International Motorcycle Show

[Giraffe (He/Him)]

Went to the International Motorcycle Show this afternoon. You HD haters can hate all you want, but their area was probably busiest.

Most of the manufacturers were there with their 2012 line ups.

Victory REALLY makes some ugly azzed bikes.

And Ducati makes some gorgeous bikes. Like the 1199 Panigale. 195HP/361LBS.

[Rob]

Any pics from the show? Were there any of the new Yamaha concepts there?

[Giraffe (He/Him)]

Originally Posted by Dixievet

Any pics from the show? Were there any of the new Yamaha concepts there?

Several concepts. I took a camera, but it was IMPOSSIBLE to get any shots it was so busy. Kinda pissed me off.

[LATB]

Originally Posted by Thomas

Several concepts. I took a camera, but it was IMPOSSIBLE to get any shots it was so busy. Kinda pissed me off.

so, basicially...

thread fail.

[CertInsaneC5]

Originally Posted by LarsAtTheBeach

so, basicially...

thread fail.

Ya.

[69camfrk]

Man, you know I'm a die hard HD guy, but the Ducati is just drop dead sexy!!

[Giraffe (He/Him)]

Originally Posted by 69camfrk

Man, you know I'm a die hard HD guy, but the Ducati is just drop dead sexy!!

Yeah, I think the same thing. Look at the current liter bikes and then the Ducati. It's MILES above everything else.

And the HP/Weight thing is off the charts. My Bagger is making about 60HP and it weighs in at a portly 750LBS. (Roughly)

[Giraffe (He/Him)]

I sold my Duc. Didn't really ride it often enough to keep it. I rode it to one of my summer watering holes last year. One of the 81's is an acquaintance of mine. Holy shit did he give me a hard time.

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by Thomas

Yeah, I think the same thing. Look at the current liter bikes and then the Ducati. It's MILES above everything else.

And the HP/Weight thing is off the charts. My Bagger is making about 60HP and it weighs in at a portly 750LBS. (Roughly)

One of the guys on the triple forum is a Ducati mechanic. here's his write up after attending a class on the new Ducati Panigale

Got back from Daytona late last night from the 2012 Ducati update class. Generally the updates can be done online, but with the new bike hitting the streets in a few short months, we had to go for this years class. All of about 30 minutes of the two days was spent on the changes of the current model line.

The Panigale was our main focus. Having to deal with world class bikes on a daily basis, not much has a wow factor. Ducati wow'd me with this one.

Bruce Meyers (BCM Motorsports) is the instructor Ducati training, and he's forgotten more about motorcycle engines then any three top techs know. We were fortunate to have a complete per-production bike, and one engine for hands on. This is one hell of an engine...

Big time performance, and actually serviceable. Even better, it's about as modern as it gets, and they didn't miss any small details. The switch to cam chain drive made this engine so nice to work on. Not having to remove the chain to remove the cams saves a ton of time on desmo service. While that's not unique, having pressure fed oil through the cam chain rails is. Besides the normal oil gally's in the cams, there are spray bars which is also not common.

Dry liners for the cylinders is a great step forward, and they use an O-ring system instead of sealant as others do. Another big step forward is not having to shim the crank or transmission shafts. They switched to plain bearings in the cases for the crank, and upped the size of the double roller bearings for the output shaft. Everything in the engine is quite robust. The pistons are huge due to the short stroke, and there's lots of room in the dry liners to go off the wall punching it out. With it's HP, I don't know why you would want to, but you know it will happen on those bikes owned by power crazed people.

The chassis, or lack there of is also a huge help in servicing the bike. The tank is quickly removed, then 4 electrical connectors, and 4 bolts, and the tail section is off. Maybe 10 to 15 minutes work. You can put the rear wheel in a chock, and with a jack under the engine, and about 30 minutes of work, you can remover the front of the bike, leaving the engine and swing arm.

Even the set of special tools are better then ever. They weren't designed by some engineer in the office, but by the "master" tech at the factory, so they do actually work with the bike assembled. No more of the old.. to change the oil, step one.... remove engine. Of course, like everything else, the quality comes with a price, about 5K for the tool set.

For the oober geeks, there's the GPS option, so after the track day laps, you can look at the line you took through each turn, and all the other vital stats on your lap top. In a good location with 4 satellites, they say it's accurate to 3mm.

Overall, the bike is more comfortable then the current superbikes, the engine is smaller, lighter, and more powerful, and it's going to be a pleasure to work on. We only got to sit on it.... can't wait to actually ride it


We never get to ride stuff at training. The sales pukes get to do the fun stuff.

