I'm not going to argue with your logic but I'd like to point out a couple of things.
1) I have ridden the V4R and the V4S back to back for about 20 miles each. I don't need to go into detail as others have done a better job but I found the V4R to be a superior bike in several key areas.
2) This is supposed to be the anniversary of the 916, one of the- if not THE- most important and iconic racing bike in Ducati history. You're going to slap the 916 name on as lower tier model, give it a neat paint job, put on the dry clutch, and call that "special?" Sorry, that's not right.
If you wanted a V4S all along and didn't want the Speciale (which are much cheaper on the used market right now, by the way) and this is more to your liking then I have no problem with that.
However, if you have an affinity for the 916 gen SPS, Corsa, and R models like I have then this bike falls so short of what I was so ready to buy. And they didn't have to reinvent the wheel. All they needed to do was a V4R motor, frame and suspension, gold magnesium wheels, this same painted S bodywork, and a race kit like what came with my superleggera. They could have done all of that for 40k and I would have taken the first one to hit US shores. Depreciation be damned. It would be an epic bike to own and ride and I'd have a very high spec V4 that I could pile up miles on and enjoy owning for years and years.
Instead, it's nothing worthy of a 916 Anniversary name and nothing close to a suitable "Fogarty edition," in my opinion (and my bank account's opinion). They dumbed it down instead of making it what it should have been.
Look, as I said, I have the right to change my mind later but at this point I think I am going to stay on the sidelines and hope Ducati makes something better.
