The new chassis.....and engine for the 1199
 

Ducati's range of bikes. The 799 is on its way and out goes steel trellis for its sports bike range. The 1199 and 799 engines are designed for a mono chassis not steel trellis. But the Streetfigher, Monster, Multi, Super and Diavel all use a steel trellis.
So are Ducati then going to design a new 1199 and 799 engines to fits steel trellis as the new engine drops dowen the range which, following convention it will. Are they going to drop steel trellis through the range, or have 2 distinct types of chassis and engine config. It seems the inter operability of components just took a serious turn for the worse with the new 1199, though its a great bike.

Interested to hear anyone who knows what they intend to do as they must have had the thought.

I have just written about this very subject in the next edition of Pronto... ;)

Here is the answer:

Ducati engineers have confirmed that the power plant can be utilized without the accompanying monocoque chassis. Even allowing for the more restricted breathing found on the Streetfighter a 1199 powered version should be able to produce at least 180bhp, enough to act as a foil to the Aprilia.

Interesting thread.

The question is does the factory have enough space, and logistic support to accomodate two distinctly different chassis prod lines? I know it's only assembly etc so the probably answer is yes.

given the increase in the number of bike types Ducati new produce then you would have to hope so. For an Italian company they are very pragmatic.

Ducati only have two lines - one for the engines and one for the bike build.

They have short production runs which last days, and those engines/bikes can differ between any model in the range.

I don't see it being a problem to switch between bolting a 2v or 4v or SuperQuadro engine together on one line, and then bolting the frame of a Monster, Multistrada or the 1199 around that engine to complete a bike on the other.

Yeah but they have lots of space at the new Thai factory to expand,

The thai built 795 Monster already selling like hot cakes all over ASEAN area with 795 Hyper coming soon and other models in pipeline

...which is another article in the next edition of Pronto!! ;)

However, I think your assumption that Ducati would build superbikes in the Thai factory is wrong. Ducati only built the Thai factory to build mass-market bikes cheaper than they can do it in Italy. It's very similar to the MotoTrans deal, but with Ducati over-seeing the operation.

very pragmatic and forward thinking