Don't know about new blood to be honest, but this engine has been in the works for a long time now.... well over 5 years from what I'm told. One of the most impressive thing is the break from tradition in the quest for forward progress. I'm Italian, and traditions aren't taken lightly, nor is loyalty.

Radical is an understatement, and not so subtle. When was the last time you saw something branded Ducati without a trellis frame ? Same with the electronics, breaking tradition, and using something other then Magneti Marelli, though that's actually not new. They first went with Siemens on a few bikes, and the Mitsubishi system starting with the 1200 Multistrata.

The took what was good, like the veneer cam gears, and went with more of an industry standard per say, with the new chain and hydraulic tensioner system. This is like the jump from a bevel drive to a belt system. The change in electronics is huge, and the bikes have been 100 times better then in the past.

Ducati is actually assimilating BMW and Triumph in a number of areas. It's not like duel oil pumps is a new system on motorcycle engines, but they use a scavenge pump to work in a number of ways. The engine is what we like to call a dry wet sump. BMW has been doing it for a little while now. The scavenge pump lowers the internal crankcase pressure in conjunction with a fan on the end of one of the cam shafts, helping gain more HP, and at the same time slathers the oil onto the gear clusters. The pressure pump is huge, and the system runs at 7 bar. It has the duty of cooling and lubricating. Way back in the early 80's Suzuki had the SACS system, which used one pump to lube, and one for cooling. BMW Copied it on the New K engines in 05. So now Ducati is using it to even a greater advantage.

It seemed Ducati never compared notes with anybody else. Up until about 2 years ago, Harley had a test track about an hour south of us here, and we often had to work on BMW and Triumph's that harley owned, and played with to learn how others are doing it. Everybody does it. Hell, MV Agusta has their new 675 triple coming out, and BMW is developing one. When the Triumph Tiger 800 came out, the first 9 sold in Germany were bought by BMW. Ducati has caught on now from what I can tell.

The trick is to know what is good, and improve on it. From what Bruce told us, Ducati addressed every issue he had a beef about.

We did get to do a bit more then make the braap noise... We had a little time at the end of the day, and put the bike on the dyno. With a new engine, couldn't really run it hard, but lets just say the puppy can make some noise box stock at 138....

[Yamma]

so.....no pics?

[LATB]

Originally Posted by Yamma

so.....no pics?

Originally Posted by Thomas

Several concepts. I took a camera, but it was IMPOSSIBLE to get any shots it was so busy. Kinda pissed me off.

Originally Posted by LarsAtTheBeach

so, basicially...

thread fail.

[Giraffe (He/Him)]

Interesting JRD. I know Ducati's can be pretty temperamental machines, and it's not cheap to fix them. I never had any problems with mine, but in all honesty, I didn't ride it too often or too hard.

The 998 felt like a childs bicycle after getting off either of my HD's it was so light.

[Stangkiller]

Originally Posted by LarsAtTheBeach

yeah Lars pretty much sumed this one up.

[Chuck A]

Ducati does make a sweet bike for sure
very nice, indeed

[Giraffe (He/Him)]

Originally Posted by Stangkiller

yeah Lars pretty much sumed this one up.

Try a Google Image Search. I'm fairly certain you will find several photos that are much better than I was able to gather at the crowded show.

Or, you could just act like the LATB fanboy you are.

I guess we know which decision you made don't we little man?

[LATB]

Originally Posted by Thomas

Try a Google Image Search. I'm fairly certain you will find several photos that are much better than I was able to gather at the crowded show.

Or, you could just act like the LATB fanboy you are.

I guess we know which decision you made don't we little man?

talk about decisions...

you chose to start a motorcycle show thread...and expect members to "google images to find several photos"

then, when challenged...you throw insults instead of taking the hit like a man.

I can see why one with your mindset would vote for Obama.

[Tank's]

Originally Posted by LarsAtTheBeach

I can see why one with your mindset would vote for Obama.

[VatorMan]

Was BMW there? Did they have a 1600 GTL ?

[Giraffe (He/Him)]

Originally Posted by VatorMan

Was BMW there? Did they have a 1600 GTL ?

There were some BMW bikes there, but I don't recall the 1600 GTL, most likely because I am not up to date on their current line up.

I will say this however. BMW riders and Automobile owners couldn't be a more different group. The BMW bike owners are SERIOUS riders.