Ducati to add a V4 motor...
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G
Guest
·So what does everyone think here? I mean it's obvious they are going to add some V4 bikes to their line up - it's a must. Do you think they will go to all 4's? Or leave some twins in the mix. They've been a v-twin company for so long, I'm not sure they'd drop it just like that.
G
Guest
·earlier interview with ducati ceo said that v4's aren't something they were planning on pursuing in the near future... now whether bimota can cough up a couple of units to put in their bikes is completely another thing... bimota hasn't done much since going bankrupt a few years back... remember the 500 gpdue? fuel injected two stroke that never made it? bimota has a big mountain to climb yet.
i believe we'll see valve head changes (2 in 1 out, etc) before ducati throws in a v-4 into the bunch... jmho.
i believe we'll see valve head changes (2 in 1 out, etc) before ducati throws in a v-4 into the bunch... jmho.
G
Guest
·My guess is that they'll keep building air-cooled twins for as long as demand exists and they can sneak them by the Sound and Fury police. I can see the V4 taking the place of the desmoquattro somewhere down the road. The 999 is no longer the prettiest girl in town, and it looks like a V twin won't be the de facto machine to have in superbike any longer.
Either way, it'll be interesting.
Either way, it'll be interesting.
With a V-4 doing incredible powering the MotoGP bike, Duc would be stupid not to introduce it to the public.
My bet is the V-4 will come in a high-end MotoGP (modified 999) and will be $$$$. It is a natural marketing move and should broaden the bikes appeal. Come on you think the DUC board can stomach the MV Agusta SP-4 coming out without a comparable street bike?
I'd like to see a 600 cc V-4 get introduced (in 2-3 years) if the smaller engine can continue to produce in a scalled down version. Then hit the US shores and open up to the AMA 600 world.
I'm sure we will always have the twin, but the future is in the four if DUC is going to compete against the likes of Honda, etc.
My bet is the V-4 will come in a high-end MotoGP (modified 999) and will be $$$$. It is a natural marketing move and should broaden the bikes appeal. Come on you think the DUC board can stomach the MV Agusta SP-4 coming out without a comparable street bike?
I'd like to see a 600 cc V-4 get introduced (in 2-3 years) if the smaller engine can continue to produce in a scalled down version. Then hit the US shores and open up to the AMA 600 world.
I'm sure we will always have the twin, but the future is in the four if DUC is going to compete against the likes of Honda, etc.
I don't think Ducati can afford NOT to build a V4. It will probably be in an astronomically priced limited production SBK homologation special initially, (maybe even for 2004 with the rules change). I think they will continue to develop the V2 for now, and maybe release a V4 twin pulse for the street. I'm pretty sure they could put the V4 into the current 999 with little modification. Add some new bodywork and you have an all new bike!!!
Mark
Mark
Does anybody have an idea of the price tag for one of the MotoGP bikes?
I can't ever see Ducati breaking away from the V-Twin completely, no way.
However, with the success and popularity they've been having at MotoGP, it's appropriate for them to start spending some R&D money on branching off a lower cost V4 with street reliability. If they can efficiently (ie: low R&D costs) bring the production costs down along with increasing consumer reliability, not to mention how on earth they'd deal with emission nazi's. they'd probably enjoy a nice market.
I think it'd be more profitable in the short run to toss a 99X into the MotoGP body, dumb down the components a bit, and offer that to the consumer... like what Honda did between the RC211V and CBR600RR.
But then there's the race market, and that add's a whole lotta complexity of potential between MotoGP and the Streetbike consumer, so maybe there's better profits to concentrate there for a while (with the side effect of lowering costs and adding reliability for consumer's down the road...)
Ducati's MotoGP bike is so gosh dang pretty.
I can't ever see Ducati breaking away from the V-Twin completely, no way.
However, with the success and popularity they've been having at MotoGP, it's appropriate for them to start spending some R&D money on branching off a lower cost V4 with street reliability. If they can efficiently (ie: low R&D costs) bring the production costs down along with increasing consumer reliability, not to mention how on earth they'd deal with emission nazi's. they'd probably enjoy a nice market.
I think it'd be more profitable in the short run to toss a 99X into the MotoGP body, dumb down the components a bit, and offer that to the consumer... like what Honda did between the RC211V and CBR600RR.
But then there's the race market, and that add's a whole lotta complexity of potential between MotoGP and the Streetbike consumer, so maybe there's better profits to concentrate there for a while (with the side effect of lowering costs and adding reliability for consumer's down the road...)
Ducati's MotoGP bike is so gosh dang pretty.
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3,677 Posts
It's all speculation. We won't know if Ducati will sell V-4 bikes until somebody at Ducati actually announces it.
As for Ducati switching to all V-4 bikes, that's about as likely as having them produce all 4-valve engines right now.
As for Ducati switching to all V-4 bikes, that's about as likely as having them produce all 4-valve engines right now.
G
Guest
·I do believe that this article was linked from the ProItalia website a few months ago.
The CEO was already quoted as saying a moto GP based product would hit the street. It's not that hard to make a Moto GP engine street reliable. Just remember that the Ducati Moto GP engine makes 240 bhp, even if you detuned it to 200 BHP it would last forever!! For the street, even 165 would be INSANE!!!
M
M
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1,555 Posts
I'm no expert, but I don't see why they wouldn't build a V-4 for a certain street bike. Someone said a twin pule, and that would be perfect. Does anyone know the reasons why they canned the twin pulse version of the MotoGP bike early on?
To me it seems obvious to have V-twin Multistradas and Monsters, and V-4 superbikes.
To me it seems obvious to have V-twin Multistradas and Monsters, and V-4 superbikes.
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3,677 Posts
They did a lot of track testing of the twin-pulse versus the uneven firing current motor and they found that the twin pulse was both less reliable and less powerful. There was a clear advantage to the uneven firing motor.
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