Latest Posts:
Asphalt & Rubber
Tag

Ducati

Browsing
MotoGP

2016 Sepang MotoGP Test Preview: The Future Starts Here

By 3 Comments

The hour of truth is at hand. On Monday morning, MotoGP fans will get their very first look at how the 2016 season is really going to look like. We got a glimpse at Valencia, but it was not a uniform picture.

Though the 2016 electronics and Michelin tires made their debut at the two-day test after the final race of 2015, there were still too many variables.

Everyone was on the Michelins, but some riders were on the spec-electronics, others were on the old proprietary software they had been using for the 2015 season, and the factory teams were using a mixture of both.

It was also the first time the teams had to focus solely on the new tires and electronics, without the pressure of an ongoing championship. Though for both Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, the intensity of the season finale had left them drained, making it difficult to generate the necessary enthusiasm for testing.

There was a lot of work to do, for everyone concerned, and nobody did anything but scratch the surface.

Keep Reading
By
MotoGP

Casey Stoner’s First Day Back at Ducati Was A Success

By 4 Comments

Casey Stoner got the first testing miles of his return to Ducati under his belt on Saturday. The Australian started slowly and steadily, doing a lot of short runs to get a feel for the Ducati Desmosedici GP15, on which he spent most of the day, before upping the pace later in the afternoon.

Journalists present at the test said Stoner looked a little stiff in his early laps, not getting either elbow or knee down, but soon started to relax, and look more like his old self.

He had every reason to be wary: the last time Stoner rode a race bike on the road was during the Suzuka 8 Hours, where a throttle cable malfunction saw him thrown from the bike, injuring his scapula and tibia in the process.

Furthermore, this was his first time on a MotoGP bike for a year, his first time riding the Ducati GP15 – a very different beast indeed to the GP10, the last Ducati Stoner raced – and his first time on the Michelins. Despite that, he told reporters he was very happy with how the test went.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Ducati draXter Concept Debuts in Verona

By 16 Comments

Ducati is at this year’s Motor Bike Expo in Verona, and it has a bevy of concepts and customs it wants to show the world. The Italian brand’s trio of Sixty2 Scrambler concepts didn’t really spark our engine, but the Ducati draXter Concept is certainly of note and worthy of further scrutiny.

The Ducati XDiavel was Bologna’s big reveal at EICMA this year, and while the cruiser model wasn’t our cup of tea, we might have to change our tune with this decked-out version of the machine.

Ducati says that the draXter model interprets the XDiavel from a “sports” point-of-view, and the modifications made to the machine certainly do a good job of connoting a bike that leaps from the line.

Keep Reading
By
Podcast

Two Enthusiasts Podcast – Episode 14 – Collectibles

By 4 Comments

Apologies for the long delay on Episode 14 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast, we don’t have a good excuse for the delay, so we won’t bore you with a bad one. To try and make it up to you though, we have a plethora of shows that we have recorded, which we will be releasing in a flurry over the next couple of weeks.

So we hope you enjoy Episode 14, it’s all about collecting motorcycles, motorcycles as investments, and what two-wheeled machines Quentin and I would like to see in our dream garages today, and in the future.

As always, you can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. Enjoy the show!

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Ducati Sold 54,800 Bikes in 2015 – Another Record

By 5 Comments

As expected from earlier sales reports, Ducati Motor Holding is posting a banner year for 2015. The Italian motorcycle maker says that it sold 54,800 bikes last year, a 9,683 unit (+22%) increase over the number of bikes sold in 2014.

Helping break the 50,000 units barrier, the Ducati Scrambler line accounted for virtually all of Ducati’s sales growth in 2015, with over 16,000 Scrambler models sold worldwide. As we have reported before, this paints an interesting picture of what is going on behind Borgo Panigale’s walls.

“The record sales of 2015 are the result of our company’s courage and skill,” said Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Motor Holding.

“Ducati closes 2015 with record volumes and also a substantial growth of 22% over 2014. During the year Ducati not only launched successful new motorcycles, but also a new brand, Ducati Scrambler, which immediately won global acclaim with over 16,000 sales worldwide.”

