WORDS: JON URRY
IMAGES: MORTONS ARCHIVE
The 1098 is rightly viewed as the bike that restored Ducati’s reputation as a builder of exotic and truly beautiful superbikes – but it also had a far more significant impact on the firm’s finances. Believe it or not, when the 1098 launched Ducati’s sportsbike sales went up a whopping 233% as 10,910 1098 models were delivered in 2007. What makes this number even more impressive is the fact that the 1098 arrived in showrooms in April, so it lost three whole months of sales compared with the 999 the previous year. What made it so appealing? Quite simply, Ducati returned to what they knew best – the 916.