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| Originally Posted by sbwells I think the second of these will be closer to the mark |
I hope not as it looks like a poor man's Desmosedici with the rest resembling a lightly modified existing back end to the current 999. Besides which the picture is "back to front" unless Ducati know something we don't. I prefer the first of the two if I had to make a choice but I am not too keen on the CBR600 front end resemblance. Much of the original criticism of the 999 focused on the rear end of the bike and that awful untidy exhaust and underseat area, as well as the exposed rear cylinder, which on the 916 was neatly disguised by the sides of the airbox, the lines flowing from the lower edge of the tail unit down the airbox and across the split in the side fairings down towards the nose. Claudio Domenicali's interview states that as well as taking cues from the 916, the new bike will involve much more flowing lines and do away with awkward contours, and frankly none of the new artist impressions convey that. The raptors and rockets pictures are some months old now and look like a real lash up. I also hope they dispense with the controversial side air deflectors as well, as these do nothing for the lines of the bike IMHO. The only decent picture is the 1200R mock up (which was originally published in the German "Motorrad" magazine). Any indications that R & R might publish ,seem as far fetched as the MCN comical efforts. The spy shots published in Italian "Motosprint" magazine appear to offer little in the way of the final form of the bike, but in conclusion the only certainty we know of is the mechanical configuration which will be I imagine very close to 900Man's sourced info. Speculation reigns at present but it doesn't hurt to do so. With a little over ten weeks to go to EICMA 2006 in Milan, my guess is that the bike will have to break cover soon for final shakedown testing and it's only then, assuming there are some keen eyed snappers around at the time, we will finally get to see something resembling the final offering before the covers officially come off in Milan.