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Ducati Superbike 996

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Sales figures are a closely guarded secret in the two-wheeled realm, especially when it comes to numbers for specific motorcycle models. It is a shame really, as these are the kind of numbers that we here at Asphalt & Rubber love to pour over for hours, looking for insights, trends, and meanings. So for us, the above graph is made of pure motorcycling gold.

Taken from the Ducati 1199 Panigale R international press launch, where Ducati Motor Holding’s General Manager Claudio Domenicali shared with the assembled journalists the first-year sales figures for each of the Italian company’s Superbike models, the above is a direct recreation of the presentation’s slide, which unsurprisingly Ducati didn’t include when it handed us a copy of the PowerPoint presentation.

In the age of computers and smartphones, not to mention a room full of moto-journalist, it is hard to imagine how Ducati didn’t foresee this information being disseminated to the public, but I digress. After the jump are some of my initial thoughts from looking at the data on each model. We’ll be playing more with this information in the coming days as well.

Ducati superbikes are a legend in their own right, with a racing career the spans much father back in history than just the past two decades. Grabbing press kits for the 2012 EICMA show though, I stumbled across these photos from the Ducati Museum at Borgo Panigale factory.

Starting with the Ducati 851, and going all the way forward in time to the newly released Ducati 1199 Panigale R, it is interesting to see the progression in design and technology among the models (if you are into this sort of thing, be sure to checkout our 33 years of Suzuki endurance road racing bikes post).

Get your history lesson on after the jump with some high-resolution motorcycle goodness, and be sure to mention your favorite Desmo in the comments.

We really want to hate this F1 Tracker concept by Marcus Moto Design, we really do. While the BMX-style handlebars might be palatable, the huge 1970’s F1-inspired air scoop is not only awkwardly eye-catching, but could potentially make things interesting from a practicality point-of-view. So we won’t hold it against of our dear readers if the comments section is full of snarky anonymous posts blasting the F1 Tracker into motorcycling hell…honest.

But before you set phasers to kill, take a second look at this design, because there is some sheer brilliance in it. Air scoops aside (we must admit, it does grow on you after a while), the F1 Tracker’s lines have a great flat-tracker meets sport bike quality to them that makes you with the Italian company would pick-up on some of the ideas Marcus is putting down here…and then there’s the carbon fiber…everything. We like that.