BIKE REVIEWS
Ducati Streetfighter:
The Secret Superbike
by Tony D'Augusta
Years ago a “naked” bike usually inferred a ratted out pieced together unit that had been created from someone’s junked sportbike.
Not so anymore! Today the naked class is a well thought out cohesion of form and function that has the performance of its base platform with the addition of comfort and attitude.
Being the owner of an Aprilia Tuono Factory, I was anxious to test this offering from Ducati against the likes of my scoot.
Ducati took its heritage of the all-arounder in the Monster and created the Streetfighter based on the superbike line a la 848/1098/1198.
Our demo was the white standard with Showa front forks and Sachs rear shock. The S versions have full Ohlins components and traction control to boot. Our demo also came with a Termingoni slip-on system and corresponding ECU.
Thumbing the starter brought the beast to life in a booming symphony through the slip-ons. Ah you never get tired of that sort of music. This mill is a mix of 1198 bottom end with a 1098 top end that produces about 140 rear wheel horsepower. The configuration has been modified from the superbikes to deliver more torque with only a slight change in peak horsepower (5 hp if I recall).
This bikes ergos are a nice blend of comfort and aggression. The leg room is spacious and relaxed and the reach to the bars is aggressive but not bending you over the tank in racer crouch. The feel is that of sitting over the front wheel. You are way up over it and the addition of 35mm of swing arm length means this thing is stable and trying to keep that front wheel down.
Out on the road the Streetfighter is swift, relaxed and torquey pushing you forward with an effortless wave of power and great booming twin sound. It has a very similar engine character to my Tuono just with 20 more horsepower and about 25 less pounds. This power is also put down in such a way that it is easy to ride and modulate.
I found the front Showa forks responsive to set up and was able to get a good feel from them.
This bike has the best front brakes I’ve ever ridden, period. Super powerful, they will haul it down from hyper speed to nil in nothing flat with one finger effort. You’ll want to ease into it!
As I worked my way out into the twisty bits of East County the bike’s
character revealed itself to me. This bike is stable, I mean really stable!
Put in over on your knee and wind on the throttle and its unflappable.
This stability does have a trade off in that it also requires more body
english to transition it from side to side. In the tight stuff, you’ll
be working a bit more.
That said though, with a little chassis geometry changing, there’s no
doubt you could get it flicking on its side very nicely! ;-)
Despite having no wind screen to speak of, the breeze is not at all bad. I was expecting it to be, but the design of the headlamp and gauge assembly have some how negated that at all but warp speed. My only qualm with the bikes design in fact is the overzealous heat shield that resides at your right heal. Solution: I actually removed it on my second ride on the bike. The aftermarket is working on a reasonable/functional replacement for the stock unit.
Pros:
- Awesome Power and Sound
- Great Stable Chassis
- Best Brakes Ever
- Responsive Compliant Suspension
- Comfortable ergonomics
- Tough looking – its got more attitude than my 8 year old!
- Easy, forgiving bike to ride.
Cons:
- Storage: Phone and keys, not much else.
- Heat shield – Throw it away!
- Not the most flickable bike, but can be resolved through chassis adjustments.
Other:
- Pssst –This is the comfy version of the 1198! ;-)