Supermono For the Street

SUPERMONO FOR THE STREET

ROUNDUP

PUBLIC RESPONSE IS A wonderful thing, especially when it results in better motorcycles, and more of them. That, apparently, is the case with Ducati’s new single-cylinder Super-mono racer. The company has been working on a street version of the machine, intended as a limited-production piece built to occupy a very small niche market.

But public response to the Supermono’s styling has far exceeded anything Ducati was prepared for, according to factory insiders. So, it’s back to the drawing board, as Ducati does a rethink that involves making the Supermono a more important player in the company’s lineup for the second half of this decade.

This means that this year’s batch of 30 Supermono racebikes will serve, at least in part, as development mules for another, much larger batch of racebikes planned for 1994. Meanwhile, work already has started on the Supermono streetbikes, which probably will be shown at the 1994 Cologne Show as 1995 models. At present, the line is projected to include a fullfairing sportbike, a less expensive (but still fuelinjected) half-faired version and a carbureted, unfaired version that will serve as the Supermono line’s base model.

Alan Cathcart