Tim Huntington over at Superbike Planet put the new Ducati S2R through its paces and had this, among two pages worth, to say:

A quick glance at the S2R's spec sheet makes this Monster look prehistoric (well, at least pre-1990's) an air-cooled motor with two-valve heads and twin-piston calipers on the front brakes being the obvious retro standouts. Can those sort of specs still work in today's world of water-cooled, four-valve engines and four- or six-piston caliper brakes that are radially mounted?

Well, to start with, that air-cooled two-valve engine has state of the art fuel injection and an equally state of the art slipper clutch connecting it to the six-speed transmission. Those "old fashioned" brakes are attached to light alloy wheels that are connected to the chassis via upside down forks at the front and a single-sided swingarm at the rear. The brakes also have steel braided lines between the calipers and the master cylinders.

So how does this Frankenstein-esque concoction of old and new technology actually work?

In a simple answer, very well.

Read the whole article here.
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