I just checked for the hell of it... Davies’ first year on the Ducati in 2014 he was 6th. In 2016 he was 3rd, and in 2015, 2017 and 2018 he was 2nd. Certainly in the last couple he has had injuries (2 broken collar bones last year). If it were just the ZX10 being better, Sykes (a world champion on the ZX10R) should have followed Rea into 2nd in the championship every year. He didn’t, Davies did.... on apparently a terrible bike. I’m not sold that just because Rea (who did better than he should have on that awful Honda) has dominated WSBK, the Pani is automatically a terrible bike.
im sure they are dancing in the streets of borgo panigale with the 1 bsb win on a wsb spec bike, and all those seconds...brilliant oh not forgetting the excuses too fantastic. The bike simply didn't cut it...next we will be saying ah but they changed the rules.
Call me old school but I will say it again, I think Ducati have really lost the plot with design in general.. I know they have regulations to work to etc but of late, say post 848 1098 days, I think all the range are really quite ugly! It looks to me like they get a base model and start cutting out bits of cardboard and sticking them on until something fits and is right for purpose.. I adore design, as a successful artist, kiddies book creator ( ripped off one anyway) brochures, leaflets etc and realise sometimes for something to be successful it need not always look stunning.. But, Ducati and Cagiva were poster bikes be that my opinion and that of many others, much like Ferrari’s yes, they may well be uncomfortable and unreliable at times but god they were beautiful. When you own a Japanese bike you know there’s millions around the world which are exactly the same, but then they are reliable and cost less.. Truth be known the vast majority of Ducati owners I’m sure buy on looks alone.. Yes we were blessed when the 888 and then the 916 had such race success, really it was a huge bonus and introduced them to a larger audience.. But, they were still exclusive, many lusted and yet never got one, it didn’t stop them dreaming of owning one though.. That’s probably why Ducati has struggled to be viable and therefore gone broke many times, hence now they want a bigger slice of sales, more mainstream.. Even the GP18 etc and many before it I don’t think they are beautiful anymore, times change I guess.. and they are designed for winning and not for simply looking the part.. It’s like F1, the modern race cars I don’t think are a patch style wise on the old Ferrari’s like the T series and the Brabham 52 and also the Irish Jordan.. stunning designs, not so safe etc but so beautiful to the eye, where as today’s cars are safe fast boxes with silly card shape add ons that normally look ridiculous..
well said noods. 888 916 were race bike sold with road gear, even the 999 1098 were that way inclined, but they thought they lost their way and the Panigale undoubtedly was a thing of beauty as a road bike, trouble was when that converted to a race bike some of it didn't work the underslung exhaust for example. So that got modified to the wheel barrow and let that gaping hole in front of the back wheel.. I guess we shall see with the V4 motored bike it certainly seems to have the power hype of the Kawasaki..
you can be as pissy as you like, but How would you describe ducatis winning success since the inception of the panigale? All that time, money, investment, chasing their backsides for improvement... i would say in the big scheme of things one poxy BSB, and winning the runners up stuff as fook all!
I love it! it looks exactly like a badass prototype race bike; moto2 in particular are exactly like the V4R. The tanks of almost all race bikes for the last twenty years have been engineered like this to move the center of gravity down and back and/or for range. The exhaust is straight out of MotoGP and I like the style better than the wheel barrow ones!
Talking of beautiful rear ends.. it only took MC 1min and 10secs to show her faultless design has both nimbleness and stunning good looks in abundance... After all the fabled designer Tamburini used the beauty of a lady’s figure for inspiration when he crafted the 916.. X
Actually, two BSB and 2 World Superstock. I doubt they see second in the WSBK and MotoGP as fook all, even though I’m sure they would rather be on the top step in both, which is why they designed the even uglier V4/MotoGP bikes.
The tank thing I understand as ive had to get one of these for my 1299. To push me back in the seat more and to stop me sliding too far forward under braking.
The superbikes I use these as well, it makes a big improvement to the bike on the track. The extra stretch would probably be tiring on the road (its more like the older 1098 etc) but I wouldn't want to be without it on track.
Fortunately my previous bike was an 1198. I tried all the normal pad grips etc, but they werent as good as I hoped. My knees tend to grip in that place where the rear subframe bolts on. I continually slide forward and that ruins my body position for the corners, i need to make an additional movement which tend to unsettle it. Im hoping this will help, plus Ive bought some universal stomp to apply where its needed, rather than the kits which tend to sit higher than I need. I hope the seats comfy, i note the square edges have been removed which would hurt my perineum after a long journey (Alps). Im looking forward to the Morzine to Thonon GP in summer and the Juras GP.
I think more relevant than the prototype SBK Pani, the fact the 1199R Pani won two SBK SS titles, bigger field, much closer racing and much better to watch! Next year there is no SS SBK which would be OK if SBK went back to the original point of racing what us guys can buy now its just a second division MotoGP series!
I don't like the stepped trailing edge of the mid fairings near the rear front frame mounting bolt. Looks akin to flash left on a cheap plastic moulding.
The differences between the WSBK, BSB bikes and stock bikes are interesting and backwards in my mind. WSBK are £150k worth of machines so almost nothing like the stock bikes from a punters point of view, BSB bikes ironically are also far from what we could ride due to the no electronics rule as well as the ~£70-150k budgets. For me the most important results are the Superstock results since they are the only ones riding bikes that are vaguely close to what we can buy.
And a Norwegian Superbike championship too - it's first win - now didn't a certain 1098R preceded it and win that championship also
(Alps). Im looking forward to the Morzine to Thonon GP in summer and the Juras GP. [/QUOTE] Look me up when you do if you like, I'm mid-way between the two!
