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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128104
tour, without buying th e e ntry ticket to pe rformance pa rad ise just yet. It's flexible and forg iving , as well as fast and what's m or e, th er e isn't the je rky pickup from a cl ose d th rottle th at many other fuel-injecte d bikes suffe r fro m, in spite of the fact tha t the ST4s has but a single injector per cylinder, which norma lly means that there are minute droplets of fuel gathering on the butterfly, ready to be du mped into the inlet tract as soon as you get back on the gas. That's because Ducati's engineers have moved the inje ctor from above the throttle butterfly , as on other models, to be low it on the ST4s, and remapped the injection accordingly, to deliver a smooth-but-strong p ickup when you get back on th e light, pre cise throttle aga in, aft e r braking into the apex of a tum . Nice. Like th e res t of the ST4s as a whole, the way the power is de livered in spire s lots of confidence: Thi s is a b ik e yo u can im a g ine livi ng with over th e long haul , an d still liking at the end . But though the ST 4 s c o mes on strong e r when yo u get t h e a n a lo g ta c hometer rea ding a bove 4 0 00 rpm , it' s from 6000 revs upward th a t the goo di e- t wo -s h o e s s port s to ur er is tr an sformed into a fire-b reathing Su perbike in drag . There's a muted but still a gg ressive sound of thunder from th e twin exha usts as the engine catches fire, with an ins istent burst of eng ine acceleration th a t rockets th e ST4 s off to its a ppointment with the horizon , and w ith t he 10, 0 0 0- rp m revlimite r if yo u do n 't pay attention to the fact that powe r fa lls off quite notice a bly a th ousand revs lowe r, and c ha nge u p soon after the 8 7 50 rpm power peak - there's no poi nt at all in revving it any h igher. The gearsh ift on the low-mileage bike I wa s riding felt prett y s low at best, stiff a t worst, but ma ybe it still ne e ded more tim e to loosen up , a s used to be th e ca se with most Duc atis : It c e rtai nly wasn't a s sh arp a g earsh ift as t he e q u ally ne w S4 Mo nster with 91 6cc desmoquattro motor I rod e not long a go. Still , this potent sw itch -h itter a ct is otherwise performed with the same elan and c ivility as the BMW M5 max i-saloon wide ly a cclaimed as the world 's best e v ery d ay road car , street-sweeps its four- do o r competition into t h e weeds . Fo r the Ducati ST 4s undoubtedly repre sents the two wheeled equiva lent of th e Beemer - a real -world mileater marrying practical conven ience with aw esome performance, de live ring racet rack ac c elera tion an d handling , an im press ive top speed (the Ducati has been trapped at 160 mph in homologation tests , 6 mph up on the ST4 ), com bine d with genuine e veryday road manners in an undoubtedly sober-suited styling. That's perhaps the only real critic ism about the way the ST4s has been presented to the marketplace - IAb<>ve) A key element in the ST4s package is its chassis adjustability. Following the lead of its Supert>ike sisters, you can tailor the Ducat! to your chosen use as well as to changing road conditions. (L eft) The ST4s' In st rum e n t cluster. (Right) The bike comes w ith Showa's top-ofthe-line 43mm upsidedown fork. that its looks ne eded jazz ing up a little he re and the re. May be not to the extent o f letti ng Pie rre T e rb lan ch e loose on restyling it , with atte nda nt retoo ling o n- costs (tho ug h it's ironic t ha t bo th he and Gall uzzi were each c om mi ssio ne d to des ign the origin al ST2 b ack in 19 9 5, in a sort of inhouse compet ition wh ich saw eac h designer build ing one half of t he same pr o tot ype m o tor c y cle : Te rblanche 's ve r sion w a s much sportier and m or e aggress ive look ing , but for some re ason lo st o ut to th is more re st ra ine d design ), but at lea st some attention to d et ail aimed at g iving it more ind ividual allure would not go amiss . St ill, as c o n c e ived , th e ST4s is undoubtedl y an im press ive comb ina tion - yet de livered here at a far more affordable price than BMW's supercar: Ducati's fixed Eu rope -wide ST4s price of $1 1,571 , in cl u di n g tax, $10,628 for the ST 4 , with a c hoice of colors between the s tandard Ducati red and ye llow live ries , and the g un metal of the test bike. That's without the usual range of color-coded hard lu g g a g e , available together wit h a wide ra nge of othe r o ption s via the Duca ti a fter m a rket cata log. F ra n kl y, with s u c h a s m a ll pri ce difference betwe en t he two d esrno quattro sport toure rs , and the ST 4s so much stronger an o verall package, you ha v e t o co ncl u de Du cat i has k illed off the ST4 stone de ad, si n c e a ny o ne who opts for th e lower-spe c mod e l wou ld h ave to have a ve ry good reaso n for doing so - tho ug h one may be ava ilab ilit y , with j ust 150 0 exa m ples of the ST4s planned for ma nu fa cture in the c urre nt model year. This presumably reflects some lack o f co n fid e nc e a m o n g Duc at i m a na g e m ent tha t there 's a p la c e in the market for the new b ike - but th e q uestion mark m us t n o w hove r instea d over th e old one , wh ich is not t he onl y ex isti ng sport -tou ring co n te n de r to ha v e th e grou nd c ut o ut from beneath it by the ST4s . T rium ph fo r one will ha ve to thin k seriou sly about performing th e same tr ic k on its ST Spr int , and concoc t ing a power-up version powered by the cue. e n ew Daytona e n g in e, while ev en m ighty Honda must s u re ly consider d o ing a similar th ing on the RC45 Superbike-derived V-four engine of its class-leading VFR. But me a nwh ile the ST4s is on e model that Du cat i dea lers mus t above a ll make s ure to have on th eir test fleet, because the more sophisti cated and exper ienced customers for a s po rt tourer who will appreciate and ex p loi t t he b ik e 's pra ctica l conve n ien c e , multi -ad justabi lity and impre ssi ve performan ce, will likel y need jus t a single ride to appreciate what Ducati has done here , in achiev ing ~Iic he- c o u n to u t. and delivering the leg enda ry best of both worlds to the sport -touring class. This is the sportiest of all the sports tourers . CN n e _ S • M AY 1 6 . 2001 43