Ducati has unleashed its Streetfighter 848 in 2012 and despite the fact that is slightly weaker than its bigger brothers; the bike has still a lot to love. It features a capable L-Twin unit, savvy chassis technology, a single-sided swingarm and monobloc brakes. The motorcycle sits on lightweight, 10-spoke aluminum wheels, 5.5-inches wide out back, 3.5-inches wide up front. The wheels are shod in Pirelli Diablo Rossi Corsa tires designed from World Superbike Championship technology - 120/70/ZR17 front and 180/60/ZR17 back.

One of the most modern technologies offered by the 2012 Ducati Streetfighter 848 is the Ducati Traction Control (DTC) which offers eight profiles, each one programmed with a wheel-spin tolerance matched to progressive riding levels of skill, graded from one to eight.

The rider is met by a modern digital unit in the instrument cluster which displays information for Speedometer, rev counter, lap times, time, air temp, coolant temp, battery voltage, A & B trips, fuel reserve trip, DTC status and level selected (if activated) scheduled maintenance.

Hit the jump for more information on the 2012 Ducati Streetfighter 848.

2012 Ducati Streetfighter 848

Specifications

• Make: Array
• Model: 2012 Ducati Streetfighter 848
• Engine/Motor: L-Twin cylinder, 4 valve per cylinder Desmodromic, liquid cooled
• Horsepower: 132 @ 10000
• Torque: 69 @ 9500
• [do not use] Vehicle Model: Array

Press Release

The new Streetfighter 848 offers pure motorcycling thrills thanks to its perfect combination of 848 Testastretta 11° engine and a new Trellis frame with Superbike 848EVO-derived geometry. Outstanding control and precision make the Streetfighter 848 irresistible. Thanks to the superb handling offered by the new frame, the progressive easy-to-manage power delivery provided by the Testastretta 11° engine, the confidence-inspiring upright riding position and Ducati Traction Control, which keeps watch over the power, this latest interpretation of the fighter concept delivers instant, knock-out riding enjoyment.

Concept

Streetfighter Design

The Ducati Streetfighter is equipped with everything that made the Superbike a legend: Awesome L-Twin muscle with brutal, big-bore torque, thoroughbred chassis technology, beautiful single-sided swingarm, planet-stopping Monobloc brakes and pure, sophisticated class.

While the tank and seat shapes leave no doubt as to the Streetfighter’s roots, it is the upright and commanding riding position that really starts to shape the character of this ultimate naked. New, minimalistic controls, instrumentation and headlight design leave the front looking clean and mean, while twin-stacked right-side mufflers at the rear leave the tail-end high and sharp. No other Ducati has ever achieved such an aggressive stance while providing a comfortable, empowering, controllable and enjoyable ride.

Streetfighter Culture

The Streetfighter culture was born on the backstreets of Northern Europe during the late 70s and 80s. If the Café racer movement had taken traditional bikes and transformed them to establish out-and-out sportbikes, then Streetfighters were definitely anti-establishment. They evolved by removing the fairings from sport bikes, fitting higher bars and customising to create high-performance, over-the-top nakeds.

Ducati’s Streetfighter project was inevitable. The passion to build the most successful Superbikes ever, mixed with the desire to create iconic, naked motorcycles was a rush of adrenaline just waiting to happen. Who else would create a bike for out-and-out purists to celebrate naked power in all its forms? A bike with muscle-engine performance, aggressive chassis engineering and intelligent electronics all laid bare to appreciate, respect and enjoy? Ducati build bikes for enthusiasts – for bikers who appreciate the details that come together to make an awesome bike.

Engine

Vacural Crankcases

The Testastretta 11° engine on the Streetfighter 848 features a crankcase produced by pressure die casting under vacuum using Vacural® technology: this gives significant weight savings and ensures constant wall thickness and greater strength.

Power and Torque Curves

With its 132 HP and awesome torque of 9.5 Kgm (93.5Nm) at 9,500 rpm , the 848 Testastretta 11° provides pure Desmodromic performance. Radical changes to the timing diagram have allowed achievement of a full torque curve even at low revs, which considerably increases then ridability of the Steetfighter 848 and, because it remains constant throughout an extremely wide power band, ensures maximum enjoyment at high revs too.

Magnesium Alloy Covers

Attention to weight reduction is further underlined with both cam covers and clutch outer cover cast in manesium alloy.

Wet Clutch

The Testastretta 11° engine transmits drive to a sophisticated wet clutch that is a full kilo lighter than the corresponding dry version; it is also characterised by enhanced durability, improved 'feel' and lower noise levels, making riding a real pleasure whatever the circumstances.

