Originally published at: A very Ducati video about Ducati's new electric motorcycle | Boing Boing
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I used to know a guy who worked as an independent motorcycle mechanic. He was the go-to guy for every Ducati owner in the area. He also rode a Ducati. Yes, they broke down but no one seemed to care much and they just enjoyed their time together. Part of the fun was fixing stuff, helping others and solving problems.
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They are a very favorite motorcycle in a place I used to live with incredible country and ocean cliff-side roads for riding. I took my Triumph, at the time, to a Duc/Triumph mechanic and the stories were always entertaining.
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It sounds like a toy.
That’s a step in the right direction; ever had a neighbor who blasts their ‘hog’ down your street in the wee or late hours?
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A bit off topic, but if BMW ever produces an electric version of the R1250GS, I’ll be the first in line to buy it.
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I’ll miss the signature “your transmission has detonated” sound of the Ducati dry clutch.
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Lovely. They finally invent a bike that sounds exactly like the light cycles in TRON. If I had fifty grand I was not using, I would have a Ducati.
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Technical question.
Ducati stayed at 2 cylinders long after most other sportbike manufacturers had gone to 4 cylinders. The supposed reason was that it was better to have less smooth output… the pulses of power would break the tire loose a little, but then the longer time between cylinder firings let it get some grip back. This meant either a better sense of when you’re about to lose grip, or even slightly more grip overall (depending on who you talk to). When they eventually went to V4 engines, they used a twin pulse firing order to mimic this effect from their L-twins.
So, with electric, the output can be much smoother… negating what was once a Ducati advantage. My question is: I wonder what’s up with that. Was it a real advantage? Do they not care, because they are the spec bike manufacturer for this series? I’m sure you could program power pulses in to an electric motor (and even vary it by lean angle! … 
ducati call me!!)
I love my Ducati, which is now a classic! It’s been very reliable… but, of course, it needs lots of maintence. It works out to about $20/gallon.
Yeah, and the corresponding horrified ‘Is it supposed to be like that?’ facial expressions of innocent bystanders.
Mine had/has no clutch cover or belt covers to add to the terror.
It smoked and stank of petrol and the noise was like someone banging on your head with a pipe. And that dry clutch squealed on takeoff and was absolutely awful.
But once moving and on the right kind of road it was sublime!
Changing gears made a delightful ‘SCHIZZ-DUMMMM’ and shutting the throttle into corners produced a sinfully horny ‘ORMMMMHHHHhhhhhhh’.
And under acceleration it seemed that the thing ran on noise and the more noise it made, the faster it went.
Around town it was a nightmare but on traffic free back-roads for an no more than an hour - it was… sensual.
I’m all about electric powered stuff but I don’t expect they’ll have the personality of the old air-cooled twins.
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It was.
Honda first used the idea on their 500 two-stroke ‘Big Bang’ GP bikes. By applying the power in four pulses close together it gave the tyre time to grip and made the bike a little tamer. The technology lives on it the cross-plane cranks that are all the rage now.
In a nutshell, this is why dirt-bikes tend to be single cylinder affairs (also single cylinder engines are much lighter). If you’ve ever tried to ride an old-school four cylinder bike across a muddy campsite you will know that this is quite challenging. Whereas single and twin cylinder bikes can generally manage this with little fuss.
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Hang on…is this a promo video for only a racing bike, and not a consumer product?
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