Super-Fighter
Super-fighter
UP FRONT
David Edwards
HAVE TODAY’S SPORTBIKES BECOME TOO damn good for their own good?
There is no denying that the current crop of repli-racers are the highest-flying, best-performing, surest-handling motorcycles ever, able to humble exotic supercars in acceleration contests, all but raceready right off the showroom floor-most priced far below what you’d have to give for some crapbox econocar.
That level of competence in production machinery has given us as entertaining a roadrace series as there’s ever been, World Superbike, and it’s about to get even better. In 2009, Aprilia and BMW join the WSB circus (see stories this issue), fielding teams that will go up against the Japanese Big Four and Ducati making it a fight between seven factories.
But as repli-racers have evolved in sharper-focused flagships, they’ve also become, by necessity, poorer allaround motorcycles. Trackday weapons, yes, Sunday-morning blasters beyond compare, but as day-to-day commuters or, heaven forbid, for two-up duty... well, a bed o’ nails starts to look like a good alternative.
So, you say, there are plenty of other styles of bike to choose from. But are there, at least for a buyer who wants high performance and decent comfort?
Cruisers ain’t gonna cut it-too heavy, too slow, and that’s before we even start talking about cornering clearance. Sporttourers? Yeah, maybe, but a bit too Mom & Poppish. Adventurebikes? Gangly and not to everyone’s taste. Nakeds, then, surely?
Now we’re talkin’, but the true high-performance, liquid-cooled,
1000cc-plus naked bike, i.e. one that borrows heavily from a sportbike model, is not at all common.
Count the Triumph Speed Triple as the original “factory streetfighter.” It took its styling cues from the British back-alley specials built when sportbikes got tossed down the road and their owners either didn’t have insurance or didn’t want to make a claim. Strip off the trashed plastic, fit some sort of headlight(s) and mount a higher tubular handlebar-the latter better for wheelies, anyway.
The Italians got the drift and produced what many consider the best streetfighter, Aprilia’s Tuono. The Benelli TnT follows the same plan. As you can read elsewhere in this issue, the new Buell 1125CR is a successful naked follow-on to last year’s 1125R sportbike. And there’s the KTM Super Duke 990, which actually preceded the RC8 repli-racer by a year.
But that’s it. You’ll notice there are no Japanese streetfighter-style models. Honda, in fact, has nothing remotely close, at least not in the U.S. Kawasaki has dropped the quirky-looking Z1000 from its American lineup. Both Suzuki, in the Bandit 1250S, and Yamaha, in the FZ1, produce very good naked(ish) liter-class motorcycles, but they’re more standard than streetfighter.
For 2009, we have a new player, one that looks ready to set the class high-
water mark. Meet the Ducati 1098 Streetfighter-or more precisely, as pictured, the Streetfighter S, which gilds the lilly with Öhlins suspension and forged Marchesini Yspoked wheels.
Donor bike is, of course, the 1098 Superbike (superseded
by the 1198 for ’09). John Paolo Canton, who mans the PR oars for Ducati North America, says there was no thought of dumbing down the 1098 to make it into the Streetfighter.
“This is more than a parts-bin special,” he says. “It’s intended to be the ultimate naked bike, something that goes like hell, a real troublemaker.”
There were some small tweaks, as in slightly altered cam timing, a 2-inchlonger wheelbase and rake kicked out slightly to 25.6 degrees. The claim is 155 horsepower at the crankshaft, with 88 foot-pounds of torque. Gone is the ass-warming underseat-routed exhaust, replaced by a stacked stainless-steel affair on the right side.
The standard 1098 Streetfighter, with fully adjustable Showa suspension all ’round, will retail for $14,995; the S-model will go for $17,995 and also includes Ducati’s eight-mode traction-control system.
Seems streetfighting just got a lot more serious. □
