With the exciting new Streetfighter 848, Ducati have combined state-of-the-arttechnology, skeletal styling and contemporary design to create authentic Italian performance at its very best. The Ducati Streetfighter 848 2012 weighs in at a dry 169kg (373lb) dressed in red with a red frame for Ducati traditionalists, while yellow makes a comeback and the stunning dark stealth scheme underlines the Streetfighter’s aggressive image, both with frames finished in racing black.
The Streetfighter 848 delivers pure motorcycle enjoyment with the sophisticated combination of a brand new and brilliantly engineered 848 Testastretta 11° engine and the enhanced geometry of a frame that ensures optimum agility with confidence-inspiring “feel”. With user-friendliness now enriched by a smooth and flexible power delivery, revised ergonomics and DTC, Ducati’s unique fighter style is set to create more excitement than ever.
The Ducati Streetfighter scored a round one knock-out when it entered the ring for the first time at the Milan show back in November 2008. Its supreme elegance stole the ‘Most Beautiful Bike’ award and raised the bar for extreme nakeds. Its asphalt-ripping reputation became the desire of sport naked connoisseurs throughout the world and the Streetfighter 848 now widens that desire with sophistication and everyday
accessibility.
The 848 Testastretta 11° engine is a masterpiece of Desmodromic engineering. 132hp and an exhilarating 69lb-ft of torque is delivered with silky smooth precision by using innovative cam timing solutions proven on the now legendary Multistrada and Diavel power plants. The new engine lives and breathes Streetfighterstyle excitement, while revised chassis ergonomics and race-derived, eight-level electronic Ducati Traction Control ensure enhanced rider comfort and a confident ride.
The new fighter weighs in at a dry 169kg (373lb) dressed in red with a red frame for Ducati traditionalists, while yellow makes a comeback and the stunning dark stealth scheme underlines the Streetfighter’s aggressive image, both with frames finished in racing black.
With the exciting new Streetfighter 848, Ducati have combined state-of-the-arttechnology, skeletal styling and contemporary design to create authentic Italian performance at its very best.
Streetfighter reborn
The Streetfighter culture was born on the backstreets of Northern Europe during the late 70s and 80s. If the Café racer movement had taken traditional bikes and transformed them to establish out-and-out sportbikes, then Streetfighters were definitely anti-establishment. They evolved by removing the fairings from sport bikes, fitting higher bars and customising to create high-performance, over-the-top nakeds. Ducati took that concept and applied their own Italian sophistication to a stunning, factory-prepared Streetfighter.
The Ducati Streetfighter is equipped with everything that made the Superbike a legend: Awesome L-Twin muscle with brutal, big-bore torque, thoroughbred chassis technology, beautiful single-sided swingarm, racebred brakes and pure, sophisticated class.
While the tank and seat shapes leave no doubt as to the Streetfighter’s roots, it is the upright and commanding riding position that really starts to shape the character of this ultimate naked. Minimalistic controls, instrumentation and headlight design leave the front looking clean and mean, while twin-stacked
right-side mufflers at the rear leave the tail-end high and sharp. No other Ducati has ever achieved such an aggressive stance while providing a comfortable, empowering, controllable and enjoyable ride.
Add the awesome street-going Ducati Traction Control as standard equipment and Ducati Data Analysisready electronics and it’s clear that the Streetfighter 848 perfectly balances the essential DNA of an exciting naked motorcycle with the latest race-derived electronic technology.
Ducati passion
Ducati’s original Streetfighter project was inevitable. The passion to build the most successful Superbikes ever, mixed with the desire to create iconic, naked motorcycles was a rush of adrenaline just waiting to happen. Who else would create a bike for out-and-out purists to celebrate naked power in all its forms
A bike with muscle-engine performance, aggressive chassis engineering and intelligent electronics all laid bare to appreciate, respect and enjoy? Ducati build bikes for enthusiasts – for bikers who appreciate the details that come together to make an awesome bike, for perfectionists who instantly recognise excellence when they see it.
