Ducati Vyper - Ducati is considering a new 1400cc power cruiser

[ducatiz]

Ducati making a new tourer?  Nah.

At it's height, the ST simply did not sell well.  How many ST bikes were they moving before they killed it?



Not too many.  Can't have an entire bike like selling under a thousand worldwide.  Same reason they killed the SS line.  Just was not selling.

Was it styling?  Or was it that people want a Ducati to be a race-like bike and there aren't enough Ducatista who want a tourer anymore?

[junior varsity]

Perhaps its a bike that once one owns, does not upgrade.

This is certainly not to be said about the superbikes. How many people had a 916 era, got a 999, now a 1098, soon to be replaced with an 1198. That seems fairly common - with superbikes people want the latest and greatest.

With sport tourers, you need only one (or so it seems from the guys I know who have one).

[ducatiz]

Sure, but if you're the manufacturer, you can't support a world-wide product line with only <800 of them annually.

[Triple J]

Was it styling?  Or was it that people want a Ducati to be a race-like bike and there aren't enough Ducatista who want a tourer anymore?

I think it was too much stiff competition for the ST, coupled with some ST downfalls...namely a DSS making chain/tire maintenance on the road a PIA, dry clutch which the sport tourer crowd doesn't like, price, and 6K mile valve adjustments (probably the most important on a touring machine).

Every review I read called out those items, and said the STs were nice bikes and handled very well, but there were better options available for cheaper (i.e. Triumph Sprint ST).

It's not the race-bike thing...Multistradas sell well (worldwide, if not in the US), and the Monsters are Ducati's bread and butter.

[VisceralReaction]

Well as an ST owner I can say I don't need to upgrade. In 05 Ducati addressed most
of the complaints. Bad seat, bad light, dry clutch etc.
It's still a SSS but what can i do. I don't need to upgrade it. The 6K valve adjustments piss me off
because it is a make the beast with two backsing HUGE PITA to take the bike completely apart to get at the freaking valve covers.
I am talking all the freaking body work, battery, batter box, radiator, oil cooler. ugh.
But is it fun to ride? Sure as hell. I can rip up the canyons like anyone. Do I need to upgrade it?
Nah it's fun in the canyons and tours two up really comfy. So from 04 to 05 they changed the light and
seat and went from dry to wet clutch. why upgrade just for that? I think the above thought is
correct that ST riders are not the "upgrade to the latest and greatest" hence the downfall of a really
great bike.

[Popeye the Sailor]

The 6K valve adjustments piss me off
because it is a make the beast with two backsing HUGE PITA to take the bike completely apart to get at the freaking valve covers.
I am talking all the freaking body work, battery, batter box, radiator, oil cooler. ugh.

Yup-and I keep maintaining short valve adjustment intervals have no place on a touring bike. You would think I'd be a prime candidate-sold my monster, liked the duc, wasn't comfy. They make a comfier duc that handles, and I want nothing to do with it. I would hate the valve adjustments. Even at the 7500 interval I'd still do at least two a year. I'll pass.

[Triple J]

Yup-and I keep maintaining short valve adjustment intervals have no place on a touring bike. You would think I'd be a prime candidate-sold my monster, liked the duc, wasn't comfy. They make a comfier duc that handles, and I want nothing to do with it. I would hate the valve adjustments. Even at the 7500 interval I'd still do at least two a year. I'll pass.

Watch out on your GS then...6K mile intervals.

They're super easy to access and adjust though. 

[Popeye the Sailor]

Watch out on your GS then...6K mile intervals.

They're super easy to access and adjust though. 

Yeah but it'd take like 45 minutes with no tools, drunk at night. The valves are right there 

[NorDog]

Italians don't make cruisers.

Americans don't make sportbikes.

Brits don't make dirtbikes. 

Germans don't make bikes without heated grips

Japanese don't make . . . uh . . . er . . . uh . . . mmm  . . . uh . . . make the beast with two backs, ran out of wit. 

Japanese don't make apologies.

