Va-Va-Voom!

If there’s one engine layout machine you have to own at least once in your life, it’s a V-twin – but which one?

- Bertie Simmonds

Few engine layouts are as evocative as the V-twin and few twins stir the soullike a Ducati V-twin. Ok, so we should probably say ‘L-twin’ here, but you know what we mean.

In this issue we give a bit of a shout out to the Ducati 999, so let’s start there. The 999/749 shape isn’t the drop-dead gorgeous machine its predecessor 916/748 was, but the bike itself was a big improvement all the way across the board. Firstly, the build quality between an early 916 Strada and a 999 is almost like night and day – although we’ve heard that the old Ducati issue of flaking paint can rear its head in a number of areas, including the engine (a bit of a Ducati trait), the bracket/surround for the two headlights and certain areas of the frame.