If there’s one theme that sums up the flock of bikes Ducati brought to EICMA this year, it’s ‘bigger and better.’ Along with the Scrambler Cafe Racer, Full Throttle and Desert Sled models, the Italian brand raised the bar yet again with a brand new 998cc Panigale V4R and bigger Diavel and Hypermotard, not to mention a mid-sized adventure bike in the Multistrada and a special edition Stealth 821 Monster.
The headlining act is undeniably the Panigale V4R. Its whole existence is to justify Ducati’s return to World Superbike racing, so do that means it needs the stats from the factory to complete. It weighs just 363 lbs and produces 221 horsepower right off the showroom floor, though if you strip it of road legal components and fit a performance exhaust, it’ll crank out 234 horsepower. In other words, you barely need to breathe on the bike to turn it into a motorsport monster.
Falling under the shadow of the of Ducati’s new world challenging superbike, but no less important, are the new larger capacity Diavel, Hypermotorad and 950 Multistrada. As the segment of mid-sized adventure bikes heats up and grows in population the new, smaller adventure bike will prove incredibly important for the brand. Companies from all over the world, like Triumph, BMW, Aprilia and even Harley Davidson, are starting to throw in contenders to the ADV segment. It’ll be interesting to see how Ducati holds its own.
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