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Ducati Multistrada 1200

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Second-Generation Ducati Testastretta 11° Gets Dual-Spark?

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If you are anything like us, yesterday’s announcement of the revamped 2013 Ducati Multistrada 1200 line left more questions than answers. Semi-active suspension on a Ducati? A Second-generation Testastretta 11° motor? Give us the deets Bologna! Surely both these changes are going to make it beyond just the MTS 1200 in the Ducati model line-up, yet Borgo Panigale is mums the word on what these changes are exactly, beyond their actual existence.

We do have some clues however, since Ducati released photos of the 2013 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Pikes Peak & 2013 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Granturismo motorcycles. A close look at the forward-facing cylinder head shows a feed for a second spark plug (2013 model on the left, 2012 model on the right), while the absence of the usual obnoxiously gold-colored forks raises some eyebrows as to whom Ducati is using to source its new “Skyhook” semi-active suspension.

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Bikes

2012 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Pikes Peak Race Bike

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Ducati is in Colorado this weekend, taking part in the 90th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The second oldest motorsport race in the United States (the first being the Indy 500), 2012 is the first year that the Race to the Clouds will take place on a fully-paved road course, which is sure to bring a new chapter in this historic race.

Asphalt & Rubber made the great trek out to Colorado (braving the far-too-early mornings), and we are here mostly to heckle our boy Carlin Dunne, who won the race last year in his rookie debut (setting a course record no less). Riding with the Ducati Spider Grips Team this year, Dunne will be joining Greg Tracy, as the pair will again ride the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S up to the 14,000+ foot finish line.

Ducati hopes to continue its dominance on the mountain this year, and the Ducati has rolled out another iteration of its Multistrada 1200 S race bike, which we gushed over last year. It is hard to believe that the previous bike feels a bit dated now (though, we still wouldn’t mind a Pikes Peak edition MTS 1200 in our garage), but this year’s machine brings added refinery to the race bike, as well as an understated and classy, yet beautiful paint job.

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Bikes

2013 Ducati Hypermotard 848 Caught Blurring the Lines Between the Multistrada? [UPDATED]

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UPDATE: The water-cooled 2013 Ducati Hypermotard has now been released by Ducati.

We have a sneaking suspicion that the 2013 Ducati Hypermotard 848 that has been spotted tramping about is going to be a very interesting motorcycle indeed; as from out perspective, Ducati seems set to consolidate the Hypermotard line into a single water-cooled model, while simultaneously offering a smaller-displacement multi-tasker that will slot in under the Ducati Multistrada 1200.

Our best view yet of the bike’s exhaust side comes from the folks at Moto Revue, as we see what looks to be a finalized exhaust can and a clear view of the HM848’s water-cooled Testastretta 11° motor. There has been tremendous confusion/controversy as to whether the spied machine is a new Hypermotard or Multistrada model, and the confusion is rightfully so, as the bike takes cues from both machines.

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Racing

Ducati Announces Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Team with Carlin Dunne & Greg Tracy

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Ducati has announced its factory team for the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), and the Italian company has secured the services of last-year’s winner and Rookie of the Year Carlin Dunne as well as six-time PPIHC winner Greg Tracy. Ducati has also partnered with the Spider Grips team, who will help prepare the teams Ducati Multistrada 1200 for the “Race to the Clouds” on July 8th.

For 2012, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will be fully-paved to the top of the mountain, which will surely see the speeds of competitors increase, and lap times drop on the 12.42 mile long course that ends at 14,110 feet. Holding the outright fastest motorcycle lap time on the mountain, Santa Barbara Ducati’s Carlin Dunne is eager to defend his title from last year, as well as his status as the fastest motorcyclist on the mountain.

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News

Ducati Posts 61% Q2 Sales Increase in North America

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Ducati North America has posted its Q2 2011 sales figures, and business is apparently booming for the Italian company in the US, Mexican, and Canadian markets, as sales are up 61% in the second quarter of this year. Selling over 5,200 bikes to customers so far this year, Ducati North America’s year-to-date sales are also up an outstanding 63%. Helping drive the sales increases are the extremely popular Multistrada 1200 models and the new Diavel. Along with the already sales-topping Superbike 848 EVO and Monster 796, these models account for most of Ducati’s sales growth.

