| | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NCR turns Ducati’s Desmosedici RR into Millona 16
 
It is hard to believe that someone can take the Ducati Desmosedici RR and make it better, but it happened. This is the NCR Milona 16, a lightened, upgraded and implicit faster Ducati Desmosedici RR. We wouldn’t have believed it if the thing wouldn’t have recently been unveiled at the World Ducati Week at Misano. The Italian tuning specialist has fitted the 200bhp MotoGP replica with a multitude of carbon fiber main parts such as the all-new frame and swingarm, rims, fuel tank, half-fairing, rear subframe, tail unit and front mudguard. All these, together with the titanium and aircraft-grade aluminum, reduce the bike’s dry weight to 319lbs (an impressive 71lbs less than what Ducati achieved). Using performance Ohlins suspension and Brembo brakes, NCR’s M16 turns into a much sweeter ride. Although it doesn’t go significantly over 200bhp, which is the standard bike’s horsepower figure, the retuned engine is aimed at delivering a whole different rush across the powerband. Claimed to be ‘world’s most exclusive motorcycle’, the NCR M16 will be built to order only and we don’t dare to think about the six-figure price. Full story High concept: Ducati Desmosedici Trike
The Ducati Desmosedici Trike is one of those concepts that you know won’t ever make it to the streets – at least not in production form – but it can make a rider beg Ducati to consider this as an alternative to enlarge their lineup. The concept belongs to Nicolas Petit from Creil, France, a 25-year-old professional motorcycle mechanic with a soft spot for Ducatis. In his creation, he retains the rear end of the Ducati Desmosedici, but brings in a two-wheel front from whatever reason you can find in his project description: "This project is a mix between a motorcycle and a street quad. The base is without its Desmosedici fork, the rear is slightly restyled. The ATV-type front is grafted directly on to the engine chassis – simple and effective, Spartan and light,” To us, only the idea of a 200bhp trike makes our minds go in places they normally shouldn’t, but who cares…just take a look at this. Full story Rendering: 2012 Ducati Desmosedici RR
Since MotoGP returns to 1000cc starting 2012, Ducati is thinking about creating a new Desmosedici RR, which will have to be sold in a limited run. This will supposedly be a carbon-framed model and also considering the significantly larger displacement engine, we can’t even dare thinking about the price of the new Desmo following the 2008 original one, which remains in history as one of the greatest race replicas to come out of the factory gates in Bologna. Remember: 197bhp/171kg! If looks could kill: Nicky Hayden publishes first Ducati GP10 photo!
There’s a reason why manufacturers usually ban all cellphones from their R&D facilities and Ducati may have just learned their lesson after Marlboro Ducati rider Nicky Hayden took an iPhone shot of the 2010 Desmosedici GP10 MotoGP bike when recently visiting the Ducati factory. Ouch, that surely ruined someone’s day, but not entirely as the photo only reveals larger vents in the side fairing. The change enhances engine cooling and helps Ducati meet MotoGP regulations, which for 2010 say that no more than 6 engines must last all 18 races. That apart, the bike doesn’t look much different from its predecessor, but we still have to wait long for the official unveiling and thank Nicky Hayden for this unexpected preamble. Does Tom Cruise make the Ducati Desmosedici look better?
When he’s not filming for the movie Knight and Day or flirting with Cameron Diaz on a Ducati Hypermotard during breaks on the set, Tom Cruise seems to enjoy riding his very own Ducati Desmosedici and make the front page of both tabloids and motorcycle magazines. Being only 5’ 7” inch tall, the actor and first US owner of a Ducati Desmosedici seems to manage with the big Italian supersport motorcycle very well and still look cool along the way. Looking at these pictures, we just have to ask: does Tom Cruise make the Ducati Desmosedici look better or is it the other way around? Full story 2009 Ducati Desmosedici RR
MotoGP has long inspired competing manufacturers to implement racing technologies on their road-going motorcycles, but nobody believed (although everybody thought at the idea at least once) that a MotoGP bike will ever be turned into a road-legal one and be sold to those willing to pay the big bucks. Ducati was the first, and currently only, to break the ice in 2007 with the Desmosedici RR, which was derived from the Desmosedici GP6 Grand Prix motorcycle, and in 2009 the world is still amazed of this even being possible, not to mention the bike’s evolution. Full story Video: Fifth episode of Ducati D16RR Documentary
Episode five of the Ducati Desmosedici Documentary enables all of us to understand how the engine of a race bike ended up powering the MotoGP replica that the Ducati Desmosedici RR, without a doubt, is. See both videos after the break. Full story Fourth episode of Ducati Desmosedici RR Documentary
Ducati has reserved episode four of their Desmosedici Documentary to tires, which are provided by Bridgestone and are called Battlax BT- 01. Specially developed for the Ducati Desmosedici RR, the tires are the closest ones in production to those found on Ducati MotoGP bikes such Bridgestone Firestone Europe Product Manager, Guido Podevyn explains. See videos after the jump. Full story Ducati Desmosedici RR – third episode of the series
After the first and second episodes of the Desmosedici RR series, through which the Italian company Ducati gives a detailed lowdown on its most exclusive motorcycle by illustrating the conception and development of the Desmosedici RR project in the words of the key people behind it, providing a not-to-be-missed tribute to the most esoteric of the Bologna-made machines, it is now the turn of Paolo Neviani. Technical director of RIBA Composites, company that is specialized in composite materials, his role is to explain and widely present the reason why carbon fiber is used to manufacture the Desmosedici RR tail. See videos after the jump. Full story Second episode of Ducati Desmosedici RR documentary
While the first episode of Ducati’s Desmosedici RR documentary presented the processes of tuning, testing and then tuning again the MotoGP replica before calling it done and ready to hit whatever the future owner wants, the second episode slips on the technical details path, a delight for all engineer ears out there. It seems that Ducati has worked so much at this project that they wouldn’t want the world to consider it “just another one of those fast bikes” and simply admit that they are built on the track so they provide the kind of material presented at official presentations. See videos after the jump. Full story | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