[Rufus120]

I just put this up in another thread, but there is a quote worth throwing in both this and the scooter thread.

http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2009/07/ducati-talks-strada-aperta-cru.html

Diego Sgorbati, Ducati vice president of marketing in an interview with an Italian magazine.

"Ducati is looking at many segments, scooters, custom, enduro, off-road...it's a normal expansion," says Sgorbati. "Before going down one road though we look at all the potential barriers, technological and distribution related. For example, how many of our dealers can sell a superbike, as well as a motocross bike? Also, does it match the 'soul' of the brand, does it make sense? What worked 20 years ago might not make sense today. [The Ducati Vyper cruiser] in any kind of near future, yes, it's out. Maybe in 4-5 years we would look at the custom market to as well as other segments to see where we could expand."

So maybe this whole cruiser thing is going to happen......

Edit- Here is another interview that makes it sound like the cruiser is much further out

Sgorbati confirms that for the moment the Ducati Custom Cruiser is excluded from product development plans, though they’re keeping an eye on the market to see if custom models would be attractive enough to lure Ducati into segments not typically theirs. Apart from the technological and logistical challenges associated with new models and new segments, Sgorbati says: “We need to understand the spirit of the product, how much it’s in sync with the brand.”

You can read the rest of that one here:
http://www.twowheelsblog.com/post/2640/interview-ducati-models-at-eicma-2009#continua

[ducatiz]

"Ducati is looking at many segments, scooters, custom, enduro, off-road...it's a normal ...........Vyper cruiser] in any kind of near future, yes, it's out. Maybe in 4-5 years we would look at the custom market to as well as other segments to see where we could expand."

..
Sgorbati confirms that for the moment the Ducati Custom Cruiser is excluded from product development plans, though they’re keeping an eye on the market to see if custom models ...........Sgorbati says: “We need to understand the spirit of the product, how much it’s in sync with the brand.”

I guess one has to have had experience with Mediterraneans to understand this is just a guy chatting about his employer.  Ducati will not make a cruiser along the lines of the "Vyper."  Oberdan Bezzi has drawn hundreds of bikes and put names on them, but they are rarely produced by the manufacturers.

I can see this guy sitting at a cafe in a Bolognese piazza drinking a macchiato and bullshitting with the interviewer.. "si .. cruiser.. helicopter.. qualunque volete!... "

It sounds to me like the typical Med style of talking.  Its dead.  It would be sneered at by the cruiser crowd and the Ducati faithful don't want cruisers.

They didn't want Sport Tourers either, which is why the ST was killed.

[Raux]

i think the sport tourer had issues that's why it was killed. it was a bloated bike. 470 lbs plus. yet had the same motors. and it was big. ducati should be small and light. now if they made a small light tourer that handled like a SBK... but instead they are making this oversized, big motor expensive tourer, that looks like another 450 plus pound bike.

[ArguZ]

Yeah...but we are all getting older and it seems people want more comfort and the K series from BMW is selling great.
You got the latest MO, right ?
Doing 900 km a day on a ZZR might be hardcore, buts its doable it seems 
I found myself riding through half of Europe and doing straight roads more than twisty ones.
If I would get another bike, it should be a sports tourer.
But I give it another two to three years.
And then I want to buy my 1200cc traction controlled, ABS, grip and seat heated ST5, are you listening Ducati ? 

[ducatiz]

I think Ducati is more likely to make another ST than a cruiser.  However, they are pretty much limited by their manufacturing capability which is why the ST shared a frame, forks, wheels, and engine with their other bikes.  They can't build a wholly different bike, they are too small.

You can assemble an ST (except for the ST3 which had the 'tre heads)  from parts collected off other bikes pretty easily except for the fairings. 

[Triple J]

... but instead they are making this oversized, big motor expensive tourer, that looks like another 450 plus pound bike.

Well, expensive is their new business model...focus on high end bikes with more profit in them. It will have a big motor for sure...but I seriously doubt it will be oversized or heavy. They've been trending towards lighter bikes for some time now.