Rennie Scaysbrook | March 2, 2017
Alessandro Valia is the guy who rubber stamps your Ducati
Have you ever seen some of Ducati’s press photos of a guy in leathers, sliding wheelie-ing some of the most beautiful bike on the planet and generally riding like a total badass? Well, this is he. Let us introduce Alessandro Valia, the man responsible for putting every Ducati model through a rigorous testing regime before giving his official tick of approval before it’s sold to you and me.
A former Italian Superstock Champion and WorldSBK racer, Valia is still an active participant of the sport in Italian races on the 1299 Panigale, but now his job is more about translating the feeling of riding into numbers for the Ducati engineers so they can come up with the latest weapon from the house of Bolonga.
We caught up with Valia at the recent Ducati SuperSport international press launch in Seville, Spain.
When did you first join Ducati?
I started with superbikes in 2003 with the 999 factory bike of Neil Hodgson, the year he won the WorldSBK Championship. Then I start with production bikes in 2007.
When did you first start riding a motorcycle?
When I was six years old, motocross. My first bike was a Yamaha YZ80.
Tell us about your racing background.
I started racing exactly in 1989 with the 125 bike. Then I increase to 600cc and then 1000cc Superstock. I was the Italian Superstock champion in 2002 with the Ducati 998S.
Then I raced also the World Superbikes in Italy, and I still race in Italy with the Panigale.
What skills do you need to be a successful bike tester and developer for someone like Ducati?
It’s not easy because we have to find a good balance, a good compromise between the performance and for daily use for our production bikes. The SuperSport is an example because it’s a sportbike but not so much like the Panigale, for example. It’s a good compromise between sport and daily use. As a racing rider, the first difficult thing for me was to think about not only the lap time, not only the performance, but also ease of use, the enjoyment of using the bike.
The difference when I was a racer my only focus was pushing full throttle every time, then I have to change this to think about much more on the bike, but the most difficult thing was to speak with the engineers to make them understand what I mean. For this I start learning how to use the data, the position data and so on, all the numbers. The engineers speak only about numbers, not on feelings. So I have to translate. This is the most difficult thing for me, translating the feeling. It’s numbers into feeling and the feeling into numbers.
So you are the human computer! What to you makes a good bike? Is it balance? Is it engine? Combination of all three?
It depends on the bike. For example, I have different approach if I start working on a superbike to a Multistrada. You have to enter the right mood of the bike, to understand the position of the bike. Then I will start thinking about our customer, what the bike has to do and so on, and enter this mood.
What’s your favorite bike that you’ve developed?
From technology point of view, for sure it’s the Panigale. Also, the Superleggera. This is the flagship technology of our factory. But also, the Multistrada. It’s very, very interesting because it’s a touring bike but we have to go in enduro, and it has to be sporty like a Ducati. So it’s not so easy.
As a development rider, what would you like to see Ducati make now?
I think we have a good range of bikes. We have to improve a lot on the daily use on every bike, and also on the quality and competence. We have to focus and push a lot there. Not because we have a big problem, but because we always like to get better and better.
Over your time, did you have a good moment where you knew you got something right in terms of the development of a bike?
It was a big challenge for example to fix the Bosch Cornering ABS on our bikes. Now it works very, very good.
There must have been some interesting times testing Cornering ABS when it was still new.
Yes! The first moment testing with the Bosch guys about seven years ago, we work together to customize our bike, they said you have to lean 40-50 degrees, close your eyes and grab the lever! It took maybe half a day to work up to do this. Every time, a little bit more, a little bit more…
Then, I start trusting the system, trusting and trusting. Finally, I said, “It works! It works!” And right then it stopped working and I had a big crash! Bosch said that no one has ever crashed this way. After that, it was very difficult to start trusting the system again. But now, after seven years, the system is extremely good.
Now, after the Cornering ABS, we have just closed the electronics package of the Superleggera, where we have for the first time the slide control on the bike. This is another nice moment.
Is there an area that you want to see Ducati improve?
I think we are in a very high level for everything. Engine, suspension… For sure what we have done on the Multistrada with the DVT (Desmodromic Variable Timing) is very good for the engine. I think that is what we have to work on. Not so much the performance because we have a lot of performance for the bike, but something easy to use. The engine, the stability of the combustion.
Have you ridden the new four cylinder Panigale?
No.
We thought you’d say that…