848 Testastretta

A masterpiece of Desmodromic engine design, the 848 Testastretta 11° can deliver 132 hp at 10,000 rpm and a torque of 9.5 kgm at 9,500 rpm. A direct offshoot of the Testastretta Evoluzione used on the Superbike 848EVO, it makes the most of the Testastretta 11° technology that has already proved so successful on the Multistrada and Diavel, giving awesome torque even at low revs. With respect to the Testastretta Evoluzione the overlap angle has been reduced from 37° to 11° to ensure unbeatably fluid power delivery, a much wider power band and reduced consumption and emissions.

The Testastretta 11° maintenance schedule requires valve regulation just once every 24,000 km.

Crankshaft

The Streetfighter 848 lightweight crankshaft assembly operates a ‘over-square' bore and stroke with 94mm pistons and 61.2mm strokes.

Exhaust System

The massive 2-1-2 exhaust system is made from weight-saving 1mm thick steel and flows from 58mm to 63.5mm diameter pipes. The system uses two lambda probes to ensure precise fuel mapping for optimum performance and an electronic valve in the mid-section to achieve a wide spread of power.

The cannon-style, vertically stacked, brushed steel mufflers deliver the famous Ducati L-Twin sound synonymous with raw, Desmo power.

Chassis

Ergonomics

The riding position on the Streetfighter 848 gives maximum control thanks to a dominant stance achieved through in-depth study of seat-footpegs-handlebar distances, providing maximum comfort without changing the unique 'feel' that only a Ducati-designed naked can offer its rider.

Leightweight 10-Spoke Wheels

The 10-spoke wheels, 5.5 inches at the rear and 3.5 inches at the front, made of lightweight black-finished aluminium, help reduce overall bike weight and also make sure that limitation of unsprung weight (i.e. the mass of all the components between the suspension and the road surface - wheels, tyres, brake calipers and discs etc.) is achieved. When these parts rotate they would, if too heavy, affect the handling characteristics of the bike on account of the gyroscopic effect.

Single-Sides Swingarm

At the rear, the all-new single-sided swingarm, finished in black, is a high-grade aluminium cast that has been lengthened by 35 mm with respect to the Superbike, thus taking the overall wheelbase to 1475 mm for even more uncompromising acceleration.

Marzocchi Forks

Fully adjustable 43mm Marzocchi forks feature a natural chrome slider finish and radial mounts for the brake callipers and are fully adjustable in spring preload as well as compression and rebound damping.

Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa Tyres

The Streetfighter 848 mounts Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa tyres, created using technology developed in the World Superbike Championship. The front 120/70ZR17 tyre is built with a 0° steel circumferential belt that ensures maximum performance during both extreme braking and at the turn-in point, while the new rear 180/60ZR17 tyre has the same aspect ratio as the tyres used in national and world Supersport competitions. The rear tyre offers a larger contact surface area than the 180/55, rendered even more effective by a slick zone at the maximum lean angle. The higher and slightly wider profile increases rider comfort, while the larger 'footprint' gives increased traction during acceleration and improved stability on the straight.

Sachs Rear Suspension

A fully adjustable Sachs monoshock at the rear operates through a progressive linkage and is also fully adjustable in spring preload and damping, both in compression and rebound.

Brakes

The new Streetfighter 848 uses powerful 4-piston radially-mounted Brembo calipers on dual 320 mm discs at the front and a 2-piston caliper at the rear that acts on a 245 mm disc , thus ensuring efficient, instantly available, awesome braking power.

Fighter 848 Frame

Thanks to an exceptional dry weight of 169 kg, the Streetfighter 848 has the best power-weight ratio in its category. The new Trellis frame, characterised by a rake angle of 24.5° and a fork yoke offset of 103 mm, has the same geometry as that on the Superbike 848, ensuring maximum responsiveness to rider control.

Equipment

Ducati Quick Shift System

The Streetfighter 848 has fixtures to mount the Ducati Quick Shift system. Usually used in racing, this device allows you to change gear without using the clutch and keeping the throttle open, minimising shift times, which contributes significantly to reducing lap times.

The DQS has a microswitch inserted in the shift control transmission rod unit, available as a Ducati Performance accessory, that is used to start the system.

Lighting

The aggressive looking headlight is the ‘face’ of the Streetfighter and it leaves little doubt as to its character. While the main lighting source and multi-reflector design provides powerful illumination to cut through the night, its two evil eye strips of LED positioning lights give a striking and unmistakable identity to the bike.

Keeping design matters clean and stylish, the directional indicators remain unobtrusive with clear lenses and coloured bulbs, while the rear light is integral to the shape of the tailpiece, providing unobscured illumination while maintaining the smooth and elegant look to the high and sharp rear-end.

