When will Ducati V4 testing/reviews begin?

Sherpa23 said:

A motorsport journalist told me that. I wasn't really in a position to question or argue with him about so I took him at his word (with a grain of salt as I used the word "allegedly").

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Gotcha, yeah probably something loosely referenced then. Maybe the reality is it means Ducati is not going to give a magazine a V4 and tell them to just keep it for a couple weeks and do what they want with it as they may have done in the past. I know I heard rumors that Ducati was not happy with how many of the publications ran the comparison tests in recent years and it wouldn't surprise me if they exert more control over it. At least with the twin, it was always a challenge to get a journalist who normally rides 4-cyl sportbikes to hop on a Ducati and ride it the way it needs to be ridden to get the max performance from it. That may not be as much of an issue with the V4, we'll see.

I vote for first V4 to go to Captain Greg and let him rip it up and check for leaks

Oh, then ride it too.....Sorry mate....

jarelj said:

Gotcha, yeah probably something loosely referenced then. Maybe the reality is it means Ducati is not going to give a magazine a V4 and tell them to just keep it for a couple weeks and do what they want with it as they may have done in the past. I know I heard rumors that Ducati was not happy with how many of the publications ran the comparison tests in recent years and it wouldn't surprise me if they exert more control over it. At least with the twin, it was always a challenge to get a journalist who normally rides 4-cyl sportbikes to hop on a Ducati and ride it the way it needs to be ridden to get the max performance from it. That may not be as much of an issue with the V4, we'll see.

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It's something along those lines. He did mention that they weren't happy with how things had gone in the past. The specifics of the conversation were along the lines that the journalists would no longer be getting bikes to do their own tests and comparison tests. This was supposedly from DNA, not Italy, and I didn't know enough to ask about what they would be getting to do and what any Ducati related articles from North American press would be based on.

Again, this was a motorsports journalist and not a staffer at one of the motorcycle magazines. That said, I completely believe him in that I'm sure he was told something like that. It's more how it plays out in reality that I question. I mean can Ducati really afford to not have their bikes in the hands of journalists for these mega tests and reviews? I'll be the first to admit I don't read that stuff so I'm out of the loop on how Ducati has been covered in that regard in the past.

jarelj said:

Gotcha, yeah probably something loosely referenced then. Maybe the reality is it means Ducati is not going to give a magazine a V4 and tell them to just keep it for a couple weeks and do what they want with it as they may have done in the past. I know I heard rumors that Ducati was not happy with how many of the publications ran the comparison tests in recent years and it wouldn't surprise me if they exert more control over it. At least with the twin, it was always a challenge to get a journalist who normally rides 4-cyl sportbikes to hop on a Ducati and ride it the way it needs to be ridden to get the max performance from it. That may not be as much of an issue with the V4, we'll see.

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That seems very true Jarel, I watched one of those comparison tests that was done in early August, I'm not sure which mgazine it was but they couldn't lap the 1299 to within 3 seconds of the BMW and this was a track comparison, no street riding at all. I dismissed it when they voted the new GSXR as the best, even with fading brakes after 3 laps.

To the extent that this (not releasing to mags for testing) may be so, it's following a trend that's cross-industry and certainly not specific to Ducati. With so many reviews on social media these days, companies of all sorts are promoting reviews of their new products by parties with shall we say, less expertise and shallower credentials than was formerly the case. So you either get new buyers who are enthralled with their shiny new toy or someone with a Youtube channel who's similarly thrilled to have gotten the chance to demo said shiny toy for free. Sign O' the times!

I believe that the official work launch to to the journo’s will be next weekend 13th and 14th January in Spain at the Valencia circuit. Official test reviews will start coming out from Monday 15th.

So one week to go.

That is unless some lucky guy has his lalreday and wants to say a few words?

The world press launch will be in Valencia..... 20-21th january

Since there are a few on the road now I'm sure a scribe will get hold of one soon.

For a new, and I would assume, very important bike for Ducati, I'm surprised it's taking this long to get journo bums in v4 seats and get impressions out to the public.
I would have thought they would have had a dozen v4s at Sepang, or some other appropriately warm track, ready to ride right after the bike was introduced at EICMA, in order to stoke the publics interest and excitement.

vanduc996 said:

For a new, and I would assume, very important bike for Ducati, I'm surprised it's taking this long to get journo bums in v4 seats and get impressions out to the public.
I would have thought they would have had a dozen v4s at Sepang, or some other appropriately warm track, ready to ride right after the bike was introduced at EICMA, in order to stoke the publics interest and excitement.

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Guess they figured it will sell like a hot cake regardless what people said or super confident with how good the V4 will be.

Both the original 1199 press launch at Yas Marina in 2012 and the 1299 one in Portimao were in February, so they're pretty much on their normal schedule. If anything's unusual with the V4, it's seeing customer bikes delivered before the press launch, meaning they are further along in their production cycle. I would imagine that is from wanting a significant amount of product to be available to take advantage of the media launch buzz like other industries (smartphones, for example). You'd have been hard-pressed to get an 1199 for quite a few months after the press launch; not ideal timing for maximizing your marketing effect.