IL4 - no thanks. I love the punchy, grip finding, long legged power delivery of a (desmo) V twin.:bouncy:

I didn't like the 999 range when they came out, but now i really love it, especially 04 R or the 05 models.

And i'mwith UKRR when he says "you need to choose if you want to ride an Italian V twin or something else"
If what you want is an Italian twin, the 999 is the way to go.

Get a 999, put on a 916 top fairing, a single sided swing arm, a wet clutch & sort out a decent exhaust and along with some sort of alternative to the existing cam belts and your done!

As for an IL 4, not for me and if I did go down that route I would go with a jap bike coz they have lots of years of development and refinement.

I like a V engine and have often wonderd if Ducati have ever thought of a V3 as a compromise for a road bike, less development costs etc.

Ducati never had success with inline bikes. Vees are the way to go for them. V4 would be the most logical next step for the consumer side, but that lovely torque down low with a V twin is hard to overlook. The new monsters are a real blast with a variety of engines and styles, probably the best styles of the '05 line up. Hopefully, a new V4 would come out with the kind of jaw dropping styling that we loved with the 916/748......not an Italian version of the kind of bland VFR.
Drink some more Vino itais and bring us something nice! Can't wait

The best thing they could od to the 749/999 range is to make them LIGHTER! every time i look at comparison tests the jap bikes are not putting out too much more power than a good 999 '05 but weigh at least 20kg lighter - leight weight has so much more benefits than increasing power (need that Shazaam fella now) as Colin chapman did with Lotus cars. So the big bore 999 neednt't happen - just make it weigh alot less.