Motociclismo.it continues to be Ducati’s favorite channel to leak teasers of its upcoming Superbike, the 2012 Ducati Superbike 1199. Promising to be a revolutionary design for the Italian brand, we know already that the bike will shed roughly 20 lbs from the 1198 model, while adding 20hp to its peak horsepower figure. This astonishing power increase comes from the “Superquadrata” v-twin motor, which features an overly-square cylinder design, that should rev to peaky power delivery delight (if you’re into that sort of thing).
From this latest photo we see that the new 1199 (we’ve been enjoying the rumors that the new Superbike would be called the Xtreme) borrows from the 916’s squinty highlight design, while adding the 1098/1198’s more pronounced air intake structure. The Ducati Superbike 1199 will be fed that healthy dose of oxygen through a stressed aluminum airbox/headtube design, à la its MotoGP frameless technology, and for which we’ve already seen patents of the design.
In other “leaked” photos (here & here) we’ve already seen that the rear shock will be horizontally mounted, and will attach the extra-long swingarm to the chassis. Our sources tell us that the Superbike 1199 will have an underslung and tail exhaust, much like the Ducati Desmosedici GP12. So far we’ve only seen the underslung exhaust, but we hear the tail section in its full glory is a thing of beauty. Looking at what side photos we have of the bike already, the design would appear to be very well integrated, as its lines have barely been given away (check out Luca Bar’s take on what the Superbike 1199 will look like).
From a purely speculation point-of-view, it’s interesting that this photo doesn’t show pronounced headlamps or projector assemblies. If Ducati really wanted to blow our minds, an LED headlight system would be very trick. Watching the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it’s clear that LED headlight technology has come a long way, and can be very, very bright indeed. Something to ponder, though we doubt such an arrangement exists in the Superbike 1199‘s design.
Source: Motociclismo.it
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