2008 Sportbike of the Year

Are you familiar with the feeling that is experiences while watching James Bond commit one of the slickest moves to bring home the lady; that is while delivering his enemies to doom. In 2008 a bike came on stage that is the James Bond of bikes. This is the Ducati 1098. The Ducati’s look and precision in every category sets it ahead of almost all other performance bikes. In 2008 the Ducati 1098 model replaced the 999 and took the award of sport bike of the year without contention. The designers and engineers made a number of improvements on this model. The base model 1098 attempts to compete with the other Japanese liter bikes and does so with a fair price or $14,995. The race model 1098R, is a basically street legal version of the bike that the teams take to the tracks. The pistons were enlarged, engine made stronger, lightweight crank, along with a number of other engine improvements. This increased horsepower and made the bike lighter. The traction control system that is fitted on this bike can even be dialed to 8 different settings depending on track conditions. The race model, because of the upgrades, is far more expensive; getting priced at $39,995. This bike was and still is pushing the limits of what a bike can do. Ducati is unquestioned the most world renown high performance bike and the 1098was it’s most elite model. The 1198 today is the newest model as the 1098 has been recently discontinued. But it already has a place in the history books. I unfortunately have not had the pleasure of riding one of these machines yet but I have had and up close look, and have a few friends that have past me the word from their first hand experience that the hype around this model is real. The looks are unlike almost all other bikes in its class, and as most agree are better. The shape and contours of the bike remind me of a Great White Shark, the predator of the sea, a nice parallel to arguably the highest predator of the tarmac. The 848 model, which has similar looks to the 1098, is my personal favorite and comes in a pearl white, which looks incredibly classy. But regardless of the color, white, black, or red, these bikes are all very well designed. I would love to own one someday.