Nerd’s Eye View: Ducati 1199 Superleggera

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More modern sport bike technology trickery is the quick-shifter which uses an electronic sensor mounted to the shift lever to detect when an upshift is demanded. This allows for full-throttle clutchless upshifts as the electronics handle the ignition cut to enable upshift. On a traditional clutchless upshift without the electronics, the rider first applies slight pressure to the shift lever to apply a little preload. Then with a quick breathing-off of the throttle, the preload on the shifter will cause the bike to upshift to the next gear. The quick-shifter allows the rider to skip the breathing off of the throttle making for a faster shift plus no disturbance to the steering due to getting on/off the throttle. Sometimes when I do a first gear redline clutchless shift on my CBR 600RR, the on/off throttle action jerks the steering a bit.
The rear set is a fully machined from billet piece. Again, it’s no surprise to find the boot guard attached to the rear set made from carbon fiber.
The Superleggera is all about being lightweight and it sacrifices service life duration to achieve this end-goal. A lightweight 520 chain is used in conjunction with an aluminum rear sprocket. These parts are light but they will wear out faster than a heavier 530 chain and steel rear sprocket. But hey, if you can afford this bike, you can afford the parts replacement. Oh, of course, more carbon fiber with the chain guard.
Per Ducati tradition, a single sided swing arm is used. Peeking through the wheel, we can see the single rear brake rotor with a toothed wheel for measuring wheel speed. The brake lines are routed over the top of the swing arm and down to the brake caliper mounted at the 4 o’clock position. One benefit to mounting the caliper low should be a lower center of gravity.
Airflow management is important on a motorcycle making 200hp. Big side vents evacuate the air coming off the radiator.
The bottoms of the fairings have air scoops to grab fresh air. My guess is to get cooling air to the components near the exhaust bits and pieces. Even the engine case has a small bit exposed instead of being completely covered which again I would guess is to provide a bit more cooling.

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