Ducati News Today

With the first photos of the radical new 2012 Ducati ‘Superquadrata’ Superbike appearing last week following a successful Mugello track outing, most of the details we had been expecting have been confirmed. It is still a shock. Trellis frame – Gone. L-twin- Gone. Belt cam drive – Gone. And the diminutive twin may not be a V4, but it sure looks like an Aprilia.

Which is hardly a criticism. The World Superbike paddock has been rocked by the success of the Aprilia RSV4 since it debuted in 2009. The tiny jewel like V4 is more akin to a prototype MotoGP machine than a road based sportbike and performs like it – the Aprilia is consistently the fastest bike on the track and at a fast circuit like Monza Max Biaggi hit 335 km/h (208mph). In 2010 Max Biaggi took the bike to championship victory.

Despite its withdrawal from factory support of World Superbikes for 2011, Ducati has made the privateer Althea Ducati team the recipient of much of its racing mojo with many former Xerox Ducati team members now supporting Carlos Checa. Ducati knows only too well that success in racing is paramount to its performance positioning. And Checa’s storming performance so far in the 2011 season notwithstanding, the Ducati 1198 has run its course. Something had to be done. Afterall, the company’s tagline is ‘Authentic, Italian, Performance’.

And that means big changes to the traditional Ducati Superbike as we have come to love it. Every new Ducati you can buy today features 5 signature Ducati elements including a 90º L-twin with belt cam drive, desmodromic valve operation and a trellis frame. For 2012, Ducati will leave behind all but desmodromic valve operation in its latest Superbike designed to get the inherently less powerful twin Superbike back on par with its 4 cylinder rivals.

Why is Ducati changing almost everything?

Every motorcycle design is a compromise. The torquey, easy going power delivery of the 1198 lacks top end bhp compared to the latest inline and V fours. The L-twin layout is long, limiting swing arm length for any given wheelbase and also limiting rake since anything too steep would see the front wheel hit the front horizontal cylinder head. The trellis frame limits the potential size of the airbox. The debut of the 2009 Ducati Desmosedici MotoGP racer with a then new carbon fiber monocoque chassis pointed the way for the future direction of Ducati Superbikes.

The major change to the Ducati GP9 MotoGP racer was the adoption of a carbon fiber monocoque design where the engine acts as the major structural component of the motorcycle rather than a traditional steel trellis or aluminum beam frame. As Ducati itself puts it:

The basic idea is to abandon the classic concept of the chassis as the element that connects all other elements, in favour of a design in which the engine is the central element to which the main frame, rear sub-frame and rear suspension system are individually connected.

Although not new (the Cagiva C590 500cc GP racer of 1990 sported a carbon fiber frame) structural carbon fiber is rare in motorcycles. The new Ducati approach is not unlike that of John Britten’s V1000/V1100 home grown racers in featuring a monocoque approach in carbon fiber. On the MotoGP bikes the main frame is formed to connect the engine to the steering head. The main frame now also incorporates the air-box in one single construction. This monocoque construction allows the air-box to function efficiently within the main frame.

The fact that the racers were shown with the same concept in aluminum indicated that the company was interested in bringing the approach to a production motorcycle and Ducati patent filings further confirmed the intent. The chassis approach should deliver a shorterer, more compact motorcycle with better breathing, a longer swingarm for improved traction and a steeper rake for more agility.

This is exactly what we are seeing with the spy shots. An exquisitely short and compact machine with a long swingarm and no evidence of any trellis. Think even slimmer than an Aprila RSV4 with the consequent payoff in aerodynamics and top speed. The styling closely follows sketches Ducati News Today first saw in 2010 (but unfortunately cannot publish here). Notable points include a linkless, horizontally mounted rear shock attached to the engine and an underslung Buellesque side exit exhaust. The almost drag racer long swingarm is still of the single sided variety. After the 999 débâcle, Ducati no doubt don’t wish to push their luck with a more traditional swing arm. After all this effort, expect a dry weight 20lbs less than the 1198SP.

Ducati Finally Breaks with the Pantah

To go with the radical new chassis is an all new engine. Even the testastretta evoluzione powered Ducati 1198SP can trace its crankcases back to the 1979 Pantah 500 and basic 4-valve architecture to 1988′s Ducati 851, despite the testastretta and testastretta evoluzione overhauls.

The new engine is still a 90º twin but is no longer an ‘L’, meaning that the front cylinder is not horizontal but tilted back. The need for more power means more revs which necessitates a shorter stroke for a more over-square engine design – hence the Superquadrata terminology. Details are scarce but expect a bore and stroke of the order of 112 x 60.6mm (for 1194cc) and 1,500 more rpms for a total of 11,500 and 190bhp with a weaker midrange. The valve train will be still be desmodromic but say Arrivederci to your cam belts as they have likely been replaced with gears for more precise valve timing and less friction at the higher revs that the Superbike racing versions will reach.

Ducati has been signaling recently that their obsession with the dry clutch is over (Diavel, Multistrada 1200 to name two) so expect the Superbike to also bathe its clutch in oil. So much heat is generated by all those ponies that dual radiators are fitted. New 8 spoke Marchesini wheels go along with new Brembo brakes and thicker forks (presumably Showa on the base model and Ohlins on the S). Expect the now de rigeur gamut of electronic nannies rider aids to be fitted including wheelie control, DTC, performance ABS and potentially race, trackday and street settings for electronic suspension.

In summary we have a hardcore machine that will push the limits of the term streetbike just as the BMW S1000RR and Aprilia RSV4 have done before it. The 2012 Ducati Superquadrata Superbike will be far more at home on the track and preferably with an expert at the controls. Oh, and it will help if you’re 5’4″.

Not 5’4″? Well no matter. Unlike in the past, Ducati has a veritable plethora of options for a more enjoyable Bologna bullet for the street. Fully 5 different models are available all of them new models since 2008 and critically 3 of them featuring 4-valve engines the first of which was the Ducati Streetfighter launched in 2009. It is this array of more streetable options that still offer ‘Authentic, Italian, Performance’ that allows Ducati to go all out racer on the new Superbike and damn the streetability.

So will it be any good? Is there a risk of screwing it up with so many changes? Frankly, should we be worried about the 2012 Ducati Superbike? No. The bike to have worried about was the far more risky Diavel. The Ducati Diavel despite criticism from many quarters, including here, turned out to be a great motorcycle. Ducati knows how to build Superbikes. The 2012 edition will be awesome, but a Diavel, Streetfighter or Multistrada 1200 will be way more useful on the street. Isn’t it great that Ducati gives us such choice.

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