MOTORCYCLES
34 DUCAT 1098
Italy takes aim at Japan Inc with a
competitive, affordable superbike
48 MODERN ROCKERS
Ducati Sport 1000 vs. Triumph Thruxton
cafe racer comparison
56 DEADLY DUCK
Advanced Motorsports builds the
Sportclassic Ducati couldn't
58 DIRT TRACK REDUX
South Bay Triumph's ode to Ascot
FEATURES
47 EIGHT-VALVE EVOLUTION
Twenty years of Desmoquatiros
60 ROCK THIS TOWN
Sixth Street Specials keeps New York City
up at night
63 BEER CITY BROUHAHA
Milwaukee's other motorcycle addiction
64 THE GREAT SIDEWAYS
ESCAPE
Harvey Mushman rides agairr-in search
of wine
DEPARTMENTS
8 CHECKERS
Nicky Hayden, World Champion
11 CAT TALES
I, Ducatista
12 LEAN ANGLE
Thirty Perfect Minutes
26 BACKFIRES
Why We Ride, swapping saddles and
shiftless sport-tourers
28 ON THE RUN
Dan Walsh has a difficult decision to make
78 GEAR BOX
Retro jackets that only look old
74 MARKETPLACE
97 AO INDEX
98 HARD NUMBERS
UP TO SPEED
18 FIRST OF THE DBS:
HARLEY XR1200
Street tracker for the Euro set-or will we
get it, too?
20 INTERMOT OG:
BMW STEALS THE SHOW
Five new Beemers, two Ducks and a whole
bunch of other bikes
ON THE COVER
ON THE COVER
25 SIDEWAYS INTO 07:
BUELL XB12SH
The Lightning goes supermoto, sort of
MC GARAGE
84 $1500 SPORTBIKE
SURGERY
ON THE COVER
Making Ducati's best-selling Monster 620
even better
89 SMART MONEY
Now that the Ducati 1098 is out, will the
999 be more affordable?
90 DOIN'TIME
Mitch trades his Kaw for a Fizzer, and Angie
gets another Gixxer
92 TRACK TIME
Pink is the new black at Femmoto 2006
95 STREET SAVVY
ON THE COVER
Keeping the wet-and-shiny side up in
the rain
96 ANSWERS
Slippery queries about oil-change intervals
and other mysteries
Bikes in this issue:
APRILIARSV MILLE: 89
BMW KI 200R SPORT: 20
BUELL XB12Stt: 25
DUCATI 1098:34
DUCATI999: 89
DUCATI 998:89
DUCATI MONSTER 620:84
DUCATI SPORT 1000:48, 56
HARLEY-DAVIDSON XR1200: 18
HONDA RC51:89
SUZUKI GSX-R75O: 90
TRIUMPH SCRAMBLER: 64
TRIUMPH THRUXTON: 48, 58
URAL GEAR-UP SIDECAR: 64
YAMAHA FZ 1:90
Ronda; Spain, October 4,2006: While I wait at the
.pit wall for my. chaiice to ride Ducati's all-new—and
still-secret—1098 superbike, I watch two factory test rid-
ers circulate the racetrack on a pair of the shiny new bikes
.and conclude that however many laps I get, they're sure to
be Un Handful Grande.
Its not the uphills, downhills and high-speed corners of Race
Resort Ascari's (www.ascari.net) 3.3-mile, 26-tum road course
that have me spooked. It's the tricky tight turns and chicanes,
of which there are several at this private motorsports play-
ground situated in the arid foothills of southern Spain.
Don't get me wrong, Big
Horsepower is a beautiful thing
when you've got room to use it
But watching the two blood-red
Ducatis ricochet from chicane
to hairpin to off-camber—and
realizing I'd soon be riding a
big-horsepower prototype I
absolutely could not crash at a
track I'd never ridden—has me
considering the downside of a
high-side violent enough to flick
me into the Mediterranean 75
miles to the south.
But I needn't have worried.
Ducatis 1098 (say “ten nine
eighth turns out to be a shock-
ingly potent and amazingly ride-
able open-classer, everything
Ducati R&D Direttore Claudio
Domenicali and Ducati North
America CEO Michael Lock told
me it would be: lighter, more
technically advanced, more
powerful, better handling, less
expensive and far better-looking
than the 999 it replaces. In my
two eight-lap sessions, the
technically challenging Ascari...
And much more!
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