Keep Reading
By
News

Pro Italia Online Sold to AMS Ducati Dallas

By 4 Comments

Though the announcement is only going public today, Pro Italia Online was sold to AMS Ducati at the end of last year, on December 31, 2015.

The news is a big deal in the world of Ducatisti, as Pro Italia’s online store is one of the largest online retailers for Ducati parts in the United States.

Therefore, its movement from one top Ducati dealership (Pro Italia in Glendale, CA) to another (AMS Ducati in Dallas, TX) is tectonic shift in the retail power found in Ducati’s online landscape.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

Ducati 1199 Panigale Café Racer Concept by AD Koncept

By 9 Comments

I think in 2016, we will find that the whole post-authentic motorcycle movement officially jumped that shark right about at this point in time. The 2015 EICMA show was inundated with café racers and scramblers from manufacturers that wanted to cash in on the budding trend.

Now with Deus ex Machina up for sale and no Honda CB350 left behind, the industry feels ready for the next moto du jour – though not before we give it one last go, of course.

Keep Reading
By
MotoGP

Michelin Schedules Extra MotoGP Tires Tests for December

By 1 Comment

Michelin is stepping up preparations for 2016 by scheduling an extra tire test in December. The French tire maker has invited the MotoGP factories to spend two days at Jerez before Christmas, testing new front tires in cold conditions, according to GPOne.com.

Three manufacturers have accepted, Ducati, Honda, and Aprilia preparing to send their test riders to put in some laps on the latest iteration of tires at the Spanish circuit on 21st and 22nd of December.

As the test falls in the middle of the winter test ban period, contracted riders – that is, riders who will be permanent MotoGP entries for 2016 – are forbidden from riding, and only the official test riders can take part.

Keep Reading
By
Bikes

A Panigale-Powerd Ducati Monster Looks Really Good

By 15 Comments

I’m not a fan of the Monster line from Ducati. There, I said it. There is just something about the Monster models over the years that has failed to strike me as appealing, though I must say the latest crop of liquid-cooled Monsters has certainly been a step forward for me, visually.

I’m more of a fan of the Ducati Streetfigther lineup, and I still hope that Ducati has a new Streetfighter design somewhere on its design boards. Ideally, such a machine would have a Superquadro engine at its heart, and accordingly make big horsepower numbers that rip our eyeballs from our sockets.

The fate of the Streetfighter line remains to be seen though, and with each passing model year I expect to see the Streetfighter 848 finally leave the Italian company’s lineup. It would seem the Streetfighter is kaput as of the 2016 model year. -JB

As such, the Monster line could be Ducati’s only naked bike model, any year now. So, if time is really against us, and if the Monster really is to be the only naked bike from Ducati, I hope the future iterations take a lesson from this concept.

Keep Reading
By
MotoGP

So Far, Only Doing Private Tests for Casey Stoner & Ducati

By 3 Comments

Casey Stoner will not be making any public appearances on the Ducati Desmosedici any time soon. Although the Australian has been formally announced as test rider for Ducati, he will not be riding at the official tests at Sepang at the beginning of February.

Speaking to Italian website GPOne.com, Ducati MotoGP boss Davide Tardozzi said “There are still some details to arrange, but for sure, Stoner will do his first test in Malaysia, before the first official test.”

Stoner will test alongside Ducati’s long-time official test rider Michele Pirro, where he will give the Desmosedici GP16 its first run out. The Australian did the same thing at the beginning of 2015 for Honda, testing the RC213V ahead of the official test in early February.

Keep Reading
By
Podcast

Two Enthusiasts Podcast – Episode 11 – Total Recall

By 5 Comments

Recalls are not the sexiest sounding subject to discuss on the Two Enthusiasts Podcast, but with the looming recall on the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1, the guys tackle this important, and often overlooked, topic with zeal and vigor.

The show is actually more interesting than you would think, as Quentin and Jensen discuss what occurs before, during, and after a major recall like the one with the R1. We would say that this is a must-listen episode, on an unlikely subject.

As always, you can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. Cheers!

Keep Reading
By