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Racing

PPIHC: Carlin Dunne Smashes the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Motorcycle Record – Declared Rookie of the Year

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Asphalt & Rubber spent the last week waking up at 2am everyday to muster up to the staging grounds for the 89th annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and upon arriving at the second oldest running race in the United States (the Indy 500 being the oldest), we were surprised to see our old friend Carlin Dunne, owner of Ducati Santa Barbara, pitting in the motorcycle paddock with a Ducati Multistrada 1200 race bike.

Now, we’ve always known that Carlin was a wicked fast rider, as this humbled author recalls that at his last track day with Dunne just a year ago, the 28-year-old dirt and street racer lapped him about every third lap at Big Willow. Despite this fact, the hard part has always been describing to other people how fast Dunne truly is, that is until now.

Riding Pikes Peak for the very first time, Carlin Dunne not only stood at the pole position on Sunday’s race to the clouds, and not only did the Santa Barbara native also win the checkered flag in the 1205cc motorcycle class, but the Desmo Devil himself dropped some two-wheeled knowledge on Pikes Peak when he set the outright fastest time ever for a motorcycle on the fabled mountain road and its 156 turns.

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Recall

Recall: Ducati Multistrada 1200 & Ducati Diavel

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Here’s a type of recall that we’ll begin to see more of in the coming years, Ducati North America is recalling 1,051 Diavel and Multistrada 1200 motorcycles because of a faulty software issue. A certain version of the hands free software package may cause the electronic steering lock to fail to disable during the “key on” process.

The result is that a rider would be unable to move their motorcycle, at least not beyond a small radial path. In the eyes of the NHTSA though, this could mean that a rider could start the motorcycle and attempt to ride off, and then realize they lack the ability to steer (read: not good). While the safety issue here seems fairly benign, the idea that one couldn’t get their bike moving because a 0 should be a 1 would be fairly frustrating to us if we were owners of either machine, hence the recall.

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News

How to Steal a Ducati Diavel in 60 Seconds?

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Ducati News Today must have gotten the same news tip as us, as a IT security blog is purporting to have information on how one can steal a Ducati Diavel (and presumably a Ducati Multistrada 1200) via the bike’s keyless ignition system.

It should be stated up-front that the pos referenced is dated April 5th, with the writer of the blog supposedly discovering this information on April 1st…and well all know what sort of Tomfoolery goes on during that time of the year.

According to the post’s author, the Ducati Diavel can be started not only without having the key in the ignition, but without the key at all.

While anyone who has ridden the Diavel knows that you only have to have the key in the proximity of the Diavel while you’re riding, the idea that one can start the bike without the key comes from a default code that comes up when such an act is attempted.

Where things get sticky though is that the author claims that this four-digit PIN is set from the factory to be the last four digits of the Diavel’s VIN, and that few owners know of security feature.

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Recall

Recall: 2010 Ducati Multistrada 1200

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Ducati is issuing a recall notice with the NHTSA for the 2010 Ducati Multistrada 1200 adventure-tourer motorcycle. Affecting 1,196 units, the MTS 1200’s recall stems from an ECU problem that could see the motorcycle stall while idling with the clutch disengaged (something we experienced when testing the Multistrada 1200 last year). To fix the problem, affected owners must take their bike to a Ducati dealership, where the ECU will be re-flashed with a modified firmware package.

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News

Ducati Completes Three-Year Strategic Plan

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Amidst all the fanfare over seeing Valentino Rossi wearing Rosso Corsa and sporting his new Dainese leathers, which surprisingly aren’t being sponsored by McDonald’s, one announcement has gotten little attention (and no, we’re not talking about Nicky Hayden). The 2011 Wrooom event signals the end of a three-year strategic plan that’s been going on internally at Ducati, which has seen the Italian company release 12 new models, increase sales across the board, and ship 36,200 motorcycles in 2010 alone.

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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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