In what went down as the biggest shift for the company, Ducati’s 1103cc Desmosedici Stradale powered V4 is being considered all around for being 2018’s best motorcycle. And rightly so is also the most powerful bike in its class with 214 hp and 91.5 lb-ft of torque.

This newfound love for a four-cylinder version of their street bikes which will most probably change the whole dimension within the segment will now trickle down to run on other segments and with smaller capacities. CEO Claudio Domenicali confirmed the firm’s interests in developing cheaper, lower-performance versions of their V4 engines to reap all benefits of the technological feat.

The engine has been developed along with Ducati Corse, the same folks that run the show at MotoGP. It will not only be seen on just one model but an entire lineup of cheaper and de-tuned motorcycles Ducati plans to unleash onto the world streets. With this, the company wants to reconquer their World Superbike dreams along with the recent success in their MotoGP stint.

Ducati is also undertaking the advanced development of an ’R’ version of this engine that will have a displacement of less than 1000 cc but will rev higher than 14000 rpm and produce more power. It will provide the company’s Superbike championship dreams with a key for them to open entirely new possibilities.

To do that, the company has designed this engine with an 81 mm cylinder bore which is the maximum allowed by MotoGP rules and will become the highest in the four-cylinder machines running in any of the competition. This facilitates the same fluid dynamics architecture as used on the Desmosedici GP engine.

The 90° V4 engine will also borrow cues from the Superquadro v-twin engine design elements to get the right packaging and balance, allowing centralization of mass and minimal vibration of the motorcycle. The 90° architecture eliminates the necessity of a balancing countershaft thereby saving weight and complexity.

Just like on the MotoGP machines, the front cylinders are banked at a 42° back from the horizontal which allows the chaps to fix in a much larger and efficient radiator that for optimum cooling. Variable-height air intake optimizes according to the rpm to give maximum performance across the power bands.

Overall, this is the brand’s most technologically sophisticated and compact power-plant ever created that is believed to annihilate anything in the liter class superbike segment. Apart from the Rs’, Ducati might find the Multistrada range to be the first of the civilian models to receive the V4 treatment being tuned for longer distance and lower maintenance cost.

Although, don’t expect to see the first prototypes any time before 2020. Domenicali says “It’s taking time because we want to be right, but this is where we are going."