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/1542269
(Above) Brembo corbon brokes. (Righf) The Kowocqki olso sportr unmuffed silen.eri. (Fqr right) The Kowosoki ZX-RRb inline-four revr ,o 15,2(X) rpm. digitai readings to suit the rider - lap time, gear selected, engine rpm (also amilable via an analog sweep in the top left cor- ner), engine temp, erc. etc. - with a quin- tet of shifter lights at the top of the screen, and the main ignition switch iust to the right of it. Then there's a further trio of switches across the front of the Ohlins fork' upF,er triple clamp, of which the middle one operates the powershifter program, and the kill switch on the right handlebar After all that, the throttle is almost an afterthought - except this, too, has an electronic dynamic, representing a modular blend of conventional cable con- troland the increasingly common ride-by- wire system. This has the rider's right hand operating a throttle cable, which is in fact linked to a potentiometer rather than directly to the throttle bodies. The reading from this (represehting the rider's desires) is one of several elements in the data which the ECU processes in deter- mining the actual throttle opening, which it activates via an electric motor that drives cables linked directty to the slides. Heading down pit lane aboard this 250-horsepower, 150-kilo (495-pound) ultrabike, while the speed-limirer pro- gram holds the barely restrained bright- red rockeship from exceeding rhe 60 kph mark as it pops and bangs in protest, before you hit second gear and the pro- gram is automati@lly cancelled. lt's party time - and what a rave lies in store. Accelerace wide open, and rhe Ducari wheelies. You change from second to third - and it wheelies again, Change to fourth - and it wheelies once more, Up to fifth - but you get the picture. This bike * has unbelievable reserves of poweq deliv- ered in an uncompromisingly aggressive way but with turbine smoothness, although the power delivery down low is actually quite soft. So when the Ducati pr-rlls out of the Valencia rurn-two hairpin in second-gear, it hook up really well from as low as 7000 rpm in second gear. And again, and again, as yau hit the power shifter in swift succession - the Sear ratios are evenly spaced, but very close togethe( to keep the V-four motor turninS up high, where the beneflts of the desmodromic valve gear can make them- selves felt in terms of cam profiles and lve timing. The Ducati's gearshift acion is very lighr and positive, and up-tapping my way in swift succession all the way to sixth gear down the Valencia pit straight delivered a succession of seamless shifts as I surfed the Ducati's phenomenal accel- eration, even by MotoGP's high stan- dards, accompanied by that unmistakably loud yet lazy-sounding wall of noise from the megaphone exhaust. At first, I responded to the wheelies by changing gear too soon in a vain effort to keep the front wheel more or less ea-rth- bound, but even after pinching myself and waiting until the shifter lights started to illuminate at 15,300 rpm, with a row of ! 'il 6I' rl} I \!, /--, >i fI lj { ?i.!' .r$ rL;. .l -3G - V CYCLE NEWS . JANUARY 18,2006 29 s w ) 5- I / :! a ra .\ I \_ o i,: r-- riErr 4 .,l - q; T I t / .I:- I .? i@@* C a , I l r I ..a! Sreen lights progressively lighting up over the next 500 revs, things didn't get any befter - in fact, they got worse! Wjth Cecchinelli confirming thar Ducati motor's meaty maximum torque is deliv- ered at 14,000 rpm, that meanr that when I shifted up, I was slap-bang in the most wheelie-prone segment of the torque zone. No chance to get around that by revving it higher, to the 17,500 rpm that the riders use a5 a matter of course, because for this press test Ducati had taken the precaution of limiting the bike to just 16,000 rpm - thus creating an interestinE test of rideabiliry for the hack on hand. A consult with Capirosri revealed that the GP5's handling improves if you rev it highen So, taking him on trust, rewing the Desmosedicj another 1500 rpm higher - and a grand above its 16,500 rpm power peak, which it was still building to when the rev-limiter cut in - would have made that mighty, mega-powerful engine even more usable in a straight line or around a fast sweeper, than it already was. Part of the problem, though, might have been a result of my right hand being too eager to pull the trigger on the Ducati's serious horsepower. I found that I needed to be more delicate in throttle control exiting a turn to stop the Iront wheel heading for the sky, where iust whacking the throftle wide open exiting a tum produced those massive wheelies every time, by overrid- ing the system. Following Capirossi's advice for my second session, I fed the power in hard but more carefully, waiting until the bike was really driving before geftin8 hard on the gas - a better bet in terms of maxing out drive, minimizing wheelies, and improving lap times. Better for my pulse rate, too! It was at the end of the main straight where I had my biggest menral block in ridinE the bike, though - persuading mfself to kick it back three gears for the turn-one sweeper without using the clutch or blipping the throttle between shifts - as neither of the regular riders do - and I discovered how stable the GPs is under hard braking. The ECU'S \rariable idle speed made rhis feasible, even if it seemed rather heartless mechanically speaking - but it certainly let me focus instead on getting my braking point right and using the great bite from those Brembo carbon brakes to slow the Ducati down from what even in my hands must have been around 180 mph down that short front straight- That trnderlines how fast the Desmosedici accelerates - as tn