Ducati motorcycles are not just a means of transport, they are the realisation of dreams that set their riders apart from the rest of the world. They are an extension of character and the ultimate personal statement.
The Streetfighter is built with pure Ducati passion and it’s ready to impress.
Naked Ducati detail
More attention to detail than ever before went into creating the Ducati Streetfighter. Repositioning many of the components usually hidden by bodywork and continuing to keep them out of sight was a major challenge
for the design and engineering teams, but they pulled it off with impressive results. Add details such as the perfectly formed passenger seat cover, a rear hugger fitted as standard equipment and the pre-minimalised licence plate holder, and it’s plain to see that Ducati have gone that extra step to achieve the highest level of finish.
Take control
The Streetfighter 848 riding position is now even more empowering, with 20mm higher handlebars enhancing the overall ergonomic triangle and 10mm wider foot-pegs each side improving foot positioning.
This continuous study on seat, footpeg and handlebar relationship has maximised comfort without losing the desired feeling of an extreme naked Ducati.
Showing attention to detail typical of all new Ducatis, the handlebars are gripped by beautifully shaped clamps that flow sleekly into the bar-risers. Even the switchgear presents minimalism at its best. The slimline bodies house easy-to-use switches and buttons and feature a unique weapons-like ‘trigger catch’ that slides down to cover the starter button when activating the kill-switch.
Symmetrically mounted, remote brake and clutch reservoirs are small, low and compact and feed slim, radial master-cylinders with adjustable levers by Brembo to complete the clean and uncluttered controls arrangement.
The Streetfighter’s instrumentation continues that same clean look with a compact shape that blends into the aggressive line of the headlight. Information additional to the default read-outs is managed from the lefthand
handlebar-mounted switch gear, allowing the rider to scroll through and select from various menus.
The display presents rpm and speed, with the former displayed across the screen in a progressive bar graph. Additionally, the instruments display DTC status and level selected, lap times, time, air temperature, coolant temperature, battery voltage, two trips and a trip that automatically starts as the fuel system goes onto reserve.
Warning lights illuminate to signify neutral, turn signals, high beam, rev-limit, low oil pressure, fuel reserve, DTC intervention and scheduled maintenance.
The instrument display can also be used to manage Ducati Traction Control settings, list lap times recorded by using the high-beam flash button as a stopwatch and additionally as a control panel for the activation of
the Ducati Data Analyser (DDA) system, which is available as an accessory from Ducati Performance.
The Streetfighter 848 has been built ‘system-ready’ for the data acquisition kit, which consists of a special DDA software and memory key that slots into a plug under the seat. The same plug also doubles as the connection for a handy battery charger also available as an accessory from Ducati Performance.
Intelligent muscle
The Streetfighter S was Ducati’s first ever naked sportbike to be fitted with the awesome Ducati Traction Control (DTC) system. Now, the Streetfighter 848 is armed with full eight-level DTC as standard equipment.
Accessible from the left-hand switchgear and displayed on the digital instrumentation, the system offers a choice of eight profiles, or ‘sensitivity levels’, each one 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, resulting in less intervention for highly competent riders. Once the level is selected and DTC activated, both are displayed on the Streetfighter’s instrumentation.
The system then analyses data sent from front and rear wheel speed
sensors to detect wheel-spin. Should the system recognise wheel-spin above a certain threshold, the DTC ECU instantly evaluates the many possible wheel-spin scenarios before administering two types of interaction in varying amounts.
DTC is able to sense the exact use that the Streetfighter is being put to. From slow mid-corner acceleration with considerable vehicle inclination to high speed corner exits while almost upright, DTC is intelligent enough to react according to each and every situation. It’s even smart enough not to intervene during a
burnout or a wheelie.
The first ‘soft’ stage of system interaction is executed by high speed software that instantly makes electronic adjustment to the ignition by administering varying amounts of retardation to reduce the engine’s torque output. During this initial stage of DTC interaction, both outer warning lights on the Streetfighter instruments – normally used to signify over-rev – illuminate to signify that DTC is being applied.
