I read about Hardly Ableson trying to buy Ducati a week ago. I hope not. I've been able to resist a 1299, and it has been hard. A V4 version that resistance would be defeated. With Ducatis, the first year of a fmc, nah, it is a cluster fuk. Year 2-3 much easier. So I'm safe for a few years :lol
If that thing hits the stealers, Honda looks like the most tarded manu on the planet. Not one V4 on the market, but two, and one of them isn't a Honda. That's pathetic. Honda historically have been the V4 company. They've made some greats, some classics, but remain vehemently incessant that nothing affordable comes out of there that doesn't have an inline 4.
And actually I should have said 3 V4's on the market and Honda isn't one of them....because the R1 crossplane engine, is a virtual V4, due to the crank and firing order. Furusawa figuring out how to make a V4 out of inline 4 for cost and packaging reasons. The inline 4 is easier to move around in a chassis than a Vee with two heads. Lots more setup and packaging options, a real V4 you are limited in comparison.
Please bring it Ducati. And refuse Hardly Ableson's offer. Sell to a company with some technological expertise, someone who operates and engineers in 2017 instead of someone stuck in 1970 and making more off trinkets than motorcycles. The day I see Ducati bought, sold, and serviced in a Hardly dealer is the day I will never buy one. That Ape RSV4 is a damn good bike, maybe the best on the market today, and it don't cost Ducati money, it's a V4, and Italian.