As we entered the express way I could immediately tell the climate of the ride. Ten riders on a variety of European motorcycles scattered across I-64 dodging and weaving, racing to be the first to get out of town. The weather was perfect and the goal for the group was to escape life for a couple hundred miles. My goal was to put the Ducati Streetfighter through its paces and test it on the road or prove su strada.

The route for this adventure took us through the Indiana loop which goes to a far point of Tell City on 66 following the Ohio River back over to Levanworth then home to Louisville. The roads are actually quite fantastic in this area with lots of varying surfaces, twisties of varying degree, on camber off camber along with some nice elevation changes. This loop isn’t as tight as some of the other loops we ride so it is a bit more high speed overall. The only stop along the way besides gas was Bill and Dave’s Smokin’ Pit for lunch (as a vegetarian I can’t recommend the BBQ!).

My initial thoughts on the Streetfighter were quite positive. The ergonomics are quite good for me. The reach to the bar was just about right, adjustable reach on the brake and clutch levers allowed the perfect setting for me, seat is comfortable with a reasonable amount of grip and the foot pegs were in a comfortable position. After 200 miles though I changed my mind about the seat and the foot pegs. The seat was still comfortable, but only when you sit in the center of it. If you attempt to have good body position while riding you will not enjoy the edge of the seat! As for the foot pegs the right side exhaust heat guard forces your foot to sit in an awkward position with the heel out farther than the rest of the foot by a couple of inches. This was not a problem at first, but after a hundred miles my knee was noticeably sore.

The design of the Streetfighter is of course quite subjective and I’m still in the middle on it. I was riding the base model and I must say that it is too dark for my taste. The excessive blacking out of components makes the bike look too homogeneous for me. The S model on the other hand has many contrasting surfaces due to the more varied use of materials and finishes which really makes a big difference to me.

I’ve always felt that naked bikes should be air cooled, but the Streetfighter does a good job of disguising itself. The visual weight is all centralized, but not around the engine only. The design of the fuel tank brings the focus up and off of the motor. It’s possible that the color choices were purposeful for this reason on the base model, but that’s not been confirmed. The integration of the liquid cooled components is quite impressive. I’d say Ducati learned lessons while designing and building the liquid cooled Monsters and applied them to the Streetfighter.

The Streetfighter definitely has strong Ducati naked bike design DNA built into it. I almost felt as if I was on a Monster since all I could see in the mirror was my elbow. To me it is quite unacceptable to be having this issue still after all of these years. The Streetfighter should have been delivered with a nice round bar end mirror that folds in a la Hypermotard style (without the guard).

It is easy to tell that the chassis of the Streetfighter is derived from the Superbike line. The chassis unbelievably stable at high speed; 80+ mph sweepers are handled with ease. The actual experience of riding the bike was quite contradictory to my notion of what the bike would be. I would have expected a quick steering urban assault vehicle, but it is in fact quite unstable and unpleasant during low speed cornering. The good news is that the route we choose was not a series of tight low speed turns, but rather a couple hundred miles of linked together sweepers with the occasional tight section.

The forks and shock both worked as they should absorbing the variation in the road and keeping my tires in contact with the surface. I was able to feel the road and feel what the bike was doing without experiencing a harsh ride. I didn’t set the bike up for me before riding it - it is simply setup how Ducati suggests from the factory. That is a major win for a street bike as I usually have a lot of suspension issues with out-of-the-box street bikes!

The brakes were a nice surprise. Not so much the front as I’ve ridden with that caliper/master cylinder setup several times before and it is always a pleasure. The strong initial bit and instantaneous stopping power are something to be revered. It was the rear that was such a surprise. It was actually capable of aiding in stopping! Generally Ducati motorcycles, particularly of the single sided swing arm Superbike persuasion, have the most terrible rear brake. It generally has two position; not functioning and locked up. The rear brake on the Streetfighter was actually capable of being modulated and had a great feel. Use of the rear brake is something that I consider an art form and an important part of riding. Most people claim to not use it as they feel it adds no value to the braking process, but I think they just don’t know how to properly utilize it. That is another feature all together though!

I know what the engine is capable of after spending some time on a 1098S at Laguna Seca a couple years ago so all I’ll say on the engine itself is that it is capable of more than it is being asked for by the electronics on the Streetfighter. It’s hard to say whether it is emissions or user friendliness that have caused Ducati to use the fuel and ignition mapping they did, but it was a bit disappointing. The bike is missing the snap that I so love from Ducati motorcycles. The Hypermotard has that snap if you’re wondering what I’m referring to. That snap is what makes a street bike fun to me. It’s pointless to roll the throttle on and be going 100mph without even noticing it. I want to know that I’m on my way to speeds that will have my license revoked. I feel this is one of the great characteristics of Ducati motorcycles and unfortunately the Streetfighter doesn’t have it.

A more disturbing characteristic that is emerging in all Ducati motorcycles are the issues with the fuel injection tuning. Many Streetfighter owners have complained of a dead spot in the RPM range around 3500. This is not a new issue, but it does seem to be getting worse with each new model. Probably due to more strict emissions standards of both noise and pollution in the world markets. My Streetfighter definitely had some fueling issues which were much more noticeable at lower RPM. This could add to the low speed handling issues since the power was not smooth during these maneuvers so the suspension was probably upset resulting in handling issues or at least exacerbating the issues.

So the prove su strada was a success in that I was able to put the bike through its paces and see what did and didn’t work for me. Though it seems most if not all of the issues are easily resolved with aftermarket modifications such as an exhaust and ECU, rear sets, etc… but this was a test of what the bike is, not what it could be.