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2011 Ducati Superbike 1198 SP Replaces Ducati’s Middle-Spec Superbike 1198 S

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Confirming what we already knew from ahead of Intermot, the 2011 Ducati Superbike 1198 SP will get a bevy of add-ons and upgrades for 2011, and help Ducati deplete its stockpile of 1198 lumps before the 2012 Superbike debuts next year. With a MSRP of $21,995, the 2011 Ducati Superbike 1198 SP gets a slipper clutch, Öhlins TTX rear shock (normally a $1,400 option), aluminum fuel tank with a .66 gallon larger capacity (4.75 gallons total, and normally a $1,500 option), and Marchesini forged aluminum wheels ($2,300 option).

2011 Ducati Superbike 1198 SP is taking the place of the Ducati Superbike 1198 S line, and even with all these goodies added to it, Ducati has only raised the price of the middle-spec Superbike by $200. If you’ve recently purchased a Ducati Superbike 1198 S, we feel sorry for you. More photos after the jump.

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Racing

Ducati WSBK Fans Lash Out Against Rossi at Imola

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There were some not so happy racing fans this weekend during World Superbike’s penultimate stop at Imola. A home track for Ducati, the race stands where filled with Italian racing red, and also some signs from some very unhappy Ducatisti. Perceiving Valentino Rossi’s switch in the MotoGP from Yamaha to Ducati as the reason for at the end of this season, Ducati WSBK fans aired our their discontent with anti-Rossi and anti-Ducati banners and stickers throughout Imola.

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Reviews

Ride Review: 2010 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Touring – Asphalt & Rubber Rides King Duc

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Dubbed the Best Motorcycle of the 2009 EICMA show, the 2010 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Touring has a lofty title that we’ve been itching to test since we saw the bike debut in Milan last year. While the new Multistrada 1200 comes in many flavors, we somehow managed to get our hands on the Multistrada 1200 S Touring version, or as we like to call it: “King Duc”. The Multistrada line has been Ducati’s attempt to be more than a sportbike-driven brand, and with this latest incarnation we can see that the Bologna-based company has taken a serious stab at making a go-anywhere GS-killer, with Italian style of course.

We were anxious to bring the Multistrada 1200 to our happy hunting grounds in Santa Barbara, CA where we had just recently test ridden the groundbreaking Honda VFR1200F a month back. Our adventures with the new Multi actually began with a very long and boring two-hour drive into Brea, CA on four wheels. Traveling on four wheels in Los Angeles is the stuff suicide notes are made of, and naturally the return trip from Brea was a more pleasurable experience for a certain test rider, than it was for one editor stuck in LA gridlock. Of course that didn’t stop me from having the pleasurable experience of becoming acquainted with the Multistrada 1200 in its natural territory, the open road.

Knowing the sporty nature of Ducati motorcycles (and the seemingly inverse relationship between sportiness and comfort), we were skeptical of how enjoyable the 150-mile ride back from Brea would be on the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Touring. Suffering through the almost endless miles of parked cars on the highway that laid between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, I pulled over and sent the first text message back about the bike, “So much fun!!!!” it read, along with a picture of the Multistrada sitting on the side of dead-end road.

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Rumors

WSBK Silly Season: Haslam to BMW, Fabrizio to Alstare Suzuki, & Haga to an Aprilia [UPDATED]

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UPDATE 3: Michel Fabrizio has signed-on with Alstare Suzuki team for 2011.

UPDATE 2: Leon Haslam has signed with the BMW Factory Squad.

UPDATE: It’s being reported that Noriyuki Haga has agreed to ride with the DFX team on a factory Aprilia RSV4, with  an announcement delayed out of deference to Biaggi’s impending WSBK crowning.

While the MotoGP silly season is just starting to wind down, the World Superbike shuffling of riders is apparently just getting underway. So far this silly season we’ve seen , confirming that he’d be with Ten Kate Honda next season, despite being only two years into a three year contract, which was a strange announcement at the very least.

After Ducati’s little spat with Infront Motor Sports last month, the Xerox Ducati Team will be no more in 2011, leaving factory riders Michel Fabrizio and Noriyuki S.O.L. when it comes to gainful employment, which is where our fist batch of silly season rumors starts us. If Moto.it‘s Carlo Baldi is to be believed (he is the listed press officer for Althea Ducati after all), Haga will find himself on a satellite Aprilia ride, while Michel Fabrizio will go to Alstare Suzuki. If you’re a die-hard WSBK fan you may realize that means that current Alstare Suzuki star Leon Haslam must be finding work elsewhere, with Baldi putting the British rider in the factory BMW squad. Still with us?

