I'd love to see a real evolution to V4 Superbike with V2 rest of the range. 170kg wet in road trim too
A small sports bike to get the kids onto a Ducati earlier. As an earlier post suggested, the average age of a Ducati rider is over 46. Also, a supersport race bike that can compete with the 600's. The 848 is no doubt a fantastic bike but too falls between 600 and 1000 and therefore can't race with either. The 848 series racing is great but as it's a one bike series it can never be taken as seriously as competition against other manufacturers. Also, an 'r' superbike that is truly an 'r'. The 1199 r is so similar to the 's' it's not worth making and it's also not good enough to compete in SBK. Why not throw everything at it (OK, it might cost £40k to buy), keep it exclusive but still sell enough to homologate it and also give Ducati a better chance of winning a SBK race again. Yesterdays performance at Donnington was woeful. I know there's more to come from the Panigale but 3 bikes crossing the line together out of the top 10 isn't where Ducati need to be.
How about these for exhausts ? Motorcycle Modification Fail - YouTube They are like Suzuki B-King exhausts on steroids. Whoever went to the trouble of building these obviously has too much time on his hands !
i think they missed a trick with the panigale.....for so long we stuck with the traditional ducati trellis frame and L twin.....the world caught us up and then we had to go to 1200cc......which in my humble opinion is too much and wrong plus we cant really bend the rules anymore. Already on the gp stage we had conceeded that we couldnt run a twin remember the early gp bikes...then in gp they had moved away from the trellis frame with a variety of things like the carbon no frame air box, then the rossi debacle. looking all misty eyed at tradition......well its gone so i dont understand why with the panigale they stayed with an L twin.... it was screaming out for a v4 1000cc in fact if you painted the rsv4 aprillia red and wrote ducati on it then i for one would of been over the moon and hailed it as the new 916!!
How about these for exhausts ? Motorcycle Modification Fail - YouTube I think Ducati should return to the underseat design but make them a little more prominent !
is there anyone that would be so precious they wouldn't want ducati to create a proper sports bike and in doing so move away from an L twin......(again).
As long as it remains a passionate motorcycle, I couldn't give a stuff what configuration they use. Lightness is far more important in my opinion.
In this day and age manufacturers need a USP. IL4, take your pick. V4-Aprilia. Sport V twin, really only Ducati. V6 might work though.
in this day and age manufacturers need to be successful ...the days of USP are in the past along with Ducatis success. They had to change for moto gp, why not for WSB.... if you build it they will come!
V-twin Single sided swingarm Trellis frame. 1200 motor similar to what they already have A power mode or two. Then: new: A petrol tank with a real world 150 mile range A seat that isn't like a plank. A pillion seat you could actually use for a pillion (for the Bip) Some retractable hooks for luggage on the rear seat / retractable grab rail An alarm and tracker as standard (that don't drain the battery). Suspension you can make tighter or more comfy at the touch of a button (for crap roads) Gorgeous styling. I don't care if it doesn't win WSBK. I want a superbike for the road and everyday life, not something that ONLY makes sense on a track. Currently, the Panigale has been designed to win everything on the track (which it currently doesn't) whilst still being not really more useful on the road than the past 3 or 4 models. Also, it is not drop-dead, must-have gorgeous. Ducati need to think early Fireblade (great road bike, wasn't even entered for racing), give it all the new technology and do it in a Ducati idiom. Then there would finally be something I want to save up for.
Make what they've got work on the track. The Painigale is a fantastic bike. I know some yearn the the trellis frame and underseat exhausts but times have moved on. The trellis frame is beautiful and a Ducati trademark but it's reached it limit of development. Under seat exhausts have gone in favour of mass centralisation and the dry clutch is a thing if the past. Time and tide wait for no man and Ducati had to move development on or risk being left behind. All they need to do now is make it work.
The Panigale would be more succesful in WSBK and BSB if the rules didn't work against it. It seems to do OK thank you in World Superstocks.
Yes but the OP asked for new ideas. I think the 848 is a cracking roadbike but it could be better still. Less weight and more midrange, a bigger fuel tank, marginally more comfortable, ABS and DTC as standard across the range. Under engine exhaust. I'd still like to see the airbox frame developed further on a road biased bike.
