Interesting Development Images

[Harry]

Anyone care to guess who the rider in the Xerox leathers is?

Regards,

Harry.

[Topolino]

Interesting to finally see all these photos and why have they suddenly surfaced? They are of curiously high quality. Why would someone have taken these, especially when the original ones taken at Mugello were of such "deliberately" poor quality? If the bike was secretly testing (we have to assume this, as it is still cloaked in it's infamous gaffer tape, something we all got used to commenting on!) how could a photographer have got shots this close and sharp unless he was there with full knowledge of the factory? Hmmmm. Almost smacks of Ducati in some conspiracy with the press to fuel the initial flames of interest and rumour, since those few infamous shots were the first to "do the rounds" on the internet and perhaps they were "leaked" to start the frenzy ball rolling.

[Rajin Cajun]

Interesting to finally see all these photos and why have they suddenly surfaced? They are of curiously high quality. Why would someone have taken these, especially when the original ones taken at Mugello were of such "deliberately" poor quality? If the bike was secretly testing (we have to assume this, as it is still cloaked in it's infamous gaffer tape, something we all got used to commenting on!) how could a photographer have got shots this close and sharp unless he was there with full knowledge of the factory? Hmmmm. Almost smacks of Ducati in some conspiracy with the press to fuel the initial flames of interest and rumour, since those few infamous shots were the first to "do the rounds" on the internet and perhaps they were "leaked" to start the frenzy ball rolling.

Whoever is in charge of Marketing at Ducati is definitely a smart cookie. To me there is no faster way to market test a product than "Leak" :biggrin it out and test the publics response. Its basicly free testing.

[Phil]

that is one TINY person, a midget maybe?

wow

[spalding12]

very cool, harry
you alwasy bring us SUCH COOL STUFF
thanks

[Venom1098]

I am guessing Bostrom...going by the helmet.........

[Topolino]

Interesting to see the shot of the bike on the bench as that was one of the test mules in that infamous shot of it taken from a passing car with the curious water bottle and what attracted my attention was the side panel that extended towards the tank, which is now where the side panels sit as you coud only guess what the finished article would look like at that stage but at least we knew side panels (airbox covers) were back in the frame. Great insight in these photos.

[infg35]

that is one TINY person, a midget maybe?

wow
Maybe its Dani Pedrosa after he took out nicky thinking he wouldn't have a job any more.:lmao :lmao :lmao :lmao :lmao :lmao

[Wade]

Black/Black/Black with gold Ohlins. Nice, really nice

[infg35]

Its cool to see how they cover up the design of the body so you cant see the actual shape. I remember the Porsche suv's being tested out in the dessert and they had similar "masking"

[scbombsquad]

Those are probably photos from the test ride Motorcyclist did . In the article they talk about the black paint and the cover-ups. In one of the photos in the mag, you can see the black tape on the front end.

[covert49]

Anyone care to guess who the rider in the Xerox leathers is?

Regards,

Harry.

I'm not sure who's actually in the leathers, but that is Ben Bostrom's helmet.

[apessino]

The rider is probably one of Ducati's test riders... his last name is Simoni, I believe, and yes, the guy is absolutely TINY... he can't be more than 5 feet tall.

There is a picture of him in this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Ducati-999-Alan-Cathcart/dp/1893618277/sr=1-8/qid=1168303374/ref=sr_1_8/102-0051123-9924129?ie=UTF8&s=books

He's wearing the same leathers as in some of the pictures above, and he's standing right next to another test rider (Stefano something) who seems to be one and a half times his height! Apparently, Ducati have a dozen or so full time test riders, and they are required to come in all shapes and forms.

By the way, the book above is excellent, even if you don't particularly like the 999... ;) It's a remarkably detailed (and beautifully photographed) look into the process of creating a new Ducati flagship bike.