Ducati 1198S

Nobody else has a 168bhp V-twin on its books, complete with traction control, Ohlins suspension, data-recording etc, and if they did it’d probably cost more than the £14,750 Ducati 1198S. And there’s a good chance it wouldn’t have the same devastating performance all wrapped up in a chassis that has more character than Lord Of the Rings’ Gandalf. This is truly one of those motorcycles that everybody should be allowed to ride once in their life for the experience of riding the best V-twin ever made.
"Ducati have altered the way the traction control works: on the 1098R the bike had to run open race pipes with no catalytic converter because the traction control system retarded the ignition before finally cutting the sparks completely. This meant the fuel injection continued to pump fuel through the engine which would have damaged the catalytic converter in the standard road pipes.

"On the 1198S the traction control system works by firstly retarding the ignition and then, if the system detects major wheel spin, it now stops the fuel injection from working and therefore no fuel can enter the exhaust pipe and the catalytic converter remains safe.

“The other major changes to the engine are new lighter crank cases which save in the region of 3kgs over the old. The cases are the same as the 848 enabled by a new casting process which removes any air bubbles or gases in the aluminium castings. There is also a reduction in the amount of aluminium material used to make up the cases.