Do you like new model motorcycles? Of course you do. Well, this time next week, Ducati Motor Holding will be making a presentation to the motorcycling media at its Bologna headquarters. The invitation in our inbox is light on details (unsurprisingly), though smart money would be on Ducati debuting some of its model refreshes for next year, and possibly its much anticipated 2014 Ducati 899 Panigale.
I had a good chuckle last week, you see one of my Facebook groups posted up some rumors they heard about the upcoming Ducati middleweight sport bike — namely that it would have a double-sided swingarm. “That’s ludicrous,” I said to myself, as I posted an even snarkier reply to the Facebook (oh sweet internet, how you bring the asshole out in all of us).
Hrmm…well, it appears I was wrong, as spy photos of the “Ducati 899 Panigale” surfaced just days later, and sure enough, there is a double-sided swinger bolted onto the Babigale™.
While it surely gets my goat that I was pie-in-the-face wrong on this rumor (on Facebook no less), what really grinds my gears was that the new model from Borgo Panigale flies in the face of my basic understanding of how Italy’s iconic motorcycle brand even thinks.
With the 2013 EICMA show just a couple months away, it is unsurprising to see next year’s bikes cropping up on the internet — case in point, this photo of the Ducati 899 Panigale.
Rumored since the Ducati 1199 Panigale broke cover two years ago, the Bologna Brand’s supersport-class sport bike appears to be mostly as expected, though it is surprising to see Ducati fitting a standard-style swingarm to the machine instead of continuing its iconic single-sided design.