WSBK » Aprilia presents the RSV4

Desmodronic. Used in WSBK by Ducati since 1990. Look in Wikipedia or elsewhere and then tell me about Desmo.

Farmer Giles, Delboy means the Ducati Desmosedici, the 990cc V4 MotoGP replica. In terms of pure performance, it would certainly be a winner, but Ducati is willing to promote its road going twins through World Superbikes, whereas the MotoGP effort is rather a brand strengthening one than purely sales-connected.

Now as someone wrote above, if Aprilia is too successful with its RSV4, no doubt Ducati might be tempted to homologate its D16, and that would be the end of WSB due to costs inflating and Japanese inline fours being much slower...

Wow!!!
That's the least I can say!!!
It's magnificent!!!
Let's all hope it runs as great as it looks!!!

Anyone notice that fellow with the big hair in the background? Looks a hell of a lot like Marco Simoncelli. Same company owns aprilia and gilera i'm pretty sure. Don't think it means anything though, he's not exactly gonna switch to WSBK when he's almost certain to step up to motogp in the next two seasons.. He's signed for next year anyway i believe.. Just thought i'd throw that out there.

I've been waiting so long for this bike!! I predict they will win races in their first year out. I must say this bike gives me effin chills!

Just to clarify for Del Boy (and others)...

Desmodromic vales are opened & closed mechanically- they don't use return springs, like 'normal' bikes. The current breed of moto GP bikes have their valves closed by air (like F1), hence pneumatic.
Desmoduo, desmoquattro, desmosedici= 2,4,16 valves.

To my knowledge the desmosedici road bike doesn't exist in suffcient numbers for homologation- & whilst Ducati make some 'race kit' they don't offer pukka race parts.

V4 versus inline four is about balance, size and firing order.
Valve size, compression, piston speed, efficiency of combustion etc etc is far more important than raw configiration.
It's more complex than most people think!

Dan - Yes the big haired guy in the image is Marco Simoncelli, both he and the gentleman standing to his right with the red hoody and the baseball cap, Mattia Pasini, both attended the event as Gilera, Aprilia and Derbi are all owed by Piaggio. They were towing the company line thats all, not looking for a ride next season :P

Jon M - the new homologation rules prevent the Desmosedici qualifying to race WSBK, however it would have been fine under the old rules. Given the rule about HO changed at the same time as Ducati were allowed to have 1200cc it's pretty easy to guess that that was the trade off agreed "either let us run the 1098R or we'll start running the D16" "ok ok we give in you can have 1200cc"

TimBo / Delboy - a V4 doesn't intrinsically make more power than an inline 4, however it has one advantage - the narrower engine allows a narrower bike, and that means a higher top speed from the same HP (ceteris paribus). Wind resistance starts becoming a big issue over 200Km/hr and less wind resistance becomes a noticeable advantage for fast tracks. It's obviously not the be all end all - you have to get the power to the ground in a usable way and etc, but given the claimed high hp (200), the implied very light weight (in the article) and the advanced engine management technology this bike *could* be very quick, or it could be too hard to get working with the number of options available

The Ducati Desmosedice could be homologated for WSB if 150 units were sold, However the purpose of WSB is a showroom window, Win on sunday buy on Monday. for this reason Ducati field the 1098r, which although it is a £25,000 bike has cheaper siblings at £14000 and £11000, The sort of blokes who will spend £45 grand on a Desmosedice would spend it any way. The problem that Aprilia face is that they have spent the last 5 years discounting their bikes to Jap pricing so the RSVR can be bought for 7000 and the RSV factory for 8500, If their new V4 can consistently win a championship they can start moving the pricing point up, rumour has it that the new road bike will be in the £14grand class like