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The trend of late in the realm of superbikes is to have a halo model, like the 1199 Panigale, but also to have slightly smaller, slightly cheaper track-ready "middleweights" to ease the pain of entry into real track riding. The 899 is the result of that thinking. In any other era, it'd be a ludicrous superbike. But the automotive horsepower wars have bled over into the two-wheeled realm, and this detuned 1199 engine makes 47 hp less for a grand total of 148.

The extremely oversquare L-twin isn't down on tech. It has a desmo valvetrain, the same gearbox out of the 1199, and a racing-type oil pump. The cost savings is realized in a Mitsubishi fuel injection system (instead of Marelli), a double-sided rear swing arm (instead of a single-side unit). Electronics are formidable: there's 8-level traction control, 3-level ABS, and a 3-level throttle-by-wire system with a rain map. If that sounds like a fairly full feature set, with a few concessions to cost, it really is. This should be a massively capable bike, and it's inherited all of the Panigale family's good looks, to boot.

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