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Opinion/Editorial

Rossi Considers Skipping Last Two MotoGP Races – Fires A Shot Across Yamaha’s Bow

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Much of the talk about Valentino Rossi and his injuries have centered on the Italian’s leg, which was broken with a compound fracture at Mugello earlier this year. Despite causing Rossi to miss several races, the Italian’s biggest physical concern hasn’t been his leg, but instead his shoulder, which he injured in April while motocross training. The shoulder has been a lingering issue for Rossi ever since his return at Brno, which culminated this weekend with the Fiat-Yamaha team actually having to setup the M1 at Aragon to work around the injury.

With a lackluster performance this weekend, not to mention a disappointing return to GP racing in general, Rossi announced after Sunday’s race that he was considering having his shoulder operated on after the three fly-away races (Motegi, Sepang, and Phillip Island), which would effectively mean that the nine-time World Champion would miss MotoGP’s last two stops at Estoril and Valencia. )

This announcement is a big bombshell for the Yamaha camp, which could see its star rider, if we can still say that, again vacating from the team to heal his injuries. However again reading between the lines of the Italian, Rossi’s revelation this weekend has about as much to do with an injured shoulder as it does with putting pressure on Yamaha to release him from his contract in time to test the Ducati Desmosedici GP11 at Valencia.

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Bikes

Spy Shots: Ducati Diavel Gets A Little Bit More Refined – No Pillion Available?

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UPDATE: Photos of the rear do seem to confirm that passenger pegs exist and fold underneath the tail section.

British magazine website in other photos. While the tank and headlight still have some camouflage covering them, we get an especially clearer look at the Diavel’s left-hand side, which looks to be production ready.

Showing a unique trellis frame by Ducati standards, the Diavel also has a very pronounced “chin” fairing that likely helps draw air onto a lower radiator. Covering the top radiator appears to be another fairing the features gill slits, again likely for drawing air-flow through the whole of the bike.

Perhaps the biggest revelation to come from looking at these new photos, is the noticeable absence of a pillion and passenger footpegs, which brings up the question as to whether the Ducati Diavel will be a single-rider ride. You make the call in the photos after the jump.

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News

Pope Benedict XVI Gets Two Ducati Multistrada’s

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Pope Benedict XVI received a nice surprise today as Ducati Motor Holdings dropped off two purpose-built Ducati Multistrada 1200S Touring bikes for His Holiness. We don’t expect Il Papa to be riding the bikes anytime soon though, as the two Ducatis will be used by the Pope’s motorcade and Vatican gendarmerie (the Vatican police force), hence the special papal yellow paint scheme.

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Banter

Valentino Rossi Gets the Shepard Fairey Treatment

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As a nine-time Grand Prix Champion, Valentino Rossi might be the most iconic rider in the MotoGP paddock, if not the greatest motorcycle racer of all-time. Now that Rossi has signed-on with Ducati for the next two MotoGP seasons, there is a wave of enthusiasm in Italy about the duo, and what it could mean for the sport.

Along with Rossi’s move to Ducati, MotoGP is set to go back to 1000cc capacities, Dorna has allowed claiming rule teams to run production-based engines, all in the hopes of turning the sport around into the spectacle it once was.

Of course the greatest excitement will be seeing Rossi on a Ducati GP bike that he helped develop, so we thought it fit to give Valentino the Shepard Fairey treatment for his “Barack moment”, and thus we whipped-up some posters of the Italian. Check them out after the jump.

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Bikes

NCR Leggera 1200 Special Becomes The Lightest Hypermotard Ever Made – And It’s Street Legal

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With the NCR Leggera 1200 Special, Ducati tuner NCR is setting two firsts with its titanium clad Hypermotard. Known for making gorgeous work out of already gorgeous motorcycles (NCR Corse Millona One Shot anyone?), none of LCR’s prior creations are destined for a life of street use, and come absent of any lights, mirrors, etc. However, the NCR Leggera 1200 Special is the first NCR that comes out of the crate street legal, and oh…it’s also the lightest Hypermotard in existence, dropping 125 lbs off the stock Ducati Hypermotard…it’s not bad looking either.

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