[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Ducati returns to producing single cylinder engines after a gap of 30 years, with the Superquadro Mono - a 659cc, single cylinder engine.

Equipped with a Desmodromic system - the new engine produces 77.5 hp at 9,750 rpm and is capable of going upto 85hp with the racing exhaust at 10,250 rpm. Ducati claims this is the highest performance ever achieved on a single-cylinder road engine.

The Superquadro Mono derives from the twin-cylinder unit of the 1299 Panigale, from which it inherits the 116 mm bore piston, the combustion chamber, the titanium intake and steel exhaust valves and Desmodromic distribution. With an extremely short stroke of 62.4 mm, the Superquadro Mono has a bore/stroke ratio of 1.86 - which is claimed as the most extreme value ever seen on a road single-cylinder engine. In fact the name Superquadro comes from the extreme ratio between bore and stroke.

https://youtu.be/qZQ9aIR84Mc?si=jToMw5tSfSJiSjx8

This engine is expected to debut on the new entry level Hypermotard 659, spied testing earlier this year.

[RahulNagaraj]

Italian superbike brand Ducati has just unveiled what is said to be the world's most powerful single-cylinder engine.

Called the Superquadro Mono, the engine comes in the form of a 659cc unit, which revs up to 10,500 rpm - also making it the highest-revving single-cylinder engine in production. The quad-valve engine manages to produce 77.5 BHP @ 9,750 rpm and 63 Nm @ 8,000 rpm with a standard exhaust. Switch to a racing exhaust, and the power & torque increase to 85 BHP and 67 Nm, respectively. Ducati states that 70% of the torque is available from 3,000 rpm, and the engine redlines at 10,500 rpm.



The single-cylinder engine is said to be derived from the brand's 1,299cc twin-cylinder Panigale. It even shares a few important components like the piston, valves and combustion chamber design with the larger mill.

Ducati says the 659cc single-cylinder engine will have a 15,000 km interval for its periodic service & a 30,000 km interval for the Desmo service.

The bikemaker is yet to confirm the future models which will get the new single-cylinder engine.

Source: TheDrive

Link to Team-BHP news

[kosjam]

While definitely a technological and engineering marvel, what is the point of this one? Granted, most will counter saying that demonstrating engineering prowess keeps one ahead of the competition and all the good marketing that comes with it, but the fact remains, that in the sunset period of the ICE engine, AND the availability of a less complex engine (twin cylinder) with comparable power figures (per cylinder, and adjusting for cc), this is superfluous.

To put it into perspective, to keep the weight in check, space grade metals were used such as titanium; the complexity of adding counter balance shafts, 2 of those, and the extreme bore to stroke ratio (words picked directly from the source) will ensure that this remains only a marketing exercise rather one with any realistic real world use case.

The article adds that despite such space age material used, weight might still be an issue, and combined with the fact that there seems to be no appreciable increase in power/torque figures as compared to a standard twin cylinder, this increasingly looks to be the last hurrah...

Voicing out my thoughts as a die hard 2Wheeler petrol head...

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by kosjam

While definitely a technological and engineering marvel, what is the point of this one?

... will ensure that this remains only a marketing exercise rather one with any realistic real world use case.

This engine will debut in the upcoming (entry level) Hypermotard 659, spotted testing already -and could be launched at EICMA this year.

[TheM0nk]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

Italian superbike brand Ducati has just unveiled what is said to be the world's most powerful single-cylinder engine.

Called the Superquadro Mono, the engine comes in the form of a 659cc unit, which revs up to 10,500 rpm - also making it the highest-revving single-cylinder engine in production. The quad-valve engine manages to produce 77.5 BHP @ 9,750 rpm and 63 Nm @ 8,000 rpm with a standard exhaust.

Wouldnt higher Compression ratios lead to higher heat generation ? And especially coming from a single cylinder it would be interesting to see how they are going to manage the heat dissipation. As such Ducatis run ultra hot.

[Mr.O]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

Italian superbike brand Ducati has just unveiled what is said to be the world's most powerful single-cylinder engine.

Called the Superquadro Mono, the engine comes in the form of a 659cc unit, which revs up to 10,500 rpm - also making it the highest-revving single-cylinder engine in production. The quad-valve engine manages to produce 77.5 BHP @ 9,750 rpm and 63 Nm @ 8,000 rpm with a standard exhaust.

Ducati claims that their single-cylinder engine has the highest redline at 10.5k RPM, but I'm a bit confused. We have our 390s that also rev up to 10.5k RPM, and our R15 can even reach 11k RPM. Is there something I might be missing here?

[ads295]

Originally Posted by kosjam

To put it into perspective, to keep the weight in check, space grade metals were used such as titanium; the complexity of adding counter balance shafts, 2 of those, and the extreme bore to stroke ratio (words picked directly from the source) will ensure that this remains only a marketing exercise rather one with any realistic real world use case.

A friend of mine (also a diehard biker) once commented that a Ducati factory is a toolroom, not a production line.
The thought stuck with me.

[kosjam]

Originally Posted by ads295

A friend of mine (also a diehard biker) once commented that a Ducati factory is a toolroom, not a production line.
The thought stuck with me.

That is a very thought provoking compliment. These are the type of companies which can claim to have hand built beauties. But then there is something to be said about precision engineering also, which is not possible in a hand built engine.

[VijayAnand1]

In short, this bike is proper competition to the legendary KTM 690. With a compression ratio of a Diesel engine and explosive power, this 659 should gatecrash the Orange promenade with its head held high.

