ike
here are a couple of us here
in the Cycle News office that
are very fond of all things
Italian. This list starts with
bikes, then Ferraris and of
course the food. But of all the Italian
bikes out there, we would probably agree
that Ducatis are at the top of that list.
The company has come a long way in the
past five years and is pumping out products that aren't anywhere near as finicky
as they used to be, with better reliability
and way more performance.
I'm no exception when it comes to a
fondness for Ducatis, so when Ducati
asked us if we would like to have a longterm 999 (Strada, or "standard") for the
year, I said, "Yeah, because I sure as hell
can't afford to own one!"
After spending some quality time on
the bike, I've really come to love the 999.
I've spent plenty of time commuting and
riding in the canyons both singie- and
two-up. The only problem is that I've
had an opportunity to ride the 999R and
was instantly addicted to its monster
power. The 999R is the bike that
homologates the 999 for Superbike com-
T
2005 Ducat; 999
petition and features a motor that actually displaces 999cc, unlike the 999 and
999S (998cc).
Not that our 999 is a slouch by any
means. The standard 999 now shares the
same exact motor that is in the 999S the difference being that the S comes
with updated chassis components. The
998cc liquid-cooled L-twin Testastretta
motor in the 999S, which we used in our
Cycle News Open-ciass shootout,
pumped out 124.32 horsepower and
70.75 ft.-Ibs. of torque. That's good
power, but after riding the 999R, I realized that the 999 would do well with a
little more.
The first area to search for more
power on any Ducati is the exhaust. All
999s are shipped from the factory with
two catalytic converters in the exhaust
system, which may make the bike more
emissions-friendly but are very restrictive to the Duck's breathing. The system
that we installed is the 54mm Termignoni
system, with stainless steel pipes, titanium silencer, new racing air filters and a
new ECU, all available from the Ducati
Performance Accessories catalog.
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