Saturday, January 5, 2013

Ducati 1098 Streetfighter

TMS just bought a primo pre-owned 2010 Ducati 1098 Streetfighter. It's pearl white and has 2,201 original miles. I'm going to let the reviews do the talking on this amazing sportbike. We're offering it for $11,999.

I’m shooting through the corners on a vicious tide of acceleration, noise and quick gratuitous gear changes. An angry right hand sees the bike smash towards the horizon as time dilates like a once cool Matrix special effect. The Ducati Streetfighter 1098 willingly responds, launching me into the next penal code with a twitch of remorseless unforgiving throttle. With the first ride there’s no doubt that Streetfighter doesn’t mean naked or softer; this is a superbike… stripped.


integrated LED lighting on the tail section...
Roll onto the throttle coming out of an apex and the Streetfighter rewards you with power, bonkers mad power, hurtling you through to the next turn. The frame is derived from the 1198’s but features a 25.6 degree head angle (rather than the superbike’s 24.5 degrees) and the swingarm is some 35mm longer, adding to the stability and giving a beautiful stable and planted response to the turns.


Luckily there is another ying to this engine’s yang; a pair of Brembo Monoblocs swiped from the 1198 parts bin, biting on 330mm discs up front. These are powerful, use one finger only brakes, pulling you down from speed in a heartbeat.
...and on each bar end.
Every ride I’ve done on this bike offers a heart pounding, eye widening experience. - Neil Johnston, OneWheelDrive.net

Next to sheer performance, aesthetics rank high on a Ducati engineer’s list when crafting a new masterpiece. Yet again, they’ve managed to hit a homerun in the styling department. If you look closely at the front facia, the twin air intakes and LED running lights are located in the same position as the Superbike. Above, a larger halogen head light is flanked by sleek-looking stalk-mount turn signals. Also new are the stylized fluid reservoirs, and its smaller switchgear not only look cooler, they function more intuitively too. 
A fresh-looking instrument display stays in theme with the slimmer handlebar-mounted switchgear. By default the display provides speed information digitally, while rpms are displayed in a bar graph style from left-to-right. Additional functionality, including time, ambient air/coolant temperature, battery voltage, and trip meters, can be accessed via the left-hand handlebar-mounted switch. The S model adds additional functionality with its standard Ducati Data Analysis (DDA) and Ducati Traction Control (DTC) feature. The dash unit also incorporates various warning lights (neutral, turn signals, high beam, rev limit, low oil pressure, fuel reserve and DTC intervention status (on S model), as well as scheduled maintenance. - Adam Waheed, MotorcycleUSA.com

Ever since Ducati started selling the Streetfighter in the US we kept hearing happy owners bragging about their exquisite rides and decided it was time to get some professional riding impressions. So we started from the already very good opinion that we had on it after simply reading the specs and came to find that this is an uncompromising naked motorcycle with superbike-like performance. Great! 
No wonder, considering the fact that both the standard Streetfighter and the S version are powered by an L-Twin, Testastretta Evoluzione 1098 engine, the same one found on the 1098 superbike (except the shorter intake tracts), makes these very promising Italian bikes…as promising as 155 hp and 85lb-ft of torque at 9500 rpm can be.
Ducati built the Streetfighter with pure performance in mind so apart from using Showa suspension on the base model and Ohlins on the special one as well as lighter forged-aluminum Marchesini wheels and carbon fiber pieces (front fender and cam-belt covers, like on all other “S” models of the Italian house), both models feature magnesium cylinder-head covers, clutch and headlight bracket for even lighter overall weight. 

The whole idea behind the 2010 Ducati Streetfighter is to have a stripped down superbike, so if we look at the “totally necessary pieces” such as the front fender, fuel tank and rear tail section it is easy to spot the same design lines as on the Ducati superbike models.

Designing an aggressive bike was a must and the excellent results show when looking at the main headlight underneath which are found the twin air intakes and LED lighting components. The bike also features an LED taillight, which is perfectly integrated in the sharp tail. Still, this piece of the bike looks like being positioned a little too high given the fact that there are no exhaust pipes running underneath it. In fact, the right rider side shotgun exhaust will have your eyes running between it, the tail and the stylish rear wheel (on both models), which stands out thanks to the single-sided swingarm.

No fairing means more work masking all the wiring and making components that would have normally been covered look good. We must say the Streetfighter’s engine department unveils nothing but a muscular L-twin motor when looking between the tubular steel trellis frame’s tubes.

The instrument panel is brand new and designed in the Ducati style. This offers digital speed and revs display as well as time, ambient air/coolant temperature, battery voltage, trip meters and warning lights – neutral, turn signals, high beam, rev limit, low oil pressure, fuel reserve, DTC intervention status (on the “S” model) and scheduled maintenance. - Maxx Biker, TopSpeed.com

THE END






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