Submitted by David Emmett on
The new Ducati color scheme. There's an empty sponsor space below the Ducati logo which should be filled by Qatar
Wings are still there. But they are likely to be refined by the time we get to Qatar
Built for speed, not for comfort
The office
Not thumb brake on left=hand side
"What's in the box, mister?"
Carbon goodness
Top right, a better look at the aero
Flex Box is a sponsor, but also what the swingarm does
A better look at the aero from the inside, along with buttons and thumb brake and more
Chin dent. The aero you don't see.
The front
Side View
Inside
Dovi in his happy place
Red Bull is back and prominent on the helmet
Big year for Lorenzo, but given the second half of last year, he should be able to live up to it
That hole in the tank? That's what it's for
Team goals
Moody
Broody
Work in progress, As is every other racing motorcycle ever.
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Comments
Desmo
What is the thumb lever on the right clip-on?
Supposedly, allows selection
Supposedly, allows selection of neutral?
Box is a seamless 6-5-4-3-2-1-N so the lever is a gate blocking the selection of neutral when in motion.
basd on heresay...
Visual balance
The heavily truncated front fairing and the transfer of more mechanical stuff around the seating area is definitely giving all ducati race bikes a predominately rearward visual bias whether this equates to weight bias?
Who knows, definitely a change from say the first 800 Honda.
As ugly as always
But also more impressive because of the hardcore functional and industrial feel to it. Could have been a KTM in terms of design. You should think that marketingwise they try to make it look like the new production V4. But no, they don't even share the design of the frame
Hi tech (and matte). Predictions
Glad they got the memo on getting the white eye drawing features off of the wings. And less white in general. There is a lot of gunmetal silver there. Notice that the whole shebang is now satin finish rather than gloss. Also hides less sleek and shapely features. I like it.
Busy! Lots of lines - not quite Eddie Van Halen's guitar, but busy lines. High tech edginess. The livery works to make the horrible shapes in black out back go away. Remember thinking the salad box was just for testing? Temporarily holding something displaced for aero? Nope.
Beautiful little silencers Akro! Again - everything is visually "hi tech" here. Is this thing going into space?
#4 is the one on primary display. Super Astronaut Dovi has a better plate of hams.
And a big Ducati Corse sticker has gone right over Jorge's red X.
Yep.
But Jorge has adapted to the Bologna Missile and has a couple tenths yet to come.
Dropping this in here too
Crystal ball -
Ducati should take another step forward this year. Honda is going to have taken a big one in the right direction and now well out of their errant 2015-2016 shite. Yamaha? Huh. I think they will get a step forward but not the two big ones they need. And Rossi is going to retire this time. And their 2019 bike will be where it needs to be. A youngster is coming for Rossi's seat. Suzuki will Suzuki, a tad better but still needing hot sauce. And better sponsorship that doesn't quite materialize. Aprilia will catch them in due time, 2018 will see improvement there. KTM could be on the trot to be in the gap between those two and the front three Manu's...and this will start to be on display as their trajectory in glimpses soon. P.Espargaro will get some better results this year. Orange will sign a really good rider to start silly season (#5?). All eyes will be on Yamaha with a question mark, either on Rossi's ability for one more season or for the new kid to excel. And their engineers are about to get a LOT of continued pressure and scrutiny, perhaps reminiscent of pre-Gigi Ducati. The bike isn't that far off really. We have a narrative that the Yamaha is a great rider friendly bike that may need an update. I will be paying very close attention to the faces and comments of VR46 and MV25 at upcoming tests to bring big news.
Ducati since Gigi has done the business. As has Dovi. And Jorge, half a season to adjust to the Duc is just fine in my book. Great work over there Red!
P.S. - you can't unsee this...that is a big piece of duct tape wrapped around the whole thing right in the middle.
I like it
And I hope it's a winner, helping Dovi battle for the title again, and getting JL into the mix as well. The closer the fight, the better!
While playing MotoGP17 I noticed that when the GP17 was viewed from a rear angle with the placement of the vents, the Ducati name, and the configuration of red and white resembled the Marlboro logo at a quick glance.
https://s2.paultan.org/image/2017/01/2017-Ducati-Corse-MotoGP-Winter-Tes...
Lucky it's fast...
... coz pretty it ain't. It's certainly 'purposeful' anyhow.
Is this a '17 bike in '18 livery? Seem they only reveal their livery now at the team launch, don't want to give their competitors any forward warning of good ideas.
If we're only talking about livery, then yeah it works quite well since all the different blocks of colour break up the less than beautiful bodywork. This colourscheme would have been a tradgedy on the c.2010 bike which was quite beautiful (but OK, not actually all that good...).
Racing already, come on! :)
Ugly
Usually I like functional designs, because there is beauty in a purposeful look. The Ducati Desmosedici however just seems to be getting uglier every year. It looks messy and incoherent to me. That does have to mean it really is messy and incoherent, but the legendary Italian style is quite absent from this assembled pile of parts. And I'm not even talking about the colour scheme. Of course they won't care as long as the bike is going to win races, but I like the looks of the Suzuki and also the KTM a whole lot more. For what that's worth...
I agree
I think the careless design is a shame to Ducati as a factory that sells more lifestyle factor in the product then anyone. It is a ratbike in a sense. It would suit a niche player like KTM. I think it is a missed change they do not share an appearance and construction of the new production v4, except engine configuration. I think Ducati want to sell as most bikes as possible the coming years by the following known and smart strategy...
1. introduce a production v4 that everybody want to have initally (like the 1199). It will have a large poweroutput, but lack some torque
some years later
2. Introduce an evolution version with a larger bore that fixes the torque issue
some years later
3. if the concept is worn out
Redesign the look of the Motogp bike and build a street package that is similar in appearance... The story will start again