Michael and the Motorcycle Part 1: Ducati

I was never always an avid motorcycle follower, I never had a favorite nor was I interested in finding one. I think what deterred me the most was that they all followed one of a select few basic design patterns. To me all superbikes looked the same, so did all cruisers and dirtbikes etc. And then to make it worse they all had the same engine layout, size and transmission. For example; all superbikes have a transversely mounted 4 cylinder engine [that comes in 600c, 750cc and 1000cc] with a 6 speed sequential transmission that then turns a chain to power the wheels. That just seemed like a bore, so I stayed away.

Ducati 998

Then I discovered Ducati. Ducati is an Italian motorcycle company and is said to be the Ferrari of motorcycles, in fact at one point their logo's were the same. I always knew of Ducati particularly their 916, 996 and 998 bikes and I found it cool that they named their bikes based on exact displacement [just like Ferrari] because saying you own a Ducati 916 sounds a lot classier than Honda CBR1000RR. But I really didn't like the design of the 916/996/998, it just looked blah.

Ducati 999

Then the 999 came out, I loved it and wondered why someone didn't try design like this all along, then I discovered the 999 was at least 2 years old upon discovering it. Anyways that didn't stop me from liking it. I also noticed design features seen before on the 916/996/998 that I didn't notice before like rerouting the exhaust to run under the exhaust, although it meant less power, the bike was more aerodynamic and stylish. Something I also didn't notice before was that Ducati used a V twin setup as opposed to an inline 4. Just like the conventional bike, Ducati's layout was less powerful but it provided smoother delivery, which meant the Ducati's could accelerate a whole lot earlier through corners than its conventional Japanese competitors. The icing on the cake however was using carbon fibre on every body panel except for the gas tank, that just seemed extreme for a bike, especially since carbon fibre is very expensive and bikes are prone to fall over.

Ducati 1098s Tricolore

The glory of the 999 soon died down as so far no motorcycle was able to match its uniqueness, until Ducati created its replacement, the 1098. It is sex on two wheels. Now I was expecting the 1098 to be a step forward on the design of the 999, but no, Ducati took up the old 916/996/998 template and worked on it. It regained the traditional Ducati twin headlights, just more detailed, as well as the use of a single swing-arm, which was heavier than using 2 lightweight swing-arms but exposed the stylish rims. Sometime later Ducati upped the engine size to 1198 to add more oomph.

Ducati Desmosedici RR

Ducati didn't stop there to please me, I soon after discovered they created a special homologated version of their race bike called the Desmosedici RR. Now Desmodedici [a very sexy name btw] is Ducati's very unique valvetrain system. Almost all cars use the camshafts to open the valves while springs close them back. It was discovered that as engined speeds increased, valves had a tendency to "float" under vibrations and hence not close back the valves. Ducati's solution to this is simple, remove the springs and let the camshafts open and close the valves. The Desmosedici's uniqueness didn't stop there, instead of Ducati's trademark V twin, it used a V4 engine, which is one of the rarest engine layouts of all time.

Ducati Monster

Ducati's finale piece was much slower though but still agressively designed. The Ducati Monster had a typical Ducati V twin with Desmosedici but this was for a class called the 'Naked Bike.' In this class, most motorcycles remove some of the body panels to reveal the inner workings of the bike, leave it to Ducati to turn it into art. Most motorcycles use a slab o' metal for the fram and expose that slab, Ducati uses a beautifully woven trellis that forms a cage around the engine.

Ducati 1198R Corse

Ducati therefore is my favorite motorcycle manufacturer: they win races, they're unique and they're beautiful, unfortunately they're also expensive [A base model 1198 costs US$3k more than a top of the line Kawasaki ZX14] Is it worth the price..... yep

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