I may be grasping at straws, but there may be hope for us who want Ducati to produce a real sport-tourer again. When I was at the NEC show I cornered a Ducati staffer and asked him if there was anything on the product development horizon to replace the ST line. As expected, he said that the MTS1200 was currently Ducati's sport touring line, but his body language said that he didn't really see the MTS as a true sport tourer any more than I do. Great bike, but not an ST. Then he said that the Diavel was going to be the platform for a range of models and perhaps one could be an ST bike, but that wasn't very convincing either. So I pointed out that motorcycle touring was more popular than ever and all Ducati has to do is wrap a suitable fairing around either a Monster 1100 or MTS1200, give it a good seat and riding position and there's the new ST. He agreed with me and said that it was good that he could talk to real riders and give feedback directly to Ducati, and he would be doing that after the show. Soon after I found myself at the Kawasaki stand looking at their new 1000SX model tricked out with panniers and being marketed as a sport tourer, and I felt like dragging the Ducati guy over there right then and there!
Ducati have been producing quite a few new bikes lately and can't do everything at once, so let's hope they hear our voices in the wilderness and get round to making a new ST soon. I still haven't decided whether I would prefer the Monster 1100 or MTS1200 as a base, but either one would be good.
If they do eventually make another ST, which motor would people prefer?
Allen Lutz
(somewhere in the Shropshire Hills)
--- In st2_owners@yahoogroups.com, "Nick Woods" <nickw@...> wrote:
> Then again, I did see a Strange Ducati yesterday; the famous Diavel! It stood alongside an 1198 at the NEC show, and the two couldn't be more different. One svelte and focussed, the other butch and bad-arsed, and I'd love to own both. I do know which would be the one that got more riding, and that's the Devil. Yes, its the bulkiest Duke I've ever sat on, but a lot of that's the side-mount rads, and it still looks like a Ducati compared with other firms cruiser/muscle bikes. I liked it! All credit to Ducati for doing something way outside their own particular box. I still don't like the Multi 1200 though, which with its sit-bolt-upright position is just as much a betrayal of Duke principles as the Diavel, even if it does go like a sports bike.
>
> NickW, UK
>
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