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Streetfighter V4

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The business structure of Ducati Motor Holding is a lot like one of those nesting Russian dolls – the Italian motorcycle brand is owned by Lamborghini, which is owned by Audi, which is owned by Volkswagen…whose stock is largely owned by Porsche, which is also owned by VW.

Are you still with me? Good, because it will can also be a little confusing without this knowledge to see the Lamborghini name on a motorcycle. This isn’t the first time that the two Bologna companies have made a fraternal partnership, however.

The Ducati Diavel 1260 Lamborghini was a polarizing project, but a strong-seller for Ducati, with the bike selling out almost instantly once it debuted.

Lamborghini and Ducati are now looking to rekindle that magic, and have tapped the Ducati Streetfighter V4 S for the job. As such, say hello to the Ducati Streetfighter V4 Lamborghini.

The Ducati Streetfighter V4 is already a pretty bonkers machine when it comes to “daily riders” that are just as comfortable on the street as they are on the track.

The 205hp on tap seems to come in waves as the V4 engine revs and revs and revs, as you hold onto dear life from the sheer wind force hitting your body.

If you have never experienced this, we recommend it as one of life’s simple pleasures. Like drinking an ice cold Mountain Dew on a hot summer’s day. But we digress…

How do you take a potent machine and crank it up to 11? You give it the “SP” treatment, in the form the 2022 Ducati Streetfighter V4 SP.

Starting next Thursday, Ducati will be debuting a new motorcycle for the 2022 model year every two weeks.

The releasing event culminates on December 9th, and we already know what bike will capstone Ducati's new model debut: the Ducati DesertX.

For those that didn't get the memo, the following is the schedule and teasing title for Ducati's six-part unveiling schedule online:

  • September 30, 2021 - "Your everyday wonder"
  • October 14, 2021 - "Mark your roots"
  • October 28, 2021 - "Rule all mountains"
  • November 11, 2021 - "A new Fighter in town"
  • November 25, 2021 - "The evolution of Speed"
  • December 9, 2021 - "Dream Wilder - DesertX"

As we can see, Ducati is being less obvious with some of its debuts than others, but with some insight into what the Italian brand has been up to, and which bikes it updated and debuted last year, we can reasonably discern what to expect in the coming weeks.

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Where the Panigale V4 goes, the Streetfighter V4 follows – or so the thinking would be, if all things were rational in Borgo Panigale.

At the very least, it would explain today’s rumor about the Italian brand, as Motorcycle.com is reporting that Ducati is preparing to release a Streetfighter V4 SP model.

That news comes from EPA documents that the publications has scoped, which indicated the name of the bike, and that no changes are made to its 205hp (152 kW) V4 engine.

The Ducati Streetfighter V4 and Ducati Streetfighter V4 S are being recalled in the United States because of issues concerning their flywheels.

The issue stems from the fact that the generator rotor (flywheel) could have a potential metallurgical issue – the steel bars used to form the flywheel may have cracks that even after the forging process are still present on the final component.

This could lead to the flywheel breaking during use.

If you haven’t read my thoughts on riding the Ducati Streetfighter V4 S already, I suggest you do so before going further. Don’t worry it is a “short” review – only a couple thousand words or so.

For the TL;DR crowd, the Ducati Streetfighter V4 S is an amazing machine. It has all the low-speed manners that its 1098 predecessor lacked, but does so without sacrificing the astounding speed and horsepower found from its Panigale V4 lineage.

“Refinement” is the word that I keep coming back to when I talk about the Streetfighter V4 S, which is both a nod to the differences found from the Streetfighter 1098, but also an acknowledgement of the bar that Ducati is setting with its motorcycle lineup.

At $24,000 a pop – roughly $5,000 more than its closest competition – the Ducati better bring something extra to the table, and frankly buyers expect a more polished machine when they are paying that kind of pricing premium.

Is the Ducati that much better than the Aprilia or KTM? The journalist in me says the jury is still out, primarily because of the testing restrictions we have to deal with concerning the coronavirus outbreak.

But, I can speak about its refinement, which is what I want to do today.

Every new model year, I sit down and write a short list with the bikes I simply have to swing a leg over before the year is out.

The list is governed mostly by what catches my personal interest, but also includes important machines across the different segments of the industry, with the idea that I want to be able to speak intelligently about them and what’s going on in our two-wheeled world.

For the 2020 model year, at the top of my list was the Ducati Streetfighter V4 S. The bike not only appeals to my sport bike loving temperament, but it also marks the return of Ducati back to one of its more core elements – the sport bike category.

As you can imagine, the coronavirus outbreak has disrupted many plans in the motorcycle industry, especially as the virus comes right during the new-bike launch season. With events canceled left and right, brands are either having to postpone the debut of their new models, or think creatively on how to adapt.

Tomorrow, Asphalt & Rubber gets to see Ducati’s solution to this problem, and you do too, as the Bologna brand is going to live stream to the public the launch of the new Streetfighter V4.

We knew going into it that the Ducati Streetfighter V4 would be an expensive motorcycle, and I have been telling readers to brace for a $20,000 price tag since this bike first began teasting.

Well, sometimes it sucks to be right, because the 2020 Ducati Streetfighter will certainly come with an MSRP of $19,995 – which is a lot of money for a naked motorcycle, and places the red bike at the top of the pricing heap in the category.