Built to win

Now updated with Ducati Traction Control for the road, the awesome 1098 R is also available in a 1098 R Bayliss Limited Edition, celebrating Troy's victory in the 2008 World Superbike Championship and the end of a legendary career that has seen three World Championships on three generations of Ducati Superbike.

The 1098 R is the ultimate Superbike. The most advanced, most powerful twin-cylinder motorcycle ever. Built with the single objective of winning, it powered Troy Bayliss to victory in the World Superbike Championship in its debut year. Now it has been improved even further.

The 'R' is a race bike, pure and simple. Its competition specification and superior components together with advanced electronics and race-proven chassis technology deliver a level of performance that empowers with confidence and capability. On the road, it distinguishes its rider as a connoisseur of high-performance motorcycles. On the track it instantly promotes the rider to a higher level of skill.

The road-going 'R' version is closer than ever to Ducati's factory race bike. The 1098 R is not a replica - it's the real deal. An incredible 180hp L-Twin Testastretta Evoluzione engine in a race-winning Trellis chassis set-up tips the scales at an unbelievably lightweight 165kg (364lbs) and comes with Ducati Corse's world championship winning traction control system for the road.

Once again, Ducati raises the bar and sets the world standard for sport bikes while turning the heads and racing the hearts of enthusiasts throughout the world.

Winning is Ducati's passion

Ducati Superbikes, designed, engineered and built in Bologna, Italy, have always represented the pinnacle of Ducati motorcycle technology and racing success. For Ducati, racing and winning are a way of life and a way of thinking for their designers, engineers and everyone at the factory. Their unique engineering solutions are proven on the race track, where the only way to win is to have technical superiority and dependable performance.

Ducati have dominated World Superbike racing, winning 13 World Championships and taking the Manufacturers' title 15 times. Furthermore, Ducati have won more individual World Superbike races than all other manufacturers combined. Add these unequalled performances to the historic achievement of winning the 2007 MotoGP World Championship, and their results speak for themselves.

1098 R Testastretta Evoluzione POWER

The 1098 R engine represents the finest twin-cylinder technology in the world. It produces 180hp (132.4kW) @ 9,750rpm and 99.1lb-ft (13.7kgm) of brute torque @ 7,750rpm in standard mode and an astonishing 186hp when using the supplied race kit (intended strictly for track use only).

The specification of this engine underlines its no-compromise race technology. To help contain the massive 'R' power output, the crankcases have been sand-cast produced, a process that improves the molecular quality of the casting, increasing strength while ensuring that intricate shapes are achieved with absolute accuracy. Confirming the 1098 R's race specification by minimising weight and increasing performance, the crankshaft connecting rods are made in titanium, achieving a 34% saving over the stock 1198 rods while reducing their reciprocating forces and improving crankshaft acceleration. Cam belt covers moulded in carbon fibre and cam covers cast in magnesium alloy enhance the lightweight package.

The 1198.4cc capacity is the product of a larger bore and stroke of 106x67.9mm and is fed through four titanium valves per cylinder and compressed to a ratio of 12.8:1. The chrome nitride coated valves are larger in the 'R' engine, measuring 44.3mm for the inlet and 36.2mm for the exhaust. They are actuated by rocker arms that are super-finished for reduced friction and fatigue, and double overhead camshafts with radical race profiles.

These incredible valve performances are only possible because of Ducati's unique Desmodromic system, where valve closure is activated mechanically. At high rpm it would be almost impossible for the valve to follow the steep closure profile of the cam lobe if it were relying upon a normal valve spring, but with the Desmo system the valve is mechanically closed with the same accuracy as it is opened, enabling steep cam profiles and radical cam timings. This system is used on every single Ducati motorcycle including our world-beating Desmosedici MotoGP bike.

The pistons utilise the same design developed for the Desmosedici in the Ducati MotoGP program by using a distinctive double-ribbed undercrown to achieve high strength with minimal piston wall surface area and, therefore, less friction.

