Ducati’s new 848 Evo is a masterpiece. Replacing the current 848, which has been with us since 2008, the 848 Evo has 1198R Brembo Monobloc brake calipers, a non-adjustable steering damper and tweaks to the engine to make it rev harder and faster. These subtle tweaks are enough to put the Ducati into a different league. It’s now every bit as fast and exciting as a superbike, but a thousand times easier to ride. It’s a class act.The Ducati’s 849.4cc V-twin Testastretta engine has new cylinder heads, revised ports, hot cams, new pistons (increasing the compression ratio from 12.1 to 13.2:1) and new elliptical throttle bodies, up from 56mm to 60mm. Power is increased from a measured 122bhp to 126bhp over the old 848, which might not sound much but it’s given the 848 Evo a far more aggressive edge. The 848 Evo loves to be revved and when you do, it rewards you with savage acceleration. Being a big V-twin, you can still ride the torque, be lazy with the gears and cover ground almost as fast.
This is an unashamed race bike with lights. It’s cramped, has a hard seat, an extreme riding position, low screen, rubbish tank range and you can’t see out of the mirrors, but you forgive all this for the way it handles. Stick a set of racing tyres on it and it’s the ultimate trackday tool and able to carry massive corner speed. It’s slightly slow steering out of the crate, but the fully adjustable suspension can be tweaked to dial this out. On the road it’s very stable and can get from A to B as fast as the best sportsbikes in the world.The 848 Evo does without some of the flashy electronics of Ducati’s range-topping machines (although you can have Ducati datalooging as an optional extra), but it comes with new Brembos monobloc calipers, which are phenomenal, fully adjustable Showa suspension and a MotoGP replica mutli-function dash.
The bad old days of dodgy electrics and iffy reliability has gone, Ducatis are now as dependable as the best Japanese bikes. Service intervals are every 7500-miles and build quality is superb.Gone of the days of Ducatis being more expensive than its Japanese rivals. Costing just over ten grand, the 848 Evo is only £1000 more than an R6 and on par with bikes like the GSX-R1000 and Honda Fireblade.
