Desmosedici Rr Spied!

DESMOSEDICI RR SPIED!

"So what?" you say, a photo of a Ducati Desmosedici MotoGP bike at a racetrack. Taken during pre-season testing, if the flat-black paint is any indication, before the year's sponsorship deal was confirmed. Uh, look closer. See those things jutting out from either side of the fairing? They're called mirrors Inset in those are turnsignals And in front is a headlight, out back a taillight, and beneath that a license plate. How so? Because this is the prototype for the forthcoming Desmosedici RR streetbike undergoing R&D testing at the Adria circuit near Venice, Italy. Last summer, during World Ducati Week at Misano, Italy, company president Federico Minoli announced that Ducati would build a limited run of Desmosedici RRs to be sold for 50,000 Euros (approximately $65,000 at current exchange rates). Predictably, the first one will be delivered to its new owner at the next World Ducati Week in 2006. Little else is known about the streetbike at this time, except that it's loud-and fast! With the racehikes now pumping out 250 horsepower, even a detuned version of the 989cc, dohc VFour should make 200 hp easy, which should make it the fastest production motorcycle in history. Unless the rumors about a street-legal Honda RC211V are true...

Brian Catterson