Do you really need to ask why the Superleggera is special? The first-ever factory bike to feature a carbon fibre frame (okay, monocoque), swingarm, subframe and wheels, the Superleggera (which means ‘super light’ in Italian) is quite simply jaw-dropping in so many ways. It is, without doubt, the ultimate Ducati V-twin sportsbike, and while the subsequent V4 model is more powerful, the 1299 Superleggera is still off the scale both in terms of engineering and performance, with an incredible 215bhp and a dry weight of 156kg...
Starting with the Superleggera’s chassis, Ducati pulled out all the stops and managed to use carbon throughout.out. A remarkable feat of engineering, this allows the Superleggera to be incrediblyibly light. How light? The monocoque chassis is 40% lighter than the 1299’s (1.7kg), the swingarm is 18% lighter (0.9kg), and the carbon wheels, with their forged aluminium centres, are 26% lighter (1.4kg) than the V4s model’s forged Marchesini wheels. Naturally, the fairing, mudguards and so on are also made of lightweight carbon. And the weight savings don’t stop there: the Superleggera’s Öhlins FL936 forks are 1.35kg lighter than the items on the Panigale V4 R and the TTX36 shock saves another 1.5kg through its use of a titanium spring.