Rs 1.12 crore for a motorcycle. Are you nuts?

If you thought the Ducati 1299 Panigale S Anniversario edition was ridiculously expensive at roughly Rs 60 lakh in India, think again. Ducati is now offering another motorcycle from its envious stables that cost close to twice of that. Unveiled at EICMA last year, the 1299 Superleggera is a bespoke creation that makes the exclusive 1299 Panigale R look mundane. The 1299 Superleggera is limited to 500 units worldwide, and the good news is that Ducati India has confirmed that it will be accepting orders for the 1299 Superleggera here. The 1299 Superleggera is priced at Rs 1,12,20,000 (ex-showroom Delhi). 

The price makes the 1299 Superleggera the most expensive motorcycle in the country, as it retails for nearly twice the price of some of most expensive bikes on sale in the country like the track-only Kawasaki Ninja H2R, MV Agusta F4 RC and Harley-Davidson CVO. So what exactly would you pay Rs 1.12 crores (plus taxes!) for?

For starters, it’s carbon fibre everything. Except for the engine, of course. Even the wheels are carbon fibre - a first on a production motorcycle. The rest of the bike, including the engine and gas tank, uses aluminium and titanium. Heck, even the screws are titanium to save weight! All these exotic materials lead to massive weight savings, and the 1299 Superleggera weighs a featherlight 156 kilos (dry weight).

The engine is Ducati’s most powerful L-twin ever fitted on a production motorcycle. The 1285cc Superquadro motor has been reworked completely and uses exotic materials like titanium valves and connecting rods, and a crankshaft balanced with tungsten counterweights. The engine in this guise weighs 2.1 kilos less than the base 1299 motor and makes an additional 10PS of power. The output is a mind boggling 215PS at 11,000rpm and 146.5Nm of torque at 9000rpm. If 215PS isn't enough, you can add a full-titanium racing exhaust kit that weighs 4 kilos less and adds 5PS to bring the output to a staggering 220PS. The gearbox is a six-speed unit with a quickshifter for upshifts and downshifts and features an autoblip function.

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With a bike as exotic as this, cycle parts are obviously, top-spec. Front forks are fully-adjustable 43mm USD Öhlins FL 936 with TiN treatment, billet aluminium machined bottoms and lightweight internals. The rear is a fully-adjustable Öhlins TTX36 monoshock damper with a titanium spring. Tyres are top-kit Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SP. For braking, the front end gets twin 330mm discs clamped by four-pot Brembo M50 Monobloc callipers and a 245mm disc clamped by a two-pot Brembo calliper at the rear. 

And that’s not it! The electronics on the 1299 Superleggera would probably feel at home on a space shuttle. There is an updated six-axis IMU that controls DTC (Ducati Traction Control), DSC (Ducati Stability Control), DWC EVO (Ducati Wheelie Control), EBC (Engine Braking Control), Cornering ABS, Riding Modes, Power Modes, DPL (Ducati Power Launch), DQS (Ducati Quick Shift), DDA+ (Ducati Data Analyzer) with GPS module, Full Ride-by-Wire and more. Yes, there are enough acronyms here to fill out a sizeable glossary. The 1299 Superleggera is also the first road-going motorcycle to feature Ducati Power Launch. 

If you are willing to put down Rs 1.12 crores excluding taxes, Ducati will also be happy to offer you a two-year, unlimited mileage warranty on the motorcycle. So if you are into motorcycles, not affected by demonetisation and have a couple of crore rupees lying around, you might just want to consider splurging on the 1299 Superleggera, since this is probably as exotic as a motorcycle can get!