What does a street-legal track bike with no discernable weaknesses look like? This. Below: Light and compact, the 126 ponies in the 990 R pack a punch everywhere in the rev range.
firm suspension tends to mean firm everywhere, so I expected the fork to be harsh when I loaded it under braking. However, when it was time to pick myself up out of the corner and trail the brakes into the next one, I found
the fork to be smooth and compliant, moving through the stroke just enough to plant the front end while preparing me for yet another happy drop.
It was right around this point in the ride where I donned my scientist’ s cap to see exactly how planted and stable the 990 Duke R really was in the turns. As you probably know, being midcorner with decent lean angle is not the best time to start jacking around with shifting and throttle inputs. On the contrary, we want to keep the chassis as stable as possible to maximize our available traction. My test bike was equipped with Quickshifter +, which generated seamless rapid upshifts and rev- matched downshifts. I started fiddling with it to see if it would unsettle the chassis in the corners. But nothing happened. Sure, I could hear the revs change, but the shifts were so clean and smooth I couldn’ t feel them from the seat. The damn bike didn’ t budge; it just held its line and remained glued to the ground. In response, I bumped my experiment to Defcon 1 and started playing with the throttle, requesting ham- fisted power pulses to be sent to the 180 / 55 Michelin Power Cup 2 tire, but the bike remained locked down and composed, maintaining a clean line all the way through the corners.
24 / OCTOBER 2026 / RIDERMAGAZINE. COM