If Ducati somehow turns this around by presenting a beautiful bike in Milan, I will be the first to tip my hat to them and say that was extraordinarily well done. I just have my doubts that will be the case. On the other hand, if this is a just a massive ploy then it is very well executed and, as suggested, has us all talking about the bike. I would even go so far to suggest that it has many are now looking at adding the last of the Panigales because they think this is the end of beautiful Ducati superbikes. It would be well done marketing if this is the case.
The reason to buy a 1299 NOW would be that you know it's the last of the big twin Superbikes, not because it's the last of the great looking Superbikes.
All good points, for certain. However, and you would know better than anyone else, you're saying that not once has anyone walked into your dealership and bought the last issuance of a motorcycle because the coming generation isn't to their taste from a beauty perspective?
who are those poofs?
How the bike actually LOOKS will be the very last thing that Ducati will want anyone to know for certain, they take a lot of pride in launching bikes of this significance in Italy at the EICMA show in Milan, and they will take extraordinary measures to make sure that EICMA is the venue for the world to drool over the hot, sexy new Ducati Superbike.'
I'm told by a reliable source this not the bike. Believe what you want, but I have faith Ducati will come through.
As reliable as TJ99 who if what we believe is correct, is better placed than anyone to verify these pictures are genuine?
I don't doubt these pictures ARE the "real deal", but they don't necessarily portray the final design. For all we know these pictures could be months old. Bear in mind that early pre-production bikes can exist several months before a new model launches. I hope so. I also hope they manage to do something with the hideous rear subframe which looks pretty bulky. ST4 on steroids at the moment.
I agree with all of this. There could still be some final tweaking and we all know that color scheme and graphics can do a lot to both hide bad lines and accentuate good ones. All of that said, I just can't see how we have a significantly different bike come EICMA time. I guess we will find out on November 9.
Not that it matters, but I'm inclined to believe it is the bike. That guy standing behind it in one of the pictures looks a lot like the Ducati test rider that does all their promo videos. But I also think the pictures going around are greatly distorted and not really representative of what the bike is going to look like in the flesh or with real studio shots. But hey, gives everyone a reason to talk about Ducati for the next two months.
Meanwhile, the spy pics of the new S1000 look really interesting. Epic times to buy a liter bike these are.
Is there not a dealer conference soon, where attendees get a secret look at the new V4 prior to EICMA in November? If so, after the event, surely JarelJ can confirm (albeit obviously not by way of images) that this recent crop of photos is way off the mark and that we will be pleasantly surprised OR that this really is what we'll end up seeing. Over to you official dealers. It's not exactly breaching any non disclosure agreement to confirm if these pictures are representative of the finished product after all, as the "end" product will still remain a mystery.
I get that but merely indicating if the current photos are representative of what we will see in November is hardly disclosure is it? After all you are only indicating whether they are a passing resemblance or not. Doesn't make us any the wiser as to how the finished article looks like so you're not breaching the terms of the agreement in essence, since you've disclosed no actual details.Dealer meeting is in Italy in mid-October. But as usual, there will be non-disclosure agreements signed, so none of us will be coming on here and dishing the scoop on anything. Gotta wait until EICMA!