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2004 Cycle News Middleweight Shootout 2 11114 []ul:a "ti 749R Top of the Italian Pyramid What if you built the baddest Middleweight sportbike on the planet and invited journalists from all over the globe to come and try it out on one of the planet's coolest racetracks, only to have it rain like the days of Noah . Ifyou did, you'd be in the same boat - pardon the pun as Ducati . Ducati spared no expense to ship journalists from around the world to the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in "sunny" Valencia, Spain. to test its latest technological achievement, the race-special 749R. Instead , the trip was a test of nerves as the heavens opened up, reducing to paved ice a Valencia track that is already reputed fo r be ing skittery in the dry. Mh, well... The 749R marks Ducati Corse's re-entry into the World Supersport class, which it last contested in 2000 and in wh ich it took home both the rider's championship and the manufacturer's title with Paoli Casoli in 1997. More so even than the 999ft the 749R represents the most advanced twin ever produced by Ducati. The end benefit for the Breil Ducati Supersport team of title contender Lorenzo Lanzi is an engine capable of over 140 horsepower at 13,500 rpm , considerably more than the understressed stock 749R's 118 horsepower at 10,500 rpm . Ducati officialssaid that wh ile most of the machinery in the World Supersport class is derived fro m production bikes, the 749R is really a product of peering back through the looking glass. "This bike is the other way around," one Ducati spokesman said. "Our starting point was more torsional rigidity than the standard 749 unit, and it is mated to a flat link rather than a progressive link to control the rate of the rear shoc k. Ducati engineers found that while the progressive link works very well for most conditions, its World Superbike racers preferred the flat link, wh ich makes the suspension stiffer throughout the wheel travel but more pre dictable, as well. 50 how does all this Bolognese techno-wizardry stack up? You'll have to check that with European journalists who actually got to run the 749R the day before we did - on the one sunny day that came whilst Ducati had the track booked. Our wave of two-wheel ink-slingers did all we could to keep from tossing the precious machines down the road. While none of the Ame ricans went for a ska te , the Japanese and British more than held thei r own in the one -man Duck -curling fest that ultimately ensued. About alii can say is this: The 749R may be the most exhilarating Ducati that I have ever swung a leg over when it comes to acceleration and top -end charge. There were times during the Valencia maelstrom when the rain let up just enough that you could get a good dr ive off the final corner and work vigo ro usly through the gears on the long Ricardo Tormo pit straightaway to get a taste of what the R was all about. Where the standard 749 starts to wheeze at around 10 grand on the tach and the 749S refuses to qu it tugging all the way to the I 1,500 rev limiter, the 749R pulls like a freight train at high revs , begging you to wring its guts out... right up until the time you realize that you are in fact hydroplaning and, oh my, that 90-degree le ft-handed first turn is coming up rather quickly, isn't it? So you simply apply light - and I mean light - finger pressure to the the series. We scrutinized the various constraints of the rules front brake lever, and the 749R to produce a rea l, homologated racebike.' responds in kind, the radial calipers As such , most of the race-spec ingred ients of the 749R whirring loudly as the bike slows . are already in place, including a higher-revving, biggerHeck , you can almost gauge your bore and shorter-stroke Testastretta engine. a wind tun velocity by the singing pitch produced riel-designed. carbon-fiber fairing, Brembo four-piston by the pads and ro to rs . radial-mount fro nt brakes, a racing swingarm that is While it was a fantastic trip and lighter and stronger than the unit found on the standard one that I wou ldn't have traded, 749 and the hotrod 749S, top-line Ohlins suspension except for maybe a stint or two on the complete with a shorter-stroke shock that uses shock previous day, it was hardly the way to Do you hove $22 grand b urning get a definitive understanding of the linkage similar to Ducati 's factory Superbikes, and a new a hole in your pocket? 749R. So I begged Ducati to give me anothslipper clutch similar to the unit used on said factory race er shot at the bike for our shootout. Alas, all it mach ines. could offer up was a beau tiful bright yellow 7495, as no R models were in the country yet . The stock (!?) 749R Testastretta engine contains a host of Ti goodies, including connecting Every tester who rode the 749S at Willow enjoyed it thoroughly. Just like all 749s , the bike's rods and valves. Other R-specific internals include a new crank design that has been shaved beauty lies in its stability, razor-sharp handling and slim feel through the midsection. Even so , and knife-edged to reduce rotating weight, lighter valve retention system, magnesium valve some said that the difference in power and slightly more adjustable suspension might not be covers and carbon-fiber timing belt covers to shave weight. The result is an engine that proenough to warrant spending the extra $1300 that separates the 7495 ($14,795) model from duces more mid- and top-end power w ithout any loss of low-end power. Ducati claims I 18 the 749 standard ($13,495). The 749 Dark, which was the main combatant in our shootout, retails at an even more economic $11,995 while offering everything that the 749 Standard peak horsepower fo r the R, compared to a claimed 110 fo r the S and 103 for the standard offers sans the shiny red or yellow paint . and Dark models. At a retail price of $21,995, and with only 300 units slated for construction this year, the Ducati further offers two racing kits to customers to up the performance of the 749R. 749R is obviously in a rather exclusive league when it comes to the numbers, and although it The first is known as the "Hard" Racing Kit, which includes different heads, cams , ex haust , is the real bike that Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha and Suzuki will be battl ing in the 2004 World CPU , filters, intake manifolds and air funnels , for $7500. The net effect is an engine capable Supersport title race, it clearly not the best example of what Ducati offers as a 749 streetof 137 horsepower. The standard Racing Kit includes fewer items, and it bumps the R's rat bike. If it were, and Ducati could sell the 749R spec machine at the 749 Dark's price, then we ing up to 123 horsepower. might be talking about our shootout winne r. The 749R chassis features adjustable fork offset as well as the usual adjustable steering head to better tune the chassis for various racing circuits. The swingarm offers 27 percent 5cOIT ROUSSEAU 20 MARCH 31, 2004 • C YC LE N EWS 40th Anniversary