Ducati Superbikes Get New Engines and Special Editions - RideNow Chandler / Euro

Stonking v-twin engines are as synonymous with Ducati Motorcycles as is the color red. The unmistakable whumpwhumpwhump of a big twin is just part of the brand’s mystique, part of the allure.

Starting this fall, however, some Ducatis might be singing a different tune as the company is rumored to be transitioning to V4 powerplants in their top-tier performance machines. We could see the debut of this next generation superbike at the EICMA motorcycle show in Italy this November.

While it’s undeniably a drastic change, Ducati is actually no stranger to four-cylinder engines – they have been powering the company’s MotoGP race bikes for years.

Ducati’s race machines are known for their massive top end power, which should translate into some properly exciting street bikes. Those future bikes obviously won’t be spec race machines, but they should be infused with much of the technology, experience, and racing DNA honed on the track.

“The engine development we have made in C has been exceptional, we have an engine which is very reliable, very light, compact and has a lot of interesting technology. We are seriously thinking of introducing it to regular customers as it is a masterpiece of engineering,” said Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicalli at Ducati’s MotoGP press conference earlier this year.

“It must be translated into something that can be sold to customers at a reasonable, even if premium, price. So it will not be an exotic bike like the Desmosedici, but a high-end sports bike. We cannot say when it will happen... but it is getting closer, much closer.”

This exciting shakeup does carry with it one significant casualty: it marks the end of the line for Ducati’s current v-twin superbike, the venerable 1299 Panigale.

Introduced in 2014 as the replacement for the 1199, the 1299 is a perennial contender in every shootout it enters, and its brutal performance and character are the stuff of legend. There’s no question the next-gen superbike has big shoes to fill.

Before the 1299 races off into the sunset riding a wave of v-twin thunder, Ducati is slated to reveal its final iteration at the World Superbike race at Laguna Seca on July 7th.

Following the footsteps of previous special editions like the Anneversario and Superleggera, the 1299’s last hurrah should come packing tons of tech, acres of carbon fiber, and silly horsepower.

Ducati is poetically teasing it with the tagline, “When the end tells the whole story.”

If previous chapters are anything to go by, the end of this story should be a rather special one.