New Ducati 1200?

[SimJen]

What's with the Ducati bashing?
Ducati race to the rules which allow a twin to compete equally with a four. Unless you want to turn WSBK into a "Japper Cup" you need to allow different configurations to compete on reasonably equal terms. No one can compete with the Japanese when it comes to building mass produced four cylinder motorcycles hence we have the niche markets being populated by smaller manufacturers. The only problem is a 1000cc four valve twin only has the valve area of about a 750cc multi so it's always gonna be way down on horsepower, albeit with slightly better traction.
Therein lies the problem of equating the two different configurations. The powers that be have tried to equalise the 1000cc formula by allowing greater mods to the twin which also makes them horrendously expensive to race. Ducati are trying to equalise the performance AND THE COST of racing a twin by going for a larger capacity but with less modifications allowed.
As far as I'm concerned it sounds like a great idea...anything that keeps different manufacturers and configurations involved while maintaining parity has got to be a good thing.

I wasn't Ducati bashing as such, its just that if they allow 1200's then whats to stop Ducati tuning the heck out of them and kicking butt......
Seriously if they had any sense then they'd run their V4 and run on equal terms.....all they have to do is produce enough.
The series has unfortunately always been biased in Ducati's favour, hence why so many manufacturers left the fold. I guess the Italians look after their own.

[imdying]

Unless you want to turn WSBK into a "Japper Cup" you need to allow different configurations to compete on reasonably equal terms.

It's impossible. Never in the history of motorsport have they ever managed to compete differing engine configurations fairly, it just can't be done. It's pretty much impossible to know whether the 'winner' has a superior machine, or the rules are just biased too heavily towards them.

Even if only one Ducati team (say the factory backed one) takes advantage of the rules (as would be quite possible) and build a 1200cc fire breather stretching every limit of what the rules allowed, you're still back to the situation where they get to built an unbeatable bike.

The answer of course is simple... make them all 1000cc motors... if you want to build a 'slow' engine configuration, then that's your business.

[Damon]

it looks like the bastard child of a cbr1000rr and a triumph 675, kinda lacks the usual italian flair

[slowpoke]

I wasn't Ducati bashing as such, its just that if they allow 1200's then whats to stop Ducati tuning the heck out of them and kicking butt......
Seriously if they had any sense then they'd run their V4 and run on equal terms.....all they have to do is produce enough.
The series has unfortunately always been biased in Ducati's favour, hence why so many manufacturers left the fold. I guess the Italians look after their own.

Gawd, it's not that hard!
Ducati wouldn't be able to "tune the heck out of them" because they would be governed by the same rules as other manufacturers rather than being allowed more leeway as they are at the moment.

Has anyone seen an accurate price on the road V-four? How are they gonna sell enough of those things at the sort of money they are gonna go for? MV's aren't exactly flyin' out the door and the Duke is gonna be at least twice that price.

Biased in Ducati's favour, how do you figure that?
Kawasaki raced the same bike for Christ knows how long, Yamaha should have won the series (R7) but for Haga's mary jane debacle, Honda fucked up big time with the RC45, Suzuki plowed money into the stillborn TLR effort. These guys made a heap of mistakes while Ducati stuck with developing a tried and true formula that any of the others could have copied at any time with their much larger budget's. Ducati may have won a heap of titles but the other manufacturers didn't do themselves any favours.

As it is Honda were gifted a title on the SP1 when Ducati floundered for a decent rider, but I guess that makes up for the couple of titles Slighty shoulda won.

[SimJen]

The extra capacity was always the issue, the extra 250cc at the "time" favoured the Ducatis until the inline 4 technology caught up.
Personally I can't give a rats ass about Superbikes, I much prefer Motogp, where everyone has similar engine configs and performance and the riders are on a much higher level of talent

[gav]

This is it, apparently.... Ducati 1098

[onearmedbandit]

Ummm......nice wheels......yeah that's all. Little harsh, ok while it will take a while before another Ducati blows me away like the 916 did, and yes I use it as the benchmark for all Ducatis now, no doubt this is a fine machine. Be very interested to see how the increased engine displacement puts it up against the current crop of Japanese litre class sportsbikes.

[idb]

This is it, apparently.... Ducati 1098

It looks like a very clever amalgam of the 916 and 999.

[skelstar]

Aprilai RSVR style tail lights.

[Fatjim]

You're not wrong.


998

Even I think thats over priced, and I own one!

[Nutter34]

Man, that's ugly... It's even worse than the 999.

It looks like they've got some Multi-Strada in there too...

Also, single sided swing-arms are soooo 90's!

IMO, the original pic in this thread would have been a winner... It has 916 cues, mixed with 999 and maybe a hint of Blade, but it looked sleek...

[jonbuoy]

they are all ugly, when I saw a 916 for the first time I almost came in my pants just looking at it.

[et al]

I reckon that looks allright - there is no way they could ever top the 916 styling so I see this as being the best evolution between the old and the new. This is what the 999 should have looked more like - it would have been a better marketing success. Will be intersesting to see if they will bring the "1200" out in 2007, or hold it back another year? My guess is that they will do a limited edition first.

[jonbuoy]

Single sided swingarm is nice, underseat pipes are a bit like arseholes now - everyones got them. Two stubby pipes for each cylinder poking out of the lower fairings breathing fire on the overun would be super cool.

[gav]

Man, that's ugly... It's even worse than the 999.

It looks like they've got some Multi-Strada in there too...

Also, single sided swing-arms are soooo 90's!

IMO, the original pic in this thread would have been a winner... It has 916 cues, mixed with 999 and maybe a hint of Blade, but it looked sleek...

The 1200 may still be coming. The word is that the 1098 is due out as the road version if you like, with the 1198 race replica to follow.
The whole bike is styled to try and capture the original 916 style. Most people dissed the 999 when it was first released, now alot quite like the style and think this one is now too much like the old one!
Heres a photo of the new prototype out in the real world, super spy shot!