+ Click to Enlarge ONE OF THE GREAT ALL-ROUNDERS: It's a performance bike able to give a decent account of itself on track days, tractable enough to commute on and comfortable enough for genuine long-distance touring. Pictures: DAVE ABRAHAMS For a screen-filling version of this picture, e-mail freepix@iol.co.za with "Ducati ST4s" in the subject field.

November 7, 2005
By Dave Abrahams

Ducati's ST4s is one of the world's three great all-rounders - performance bikes able to give a decent account of themselves on track days, tractable enough to commute on and comfortable enough for genuine long-distance touring.

The other two are Honda's VFR800 and Triumph's big Sprint ST.

The Ducati has always been the most sport-orientated of the three (unsurprising, given its heritage) though the higher-spec 996cc ST4s revealed a few rough edges when we tested it in June 2003.

Ducati has addressed these quirks in the extensively restyled ST4s, cured most but introduced another – of which more in a moment.

So far all quad-valve Ducatis have had a dry clutch derived from the original 916 World Superbike set-up ridden with success by Mr C Fogarty and others. Dry clutches, however, are very noisy; to be blunt, they rattle like a bucket of bolts when disengaged.

They also don't take kindly to abuse; a couple of hot take-offs and they will judder and slip and too much of it will glaze the plates. So, for 2005, the neat black clutch cover that did no more than keep out flies has gone and the right side of the gearbox now sports a big alloy dome housing a wet multiplate clutch.

The Marelli engine management system works through the same 50mm throttle bodies but the mapping has been tweaked to deliver two more kW, up to a claimed 89kW at 8750rpm. Peak torque has been improved from 98 to 103Nm at 7250rpm.
The engine is much quieter – even with the clutch out - and power delivery smoother though that could partially be due to the flywheel effect of the heavier clutch pack.

It still power-thuds heavily up to about 4000rpm before settling down to delivering huge torque and great gobs of mid-range power up to about 700 before the engine begins to vibrate strongly and the brassy, slightly unpleasant, intake roar drowns out the exhaust as the bike takes off.

It will pull like a steam locomotive all the way to the rev limiter at 10 200rpm (a Ducati has no red line) but that's a waste of time because the power drops off noticeably after 9000.

Shift just before nine and the bike will go up through the gears like a space shuttle taking off; it gets to 220km/h very quickly, with another 30 available given sufficient road room. The test bike topped out at 252km/h with the rev-counter showing a little over 8500; once again, Ducati got the gearing just right.

The new clutch is a honey, taking up smoothly and progressively, refusing to slip or judder or grab no matter how hot you get it in the Friday afternoon gridlock. The gearbox, however, is not as slick before. The shift action is short, light, positive – it's just not as crisp as the dry-clutch versions, which were the best in the business.

Chassis unchanged

The rest of the drive train is very civilised; no lash or snatch in the final drive and the Marelli electronic fuel-injection, without benefit of dual butterfly valves or other power-sapping smoothing mechanisms, picks up the power in mid-corner without jerking the rider off line.

Ducati claims the chassis is unchanged; if that's true, the big Ducati is inordinately sensitive to set-up. This test bike was trimmed a little more nose-down than the previous test ST4s and its steering was noticeably quicker, with a little nervousness and the occasional head shake in place of the rocklike stability and lazy turn-in of the 2003 version.

Once settled into a corner, however, it sticks to its line, the superb suspension telling me about every crack in the road without transferring its effects to the chassis. Most of the bike's twitchiness occurred in a straight line with the power on hard.

The quicker turn-in enabled me to hammer up to tight corners, hit the brakes hard and turn it in like a race bike, using the brake lever to modulate attitude. The ST4s's steering is almost as accurate as that of the 999, the Brembo gold line brakes superbly linear and the chassis' response to rider input as direct as a jab from Sugar Ray.

Road-holding is extraordinary, even by sports-bike standards.

Panels restyled

And all of this is on a bike with a comfortably relaxed seat, relatively high bars, low footpegs and a deeply padded touring saddle that can be ridden slowly for a long as necessary in heavy traffic.

Other than the clutch, the biggest improvements have been in the fairing and instruments. The body panels have been restyled with a pair of slinky polycarbonate headlight mouldings replacing the earlier, oval, single-glass unit.

The top half of the fairing is crisper and more steeply angled with a much bigger clear "windscreen" area. Oddly, the lower half of the fairing has been softened, with less sharply defined edges and corners, but it all hangs together thanks mostly to the sweeping seat line and superbly sculpted fuel tank.

The inside of the fairing is lined and has a strangely familiar two-piece LCD and analogue instrument pod. It had me puzzled until I realised it was the standard Multistrada trip data computer pod, inset in the fairing lining instead of standing proud on an elevated bracket as on the Multistrada.

It has all the same functions - speedometer, two trip distance meters, clock, coolant temperature, fuel gauge, instant/average fuel consumption, how much fuel has been used since the last fill and remaining range.

Lustrous paint

It's compact, accurate and user-friendly and works admirably – just like the rest of the bike. Build quality has improved - and needed to.

Everything fitted properly and stayed that way for the duration of the test, the paint was deep and lustrous and all the visible wiring neatly routed.

Once you get used to the quick, slightly nervous steering you'll find the bike handles everything from mountain passes to Monday morning blues effortlessly and comfortably – and that's what all-rounders are all about.

The Ducati ST4s costs R114 000

Test bike from Ducati SA.

Ducati ST4s specifications

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