Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127837
... Forget the Paso and 907, warmedover fashion-conscious triumphs of styHng over function that were never a serious sport touring option for nonducatisti. The 5T2's more restrained but still distinctive lines identify a more focused, capable bike, yet one that still has lots of personality, only without quirkiness masquerading as character. As such, the 5T2 represent Ducati's ironic payback for Honda's unashamed ripoff of its 90-degree V-twin concept with the VTRlOoo F. For the bike firmly in its firing line alongside BMW's RllOORT Boxer twin is Honda's polyvalent VFR750 - th.e all-rounder king of the sport touring road. It's a measure of the 5T2's ca Iiber that such comparisons' really can be made. This is that hitherto rare thing - a Ducati that's practical as well as sporting, bristling with convenience features to compliment the performance engineering. It feels solid, durable and quite wellmade - if not yet to BMW standards, still nearer than ever before, with a sense of quality even on the early-production test bikes we rode in Spain. For the first time, riding a desmo Vtwin in everyday use won't entail making a sacrifice, putting up with irritating deficiencies in the cause of motorcycling the ItaHan way. A page has truly been turned. Credit for this significant advance must be shared between Miguel Angel Galluzzi, for designing a bike with so much practical attention to detail, and the Ducati factory's R&D team, led by Claudio Domenicali, for transforming the two-valve desmo mechanical package to suit. This is not a slightly sanitized 90055 with higher bars and a taller screen, but a well-honed model in its own right, an allrounder developed with the specific needs of the touring market in mind - yet retaining enough 01 the sport element to satisfy any red-blooded ducatisti: Just sitting on the bike at rest confirms this. The riding 'position is fairly relaxed and quite upright, yet with footpegs that are relatively rear-set for a touring bike without being uncomfortable, leaving just enough of your body weight inclined forward onto the fairly widespread bars to load up the front wheel for improved handling in turns. The concave sweep of the 5T2's screen gives excellent wind protection at high speed, without excessive noise or the need to specify a different-height screen for taller riders. The seat is comfortable, at least for the couple of 10D-mile jaunts into the Andalusian hills that constituted the road section of the launch, while the mirrors do indeed set a benchmark of a kind by being both good-looking and aerodynamic, yet functional too. Galluzzi has big shoUlders and has often complained to me about not being (Above left) The bars are placed Just right for sport touring aggressive enough while still being comfortable. (Above) Finally a day-to-day Ducati. Think of it as an Italian VFR750. (Left) It's still a Ducatl: The trademark trellis frame and 90degree V-twin form the basis of the ST2. The venerable twovalve desmo powerplant has revised cams and fuel injection to suit the sport touring role it leads. able to see behind him when riding a bike, so he made sure with the 5T2 he'd have no such problems. The long ellipse of the mirror lens has the outer third distorted asphericalIy to offer a greater field of vision. "It lets you see round the corner behind you," the designer declared proudly when he first showed me his design, and, it does, sort of. Full marks too for the stiff mounting of the mirrors - no shake even at three-figure speeds, and while there's just enough secondary vibration from the 90-degree V-twin motor through the footpegs to lend character rather than cause offense, there's none at all to speak of through the handlebais, thanks mainly to the fat balance weights on their ends. The 5T2 is a smooth operator and also very quiet, meeting the strict new 80 dBa European noise regulations convincingly, but without sacrificing that trademark lilt to the muffled exhaust note. It's a refined, sporty mile-eater that still never lets you forget it's a Ducati. Part of th.e reason for this is the suave power delivery from the two-valve desmo engine in big-bore 5T2 form, here utilized with liquid cooling of the cylinders and heads, and fitted with an uprated version of Ducati's traditional Weber/Marelli EFI. The major change in basic format compared to the fuel-injected 907 i.e. that preceded it comes with a 2mm overbore to 94 x 68mm for 944cc (Ducati's original intention was to call the model the 944, until Porsche raised such a fuss the idea was dropped) obtained with fo ged pistons offering 10.2:1 compression, compared to just 9:1 on the 90055. Of itself, the bigger bore isn't so important, but taken together with all the detail modifications that Domenicali's team have made to the engine, you have to conclude that this is what the Italians call il nllmero d'oro - the winning combi- nation, as far as the two-valve desmo Vtwin engine is concerned. The relation of bore, stroke, connecting-rod length., slightly revised combustion-chamber design, remapped ignition and fuel-injection program and above all a brand-new camshaft design all combine to produce a power unit that is by some way the nicest two-valve desmo engine I've yet ridden - smooth yet with grinta, torquey while high-revving, responsive as well as relaxed. "We set out to retain the sporty feel of the 90055 but with touring characteristics," Claudio Domenicali says. "That included widening tlle power delivery, improving the engine smoothness and optimizing fuel consumption - but not by sacrificing performance, by making the sport element subordinate to the touring. We wanted a 50/50 split, in handling as . well as engine performance. Did we succeed?" Well, yes ingegnere, onl y too well but at a temporary cost, which is that in this model year the improved dynamics of the 5T2 engine package over the existing 90055 model sitting alongside it in Ducati showrooms will make the supersport bike seem very much second-best to a potential buyer who road tests them both, until Ducati does a similar number on it, too. September's Milan Show? Has to happen. In the case of the 5T2, that upgrade includes a revised, shorter intake system for the single-injector EFI, retaining th.e same 44mm throttle body as the 907.. This, combined with the remapping and new cam timing, allows the bigger-bore engine to rev higher as well as pull stronger th.an the small-bore 900s5.or 907 i.e. Whereas wi th the carbureted 90055. you can feel the engine top out around 7500 rpm, when it stops pulling hard and starts to feel strained, the 5T2 has a genuine appetite for revs. It'll run cleanly to 9000 rpm with ease, thougll bitting the 9800 rpm rev-limiter is pretty pointless with all the extra midrange torque that's paradoxically on tap, too. The key to this, says Domenicali, is the combination represented by the new camshaft, the 5TI's all-new exhaust system, the revised EFI mapping (using the same Marelli 1.6M CDU as fitted to the 916, for faster, more reliable engine management), the shorter intake, but above all the new flywheel, which has a 3O-percent-greater moment of inertia than the 90055'. All this allows the revised 5TI engine package to deliver the best of both worlds: It revs, but without sacrificing midrange torque, while remaining very 'smooth at low rpm. It pulls cleanly away in top gear from as low as 2500 rpm without any transmission snatch if you have to slow down to pass through a village, then resume the open road - all without needing to change gear. The 5T2 motor is truly a flexible friend. Gas it wide open down low, and there's a little extra vibration until 4600 rpm, where the desmodue smoothes out and starts to motor. At 6500 rpm the engine speed picks up even quicker, opening the door to an extra dose of power at the top end, but without any steps.in the delivery, just smooth pickup and sparkling response from the Iightaction EFI throttle. This makes the 5T2 a good bike to ride' in traffic or along Ducati's traditional homeland of winding country roads, where only the equally traditional stiff Ducati clutch springs have any impact on your riding enjoyment. However, even here there's an improvement, because clutch takeup is improved on what it used to be, thanks to an altered primary gear ratio which makes the clutch run faster. Now, it doesn't grate and grind as you let it out, just picks up pretty smoothly if you can stop your fingers