916 - druze fasteners you can undo with your fingers 999 - druze fasteners you need the allen key for - supplied under the seat. None of them work loose. So what did they put on the 1098 and Pani then? Why change a great design?
Maybe they got shares in the screw company. Personally i only ever lost the heat shield and rear of belly nowhere else. A bit of loctite sorted that. I now have ally screws that don't seem to come loose, they seems a tighter thread fit.
I think Ducati should walk away from both series till at least 2016, save the face of brand synonymous with racing and just hope/pray the rest haven't moved on too far! Moto Gp I just don't see its relevance to Ducati, it's like F1 to road cars? With parts and technology filtering down many years later, do they just have to be there for being there's sake? Oh and Dovi speaking out big no no, who in any other walk of life publicly slams there employers, he should be removed with immediate effect, even Rossi had the good grace to tow the party line for two years! I hardly think in the greater scheme of things Dovi is qualified to criticise the men who put bread on his table not too mention the engineers who are caught between rider complaints and management wanting answers. The boy needs a visit from some of the "family"... Omertà Dovi? Wsbk is where they have to focus!!! And don't pretend race success doesn't shift bikes it does! Just look at the explosion in Rsv4 and zx10r''s in last couple years and you can bet your bottom dollar they'll be queuing up for a premium Sykes special edition should he do the business this year. Sorry but the panigale is a mess! And those photos earlier in the week of a rear subframe/bob the builder scaffold! Was not progress it was an embarrassing admission by the race engineers of we don't have a fucking clue what to do. i honestly wouldn't be surprised to see a trellis frame poking out from behind the fairing accompanied by a double sided swing arm next time out! And some go faster stripes just incase! As racing goes it looks like they've hit the iceberg, so now let's turn on all the taps, see if that helps?
Actually the RSV4 has been a sales flop for Aprilia. It has shifted only a tiny fraction of units compared to the RSV range that won very little racing wise. The Ape production line was on a 3 day week for about 2 years on a union/piaggio/govmt scheme to avoid redundancies. The Fireblade is still the best selling sportsbike, and is almost every year win or not. I don't doubt brand profile is enhanced at a race track but if a bike is good to ride and looks the part i doubt anyone won't buy it because it is 1/10th of a second a lap slower than the next brand. Most owners are savvy enough to know that bike on the track has diddly squat in common with their own bike with the exception of maybe superstock and BSB.
Problem is that if you compete ,you cant look like shit .. It may not shift loads of bikes but brand ridicule is not high on any ceo s list .. . They can do that and save a few bob by just doing wsbk .. the pani will do fine .. But needs development .. And does not get 10% of resources .. Whatever applies to the gp bike goes for the pani .
