EICMA: Ducati 1299 Superleggera
Ducati’s lightest and most powerful V-twin yet — and probably the most expensive, too!Ducati has revealed its most exclusive road-going V-twin twin yet, using the EICMA show in Milan to unveil the 1299 Superleggera overnight.
Using components and materials usually reserved for one-off concepts, the 1299 Superleggera’s monocoque chassis, subframe and single-sided swingarm are all constructed from carbon-fibre. So too are the wheels and the fairing, all culminating in the lightest production Superbike Ducati has ever produced tipping the scales at a remarkably low 156kg (dry).
Powering the lightweight Panigale is, you guessed it, the most powerful version of Ducati’s 1285cc Superquadro engine. It’s been tuned for an output of 215hp (158kW) at 11,000rpm while its 146.5Nm chimes in at 9000rpm. Internal componentry like titanium conrods and aluminium cylinder liners help to reduce the overall weight, and a lightweight Akrapovic titanium race exhaust is included as part of a supplied ‘race’ kit, presumably to sidestep an unsightly (and heavy) Euro4-compliant exhaust system.
It uses the latest six-axis Inertial Measurement Unit to control an updated traction control system called DTC Evo, the firm’s electronic slide control system (DSC), the cornering ABS system, the engine brake control (EBC) system, wheelie control (DWC Evo), the multi-directional quickshifter (DQS) as well as, for the first time on a Ducati superbike, the new launch control system (DPL).
As you’d expect of a bike like this, it’s adorned with both Öhlins’ and Brembo’s top-shelf offerings. The 1299 Superleggera is suspended on a fully adjustable, though void of electronic adjustment, 43mm FL936 fork as well as the TTX36 rear shock fitted with a titanium spring.
Other components included in the race kit are all the pieces required to cleanly remove the number-plate hanger, the side stand and the mirrors, as well as a bike cover, paddock stand and racing screen.
Only 500 of the 2017 Ducati Superleggera 1299 superbikes will be built globally and while the firm is yet to announce the price, Bikesales understands it will be somewhere in the region of $100,000 a pop.
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