Soup's man in black, Danny Coe, shot the accompanying missive off from the Ducati 1098 press intro in South Africa. He was invited to do a session with world champion Troy Bayliss while there. image by wolf j tarzan

Hello one and all from sunny South Africa.

For Soup, the Kyalami circuit is no close venue, but there were good reasons Ducati brought journalists such distances for testing. Today, the outside temps were in the eighties—after all, it's summer here. We suspect Ducati's real reason, though, was to showcase performance on a track that is loaded with fast sweeping curves, many of which are connected by chutes and sections with dramatic changes in elevation. Kyalami proved to be a truly challenging layout and one where the new motorcycle really was able to perform. We ended the day completing a total of five sessions on both the standard and "S" versions of the machine.

Troy, the current WSB Champion

For an added treat at this press introduction, Ducati enlisted the services of their in-house 2006 World Superbike Champion and final round winner of this year's MotoGP championship, Troy Bayliss. Bayliss was on hand and seemed eager to do some riding thus we asked Troy if, at some point, he would be willing to show us his lines, thus condensing the time we needed to learn the unfamiliar track. To our humble gratitude, he gladly accepted and ?Soup literally had a one-on-one session with Troy for several laps around this legendary racetrack. Later, Troy would help tow one other tester and, in both cases, we, the beneficiaries made huge improvements in a very short period of time. Later in the day, Troy also gave everyone a riding demonstration doing laps aboard a standard version of the 1098. The man flies, and we all witnessed the true potential of Ducati's latest production Superbike in fully stock trim. How can I describe what I saw? Let me say this: Wow!

Now more power for less!

Stop freakin' drooling, already. You're at work for cryin' out loud. Christ! Be professional for once, would ya?. image by wolf j cheeta

Perhaps unfortunate for earlier Ducati owners, our first impressions of the new Ducati 1098 have it differing from its 999 predecessor in every single way possible beyond basic terms you'd use to describe a motorcycle. The 1098 engine and new oval throttle bodies now produce substantially more horsepower and torque from radically different cylinder heads. The top-end received larger valves, new valve angles, shorter intake tracts, more compression, and lighter rocker arms. A major reduction in the weight of the reciprocating internal parts helps the over-square (104mm x 64.7mm) engine to gain revs more quickly. The output figures are definitely impressive at 160hp and 90.4 lb-ft of torque, with all of this coming from a lighter and more compact engine package. Additionally, operating costs have been reduced by a claimed 50%. This is directly attributed to fewer moving parts and increased time between servicing intervals. I'd love to see a dyno sheet, but suffice to say this thing shoves out loads of usable power.

Chassis, Running Gear, and Comfort

Improved overall handling is the result of numerous chassis changes, as well. The 1098 reprises the single-sided swingarm and now uses a massive cast-and-stamped rear arm fit to a frame with larger-diameter, but thinner-walled tubing. Engineers claim the new 'arm yields 40% more rigidity, yet weighs less than the 999's dual arm. With the fitment of the new arm, the overall wheelbase increases 10mm, yet the handling remains very stable.

For tires, the OE-spec rubber that Troy seemed to get along with reasonably well were Pirelli's Dragon Supercorsa Pros. The only significant change here is with the size of the rear, now supplied by Pirelli in a 190/55 exclusively for the 1098. The performance of the tires was very good—in particular the rear stood out as quite forgiving with slides being easily manageable and predictable. Pirelli's engineer at the scene was Mr. Luca Zaccomer. When asked about tire pressures today, he explained that the optimum pressure for the 1098's rubber was, when hot, at 2.4 BAR, both front and rear.

Assorted press goons were left reeling after Ducati engineer Claudio Domenicali announced for his next trick he intends to fix it so the sun won't burn out in 2 billion years. 'We have a working plan now, and the complete solution will be on-line in two weeks time,' he said. image by wolf j jane

To counter the increases in acceleration, the brake system on the 1098 has been upgraded with entirely new radial-mount monoblock calipers. Front rotor diameters increase to the largest in class at 330mm, with the discs now mounted on one-direction aluminum carriers. The rear disc gains 5mm in diameter to better dissipate heat. Needless to say, the braking performance with all of the new parts is exceptional and exceptionally strong. Initial feel is not overpowering, but as the lever pressure increases, the updated braking performance becomes immediately apparent.

Rider position also changes with relations in seating position to hand and foot controls being less committed. One positive result here is less upper body weight on the wrists. Another plus is more leverage at the bar due to a wider bar placement. In total, the bar height has been raised 20mm, moved rearward and noticeably widened. The saddle has more of a curved shape and is also taller by 10mm but gains slightly in width at the rear of the tank.

Mo' Better Coe

Danny Coe is a loyal 'Soup contributor and has filed piles of stories for us over the years. He is a former racer (finished on the podium at Daytona in the 250 race), staff tester for Cycle magazine and will also kick your ass in fishing. Here's some of his previous 'Soup work. Re-Cycle 2006 Ducati S4Rs: Truly A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing Filed before 'Soup got ejected from the Suzuki press intro invite list for being too fast, too smart—and don't even try to deny this one, Garrett—too virile.

When the jet lag and sleep deprivation subside, we will post our full report. For now, what you might need to know is that the MSRP of the Standard 1098 will be $14,995, while the lighter, fully Ohlins-equipped "S" version arrives with "all the toys" including a handlebar-switched on-board data acquisition system, forged wheels, and carbon bits. The complete 'S' package will have an MSRP of $19,995. As with past models, even more lighter-weight and increased-output options are also available. So stay tuned...