It’s been a good year for Ducati. Amidst several quarters of record new bike sales, and allegedly aftersales parts sales doing even more than that, the pure Italian moto company has finally unveiled its new race bike. Last October the company announced it would be taking over as the sole supplier of bikes to the all-electric MotoE racing series, and here in April of 2022 the bike has finally been unveiled ahead of hitting the track in anger next season. Here it is, the Ducati V21L.
Ducati does not currently, nor does it have any formal plans to, offer an electric street motorcycle. Here’s hoping that the BEV race bike will beget a series of street and track-focused machines from Borgo Panigale.
Apparently the bike has been testing since at least December, but here’s the first public view of the new machine. Ducati had some photographers on hand as factory riders Michele Pirro and Alex de Angelis conducted some track tests. The results of the test are closely guarded secrets, but thankfully the company released some images and video of the day, so it must have been at least mildly successful. Surely more work will be done before the racing begins next season, but it’s probably largely setup and electronics from here on in
Just listen to how cool that machine sounds at full chat. If you’ve ever ridden an electric bike you know that the gear and motor whine of an EV bike is truly unique. I personally love the sound of my Harley LiveWire when I really romp the throttle. It’s a visceral harpy scream that really gets my blood up to temp.
For comparison, here’s the outgoing bike on track. Italian firm Energica has been supplying race bikes for MotoE since its inception a few years ago, but obviously doesn’t have the name or cache that Ducati does among moto enthusiasts. You tell me, is the sound better with the Energica or the Duc?
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