The governing body of the 'superbike' (I think that's the name) class in the US, tired of seeing Harley Davidson get their ass whipped by imported four cylinder bikes, instituted a rule that limited four cylinder bikes to 700cc while allowing HD to run at approx 900cc while using two cylinders.
The 916 was Ducati's way of use this advantage in displacement to clean up in the super bike class...
(I give no claims as to the validity of this story...)
Re: actually you got me there
Date: 2001-03-10 01:17 pm (UTC)The governing body of the 'superbike' (I think that's the name) class in the US, tired of seeing Harley Davidson get their ass whipped by imported four cylinder bikes, instituted a rule that limited four cylinder bikes to 700cc while allowing HD to run at approx 900cc while using two cylinders.
The 916 was Ducati's way of use this advantage in displacement to clean up in the super bike class...
(I give no claims as to the validity of this story...)