Let's talk numbers shall we!

All in, this is a great contentious contender for the venerable 690. Though the 690 produces 74 hp and 73.5 Nm of torque reaching a perfect 1:1 horsepower, torque ratio, the Ducati's slight hp advantage along with its compression ratio of 13+ compared to the 12.6 of the KTM, Ducati has really gone with exceptional PtoW ratio, use of light weight materials and aluminum cylinder liner. The trick to that even extra bit of power comes from a 62mm throttle body on the Motard as opposed to a 50mm on the 690 which means better fuel feed.

Fun anecdotal observations..

A few of the notes I was able to notice from the offiziale video from Ducati is that this motor is simply a Duke 390 motor on double-steroids. If you'll observe in the exploded engine view, barring the magnesium engine, magneto and valve covers, the entire engine seems to be so much resembling the Duke 390.

Don't believe me. Here's one to start off. The 5x2 spoke setup and hub design is that of the 2015 Duke 390s. Indian Roads are grinning with an evil smile.





Secondly the crank with dual primary balancers is a brilliant idea. Notice how the piston crank, con-rod and connector caps look ditto to the 390.



Now, the gearbox, though most gearbox would be similar, those who've worked on the gearbox would find it amusing to find the stark similarities between this and the 390s gearbox.



And finally the exploded engine view. Barring the magnesium clutch, valve and magneto covers, one would be hard pressed to pass by at hard glance this for a 390 engine, especially the slipper clutch assy. Also notice the fly by wire actuator assy on the throttle body. On the 390 it would look saste!

There will also be a version of the Hypermotard 698 Mono limited to 35kW (47bhp) for younger riders with an A2 motorcycle licence.

The 2024 Ducati Hypermotard 698 Mono will be available in two colours. The first is ‘Ducati Red’, and the second is ‘RVE’ which comes with the Ducati Quick Shift and dedicated delivery. Of course, the RVE - at £11,895 - costs slightly more than the standard version at £10,995.

All in, this should be cracker of a motorcycle with typical Ducati redline action.

Cheers!
VJ

[jackofsome]

Originally Posted by Mr.O

Ducati claims that their single-cylinder engine has the highest redline at 10.5k RPM, but I'm a bit confused. We have our 390s that also rev up to 10.5k RPM, and our R15 can even reach 11k RPM. Is there something I might be missing here?

The biggest single till date was from KTM which redlined at ~8k RPM. Basically what they mean to say is that this big a single with such high rev ceiling. Hope this helps.

[Samarth 619]

I feel Ducati has missed the point with what their single cylinder should've been. Being a subsidiary company with ownership that runs from Lamborghini to Audi to the Volkswagen group of companies, also doesn't help their case.

Only when they get low capacity, high volumes single running on the road, under a different brand, will they get volumes to sustain the entire service center infrastructure.

But this bike is a good technical exercise, I like it, in isolation of market decisions and all.

Originally Posted by Mr.O

Ducati claims that their single-cylinder engine has the highest redline at 10.5k RPM, but I'm a bit confused. We have our 390s that also rev up to 10.5k RPM, and our R15 can even reach 11k RPM. Is there something I might be missing here?

In any new launch, there's always a bunch of claims that may be borderline lies.

Apache RTR's at one time went upto 12000 rpm due to lack of an electronic rev limiter, so this Ducati is not the highest revving single ever.
R15 as you said is the present rev champ here, so clearly it may be just a "highest performing single-cyl. engine", not the highest revving as claimed.

Talking about KTM's 390s, well, they also claimed their 2024 bike's power to weight is highest ever, truth being that the earliest gen, the 2013-15 was the best there is... till date.

[srini1785]

I'm no engine guy but this looks like an attempt at reducing emissions while still trying to maintain the "Ducati" power house image. I wonder why they didn't go for an even smaller engine capacity by bolting a turbo?. Afterall that's what cars are doing now a days.

[Samarth 619]

Originally Posted by srini1785

I'm no engine guy but this looks like an attempt at reducing emissions while still trying to maintain the "Ducati" power house image. I wonder why they didn't go for an even smaller engine capacity by bolting a turbo?. Afterall that's what cars are doing now a days.

You could be right about emissions being a reason, considering the future.

Turbo engines were all the rage in 80's and 90's in the motorcycle world, making a 65 bhp engine touch 90 or something, but they soon were out of trend, when engines went bigger and made good power anyways.
I'm not too sure about turbo being an effective move, specially in the low end segment, and specially when the high end segment has no such concept, presently, creating a product line placement contradiction..

Supercharging is different from turbocharging, but for a present world comparison, the Z H2 (the inline 4 supercharged) vs Superduke 1290R (the naturally aspirated twin cylinder), you could observe the following:-
1. The Z H2 is higher performing at top end, but for mostly any rev below 8500, the Superduke dominates by a big, clear margin.
Peak torque is higher in Superduke too. plus, its above 100NM anywhere above 3500 rpm.
2. The Superduke also weighs much lesser at under 200 kgs, while Z H2 is almost 35 kgs more.
3. I'm assuming, but I think Superduke is cheaper to produce and maintain.

Now, the Z H2 is detuned compared to H2, the faired model. So, things may be slightly different if I choose H2. However, next year a Superduke 1390 is coming, which will hold its own, at least in the twin cylinder world.

Maybe I'm comparing (Green) apples to oranges, but considering emissions norms and road compatibility, I think its better to go for a bigger engine than a turbo/supercharged one.
A Kawa H2R might just blow them all out... but its not road compliant, and that ends there.