No not at all. If you read the comments on the US forum by the Panigale project manager for the 1199 you will begin to understand that this design was not what was conceived for the V4. Yes it did originally incorporate many cues from the Panigale but it was sensitive to the new layout required by the wider and taller engine to keep things in relative proportion. That did not go down too well with the accountants and management by all accounts, so what you have here is a vastly compromised end product. He also knows the designer of the V4 but more importantly knows that this is not representative of the work submitted at the outset of this project and before production and tooling were finalized. Now they have raised their skirts, it's too late to go back.
True, but then millions of people climb on board a plane several times a year that burns thousands of gallons of fuel each trip to go on a holiday that isn't really essential to living which causes massive amounts of air pollution and environmental damage and no one bats an eye lid. Most people are aware and concerned about health and environmental issues but going on a foreign holiday is usually more important!
It looks OK I guess, nothing really special and certainly worse than a panigale although that's a tough call based on these pictures. Really don't like the origami plastic across the tank. I can almost gaurantee a thread titled 'are your panel gaps equal' or something along those lines,) Personally I just don't think pricing one at near £20k for a base model would be right, it's not a new thing having a V4 so it will just smack of greed if they do. I'm sure many will buy them on pcp and say it's amazing and how brilliant they sound, but the reality is that Aprilia have turned out some astonishing V4's in the last 7 years therfore paying so much more for one based on a Ducati badge would be hard to justify imo Also I genuinely wouldn't want them to launch a streetfighter based on this lump, rather have a 1299 streetfighter in truth. I think twin technology is such that in a naked bike it's easily smooth enough and I'd rather a tried and tested engine, even if it would be older tech.
A modern jet aircraft, full of passengers, if they were to drive the same distance in cars, would be the equivalent of each car averaging 83 mpg.
It's not so much how much the bike would cost, it's the pit garage full of technicians that would be the drain - especially as you'd need them to remap it every time you went somewhere different (remember Cal's bike throwing a hissy when it got confused at a circuit - imagine that if you decided to go to a different chip shop?)
Does anyone else wonder whether the perceived mediocrity of this design is going to create extra demand for new and recent Panis "before it is too late"?
Not me. I like V-Twins. Although I may PEx the 1299S for a R1M or 1098R. I'm ambivalent over the pani still and I suspect the V4 will be much the same. IMHO, VW/Audi are doing to Ducati what they did to Lamborghini. But that might just be the price of progress I guess.
Until Joe Public gets to ride one then who knows. If it's the best bike out there then many buyers will want one.
You may be right, but I remember when the 999 was launched most people agreed that it was a better bike than the 998 and was very successful in racing to boot; yet it remained a poor seller all its production life and was replaced faster than any Ducati superbike in the modern era.
I'm sorry but that's not true, the xx9 series was in production from late 2002 until 2006, how long was the 998 in production for? Or the 996? 1098? 1198? iirc it was also their best-selling Superbike by the time they stopped production - despite all the moaning about its looks.