Compact Instruments

The Streetfighter’s instrumentation blends into the aggressive line of the headlight. Information additional to the default read-outs is managed from the left-hand handlebar-mounted switch gear, allowing the rider to scroll through and select from various menus.

The display presents rpm and speed, with the former displayed across the screen in a progressive bar graph. Additionally, the instruments display lap times, DTC status and level selected (if activated on Streetfighter S) time, air temperature, coolant temperature, battery voltage, two trips and a trip that automatically starts as the fuel system goes onto reserve.

Warning lights illuminate to signify neutral, turn signals, high beam, rev-limit, low oil pressure, fuel reserve, DTC intervention (if activated on Streetfighter S) and scheduled maintenance.

The instrument display is also used as the control panels for the DDA and DTC systems as well as listing lap times recorded by using the high-beam flash button as a stopwatch.

Stopwatch

The digital display is programmed with a stopwatch function that, when enabled, can be triggered by using the high-beam flash button and each recorded time stored in a memory. After your journey or track session, the times or lap times can be recalled from the memory and scrolled through by using the instrumentation buttons on the left-hand switchgear.

Fighter Controls

The handlebars are gripped by beautifully shaped clamps that flow sleekly into the bar-risers. Symmetrically mounted, remote brake and clutch reservoirs are small, low and compact and feed slim, radial master-cylinders by Brembo to complete the clean and uncluttered controls arrangement.

Ducati Traction Control

Accessible from the left-hand switchgear and displayed on the digital instrumentation, Ducati Traction Control (DTC) offers a choice of eight profiles, or ‘sensitivity levels’, each one programmed with a wheel-spin tolerance matched to progressive riding levels of skill, graded from one to eight.

While level eight administers a confidence-building, high level of interaction from the system by activating upon the slightest amount of wheel-spin, level one offers a much higher tolerance, resulting in less intervention for highly competent riders.

Once the level is selected and DTC activated, both are displayed on the instrumentation. The system then analyses data sent from front and rear wheel speed sensors to detect wheel-spin. Should the system recognise wheel-spin above a certain threshold, the DTC ECU instantly evaluates the many possible wheel-spin scenarios before administering two types of interaction in varying amounts.

DTC is able to sense the exact use that the bike is being put to. From slow mid-corner acceleration with considerable vehicle inclination to high speed corner exits while almost upright, DTC is intelligent enough to react according to each and every situation. It’s even smart enough to not intervene if you decide to perform a burnout or a wheelie.

The first ‘soft’ stage of system interaction is executed by high speed software that instantly makes electronic adjustment to the ignition by administering varying amounts of retardation to reduce the engine’s torque output.

During this initial stage of DTC interaction, both outer warning lights on the instrumentation – normally used to signify over-rev – illuminate to signify that DTC is being applied.

If the DTC software detects that the first ‘soft’ stage of system interaction is inadequate to control the wheel-spin, it continues to administer ignition retardation and instructs the engine ECU to initiate a pattern of constantly increasing injection cuts until, if necessary, full injection cut. During this second stage of system interaction, both outer and central warning lights fully illuminate to signify that DTC has also initiated injection cuts.

After either stage one (ignition retardation) or stage two (pattern of injection cuts or full cut), the system incrementally returns to the original ignition and injection mapping as the wheel speeds approach equalisation. This carefully programmed return to full power delivery is the real key to DTC’s smooth and efficient operation.

In developing its World Championship-winning traction control system for road use, Ducati continue to demonstrate their strategy of transferring technologies from their race bikes into the production environment, and show how solutions developed for performance on the track really can be applied to enhance safety on the road.

Ducati Data Analyser

The instrument display also doubles as a control panel for the activation of the Ducati Data Analyser (DDA) system, which is available as an accessory from Ducati Performance. The bike has been built ‘system-ready’ for the data acquisition kit, which consists of special DDA software and a memory key that slots into a plug under the seat. The same plug also doubles as the connection for a handy new battery charger available as an accessory from Ducati Performance.

Minimalist Swicthgear

The switchgear presents minimalism at its best. The slim-line bodies house easy-to-use switches and buttons and feature a unique weapons-like ‘trigger catch’ that slides down to cover the starter button when activating the kill-switch.

Specification

Quotes

Asphaltandrubber ---- "After Asphalt & Rubber first announced the bike back in July, the 2012 Ducati Streetfighter 848 has finally made its official debut (with a little teaser help from Nicky Hayden)"

Motorcycledaily ----"If you wanted more performance than you could find from a Monster or a Hypermotard, perhaps a jump to the Streetfighter 1100 was too big. The Streetfighter 848 might be your answer"