660 single with two Lanchester balance shafts, one mounted on the oil pump shaft, the other mounted on the water pump shaft. Nicely done. Head from a 1299 twin, chain driven cams. Ultra short stroke. 77 hp, and a lot more to come later. People have been calling for this for decades so now they have listened.
So what is the market sector ? I (through choice) have no sight of what’s happening outside Ducati world. Andy
Younger buyers. If they don’t start selling to them then Ducati’s market will die out. Quite literally.
A ickle bit more than the KTM 690 power plant which is 70 bhp. I guess there will be a Supermoto and enduro/rally to eat into KTM market share. 12K price?
Very interesting. Needs to be light. Under 150 kg in road trim. Who is it for? I would expect premium performance engine to be wrapped in a quality chassis and so to command a premium price, which could be out of reach to many, so it will be interesting to see where they pitch it. Surprised at a 10k RPM single with 9k miles oil change intervals. (Maybe it is dry sumped and has a 10l oil tank hidden somewhere )
Or a quarter, depending on how you look at it. If they put it in a faired race-rep style package. I’d be interested.
The trailer for next week's release infers its pitched at younger riders in its supermotard form. Ducati can't afford to make everything at the top end of the markey anymore. Chinese bikes are going to rip a hole in a lot of Companies markets if they are not careful. Buying a high end old brand name and then making the bike using cheaper production costs is the way its going. Look at Benelli, Moto Morini, BSA and even KTM to an extent.
It doesn’t look like an Mx engine to me, it’s too big, and I think a mix engine would do without the balancer shaft and just vibrate, or only run a minimum balance shaft to stop it grenading itself
Certainly looks an interesting engine though. You could have some fun with that in the right light bike. I wonder what they’re going to produce for moto x
