There's a great opportunity coming to motorcycle riders, collectors or racers in the United States. Relative to the number of bikes landing on American shores each year, very few two-wheeled nuts will bask in the glory of what may be the best sportbike available today: The 2008 Ducati 1098R.
As my English ex-pat friends would say of those fortunate enough get their $39,995 checks written before anyone else, "Jammy gits!"
The 1098R isn't so much the next evolution in the 1098 line as it is a homologation obligation allowing a limited number of lucky souls to be the benefactors of WSBK rules. Perhaps I should say that the 1098R is revolutionary in that it's the first streetbike (streetbike, puh-leez!) with available traction control. Ducati makes no ifs, ands, or buts about it, DTC (Ducati Traction Control) is that something special that the Big Four keep toeing the line with but are too litigious-conscious to cross. It's also identical to the same system found on Ducati's factory superbike and MotoGP machines. Awesome!
Yamaha was first to start down the path toward a smarter motorcycle with YCC-T (Yamaha Chip Controlled-Throttle) on the 2006 R6, then later on the '07 R1. This throttle-by-wire system uses a variety of data fed to the ECU which controls a servo motor that does the actual dirty work of opening and closing the throttle. Not long after, Suzuki unveiled S-DMS (Suzuki-Drive Mode Selector) on the 2007 GSX-R1000. This system allows the rider to choose from three different engine maps: full steam ahead to heavily neutered, all at the push of a button. Not TC, but moving in the general vicinity.
Kawasaki's KIMS (Kawasaki Ignition Management System) found on the 2008 ZX-10R gets dangerously close to TC, but Kawi corporate sharks say never the twain shall meet. KIMS assists with "torque management" by monitoring throttle opening, gear position, rate of rpm change, and about 497 other factors through its ECU, then retards ignition timing to reduce torque when sudden unwanted rpm spikes are detected. And more recently we learned about Honda's use of IIC (Ignition Interrupt Control) on the company's 2008 CBR1000RR that compares the rate of deceleration to acceleration based on throttle position, crank speed and countershaft speed, then cuts ignition for a flash when engine speed exceeds countershaft speed, the intent being reduced driveline "shock." Sheesh, there must be an echo in here.
These two systems are close to TC, but they both lack a couple of key ingredients: constant application and wheel speed sensors front and rear. DTC has both areas covered.
Additionally, DTC consists of a separate control unit and is supposed to be operated only with the racing kit ECU and tasty Termignoni exhaust system meant solely for the U.S. Источник: www.motorcycle.com
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