If the DTC software detects that the first ‘soft’ stage of system interaction is inadequate to control the wheelspin, it continues to administer ignition retardation and instructs the engine ECU to initiate a pattern of
constantly increasing injection cuts until, if necessary, full injection cut. During this second stage of system interaction, both outer and central warning lights fully illuminate to signify that DTC has also initiated
injection cuts.
After either stage one (ignition retardation) or stage two (pattern of injection cuts or full cut), the system incrementally returns to the original ignition and injection mapping as the wheel speeds approach equalisation. This carefully programmed return to full power delivery is the real key to DTC’s smooth and
efficient operation.
In developing its World Championship-winning traction control system for road use, Ducati continue to demonstrate their strategy of transferring technologies from their race bikes into the production environment, and show how solutions developed for performance on the track really can be applied to enhance safety on the road.
A chassis born to fight
At a class-leading 169kg (373lb) dry weight, the Streetfighter 848 boasts the highest power-to-weight ratio in its class. The beautifully built Trellis frame uses the same 24.5° of rake as the Superbike 848EVO to provide optimum agility, while the trail is increased to 103mm to give the confidence-inspiring “feel” of a well-planted front-end. At the back-end, the brand new, black-finished, single-sided swingarm is beautifully cast in aluminium 35mm longer than the Superbike, bringing the total wheelbase to 1,475mm (58in) and ensuring
the Streetfighter’s acceleration is never compromised.
The Streetfighter 848 is armed with fully adjustable 43mm Marzocchi forks up front and a fully adjustable Sachs monoshock at the rear, giving the bike high performance handling and the rider absolute confidence and a comfortable ride.
The matte champagne coloured fork bodies house natural chrome finished sliders, are fully adjustable in spring preload and compression and rebound damping and feature radial mounts for the Brembo brake
callipers.
The lower triple-clamp is formed in a strength-enhancing gull-wing shape for increased rigidity, it maintains a vice-like grip on the fork legs, giving a precise and solid feeling through the bars on fast direction changes.
On the rear, the single Sachs unit operates through a progressive linkage and is also fully adjustable in spring preload and damping in both compression and rebound.
The new Streetfighter uses Brembo’s powerful four-piston radial callipers gripping twin 320mm discs on the front and a two-piston calliper on the rear with a 245mm disc to provide user-friendly and dependable
braking performance.
Wheels & tyres
10-spoke wheels with a rear rim width of 5.5in and 3.5in on the front are made in black-finished, lightweight aluminium to help keep the overall motorcycle weight down and maintain an all-important control on unsprung weight. This weight is made up of all the components between the suspension and the road and includes tyres, brake discs and callipers etc, but when rotating at high speed, it is the wheels that store most of the kinetic energy and offer the most resistance when steering, accelerating or braking. Their weight saving, therefore, is a serious contribution to both the handling and performance of the motorcycle and the Streefighter pulls out all the stops achieve the best results.
The Streetfighter 848 confidently relies on Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa tyres created using technologies developed in the Superbike World Championship and perfected for street use - the ideal methodology for bringing race technology to performance street products. The construction and profiles ensure optimum agility and control by providing enhanced support during vehicle inclination.
The 120/70ZR17 front tyre uses a 0° steel belted construction that guarantees maximum support under heavy braking and corner entry. The new 180/60ZR17 sized rear tyre is constructed with three compound zones, featuring a softer compound on the shoulders (25% on each side) for performance in cornering and a harder compound on the centre section for longer tyre life.
The 180/60ZR17 rear tyre implements an aspect ratio used in World and National Supersport competition and offers a larger contact patch compared with the 180/55, further enhanced with an increased “slick” area when at maximum lean angle. The higher and slightly wider profile improves riding comfort and the larger contact patch spreads road stresses throughout the contact area for reduced wear of both rear compounds.
Transversal grooves between the rear tyre’s central and side shoulder sections quickly disperse residual water, providing excellent grip in wet conditions, while the central non-grooved rib ensures maximum rubber on the ground for traction under acceleration and improved straight line stability.
