed and tuned for extra mid-range and bottom end punch. Its not as flat-out fast as a 200 bhp sports bike but its not far off and you don't need to be revving the nuts off it to find prodigious shove. You don't need to be doing 150 mph for it to make sense. It makes a superlative B road scratcher which you can ride all day without needing physiotherapy afterwards.
The SDR is a more comfortable, less sports-focused variation on the theme. They're both roadsters but where the Streetfighter shows its sports bike genes, the SDR has a more supermoto/muscle bike feel. Its an all-rounder. They go together very well without feeling they're duplicating one another.

And then I've got an SMT for everything else..