Ducati plans for supersize Scrambler

DUCATI has dropped its strongest hint yet that an 1100cc supersize Scrambler could be joining the hugely successful family.

Speaking at the launch of the Scrambler Sixty2 in Barcelona, project manager Federico Sabbioni told Visordown: 'We've got the engines, there is room to make something bigger. We'll see, we have a number of ideas and we're thinking about it... there is a volcano of ideas.'

Don't get too excited about the prospect of a 200hp Panigale-engined Scrambler on the horizon, instead Sabbioni insisted that any larger displacement would adhere to the Scrambler's philosophy of a two-valve, air-cooled engine.

He said: 'I think we will continue to apply this kind of engine, we have in the past made a number of different displacements of this engine so we have experience and room to do a different version in terms of engine sizing. There's great possibility to stretch the brand with the 800cc engine, then of course there's also the possibility to make the bigger engine.'

Currently the largest Desmodue in Ducati's range is the air-cooled 800cc engine housed in the Scrambler.

However, the 1100cc Desmodue Evoluzione, last used in the Monster EVO and discontinued in 2013, looks the most likely candidate for the larger model. Of course, Ducati's engineers will need to make the engine Euro 4 compliant.

With Ducati's use of the name Sixty2, a reference to the original 1962 250cc single cylinder Scrambler, Visordown wondered if an affordable entry-level 250 was the next logical step – particularly with the possibility of building the much simpler engine in India or the Far East.

Ducati firmly quashed this idea – suggesting it would be damaging to the prestige of the brand.

'250cc is too small,' said Sabbioni. 'We think this is a bottom line (400cc twin) and we have to respect that and not stretch our brand and our values too much to the lower end. We didn't want to just copy the old Scrambler 30 years later, we want to re-imagine them in a post heritage way, try to add contemporary technology and innovation but keeping the style and inspiration of the old bike.'

The real question is, what would the hipsters make of a 100hp Scrambler?

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