The 1098 R elliptical throttle bodies equate to diameter measurement of 63.9mm and the 'R' remains the only road-going Ducati to use twin injectors on each cylinder. The first centrally mounted injector feeds through a 4-hole nozzle while the second offset injector feeds through a 12-hole nozzle ensuring progressive and fluid power delivery throughout the rev-range. With this configuration the system has the capacity to provide much heavier fueling when used in competition.

The gearbox's carefully calculated specification allows the use of a high ratio 6th gear, fully enabling the speed increase achieved from using the supplied race kit (for track use only) or additional performance modifications. Also with performance in mind and because of its high resistance to fatigue, the gears are machined from the same high-strength steel used in Ducati Corse race applications and are subjected to a shot-peening treatment that further ensures their strength. Unique to the 'R' version, the dry, multiplate 'slipper' clutch reduces the destabilising effect of aggressive downshifting and helps provide the fine control required when used under extreme track conditions.

The 1098 R uses the same 2-1-2 exhaust system as the 1198, however, it terminates with Ducati's trademark twin under-seat mufflers beautifully formed in super lightweight titanium and stainless steel.

Superbike Technology

The 1098 R takes all the Superbike family features, reduces weight even further and adds an extra 10 horsepower, sand-cast crankcases, titanium valves and con-rods, fully adjustable Öhlins TTXR rear suspension and much more to produce the most awesome performance ever seen in this category.

Underlining its competition intention, the 1098 R is designed as a true 'monoposto' with no provisions to carry a passenger. This has enabled a 50% weight reduction of the rear subframe by producing it in aluminium alloy.

Other specifications particular to the 1098 R includes the fairing belly-pan, upper-fairing internal panels, tank lower side panels, seat assembly and front fender in carbon fibre, making the bodywork a considerable contributing factor to the overall performance of the machine.

In true 'R' style, 1098 R comes with red bodywork complete with white background number plates on the tail section and nose fairing. The Trellis frame is also in 'red' with the front and rear 5-spoke Marchesini wheels finished in 'racing gold'. The fairing belly-pan, front fender and side panels are left in a contrasting natural carbon fibre finish. Finally, the small red, white and green tricolore graphic, neatly shaped between the twin headlamps in the nose fairing, proudly underlines the Italian design, style and precision race engineering of this incredible motorcycle.

Traction control

For the first time ever on a Ducati production motorcycle, a true competition-level traction control system for the road comes integrated into the 1198 S and 1098 R electronics as standard equipment. The Ducati Traction Control (DTC) system further underlines Ducati's technology flow from racing to production and demonstrates how solutions developed for the track can be applied to enhance safety on the road.

DTC uses the same software logic developed and used by Ducati Corse for their world championship winning MotoGP and World Superbike motorcycles and offers a choice of eight settings developed by their professional test riders and racers.

Accessible from the left-hand switchgear and displayed on the digital instrumentation, the system offers a choice of eight profiles. Each one has been programmed with a wheel-spin tolerance matched to progressive riding levels of skill graded from one to eight. While level eight administers a confidence-building, high level of interaction from the system by activating upon the slightest amount of wheel-spin, level one offers a much higher tolerance and so much less intervention for highly competent riders. When the level is selected and DTC activated, the level is displayed on the instrumentation.

When the profile that best suits the combination of road or track conditions and riding style has been selected and the DTC system activated, front and rear wheel sensors compare speed differential to sense when rear traction is being broken (wheel-spin). High speed software then makes instant electronic adjustment to the fuel injection, taking immediate control over power output so as to restore traction at the rear wheel. A warning light is displayed during DTC interaction. As soon as the system recognises the return of equal wheel speeds, it re-establishes normal power delivery. In this way, DTC provides a considerable increase in safety during mid-corner acceleration.

The DTC system is supplied as standard equipment on the 1198 S and 1098 R models.