It always makes me smile when people trot out the old "japanese bikes have no soul" argument to justify an Italian bike. "Soul" when used for european bikes in most cases is another way of saying "It's a cantakerous old pile of crap that's best left parked at the back of the garage, because if it's taken out it's unlikely to drive itself back in there"
There are plenty of Jap bikes with "soul" or "character" - LC250/350, My old GPz11B1 had "character"

, an RC30, RVF750, either of the TL's, any 2 stroke triple (Kwack or Suzi), RG500's, Honda CBX, Kwack Z13 .....
Mike, as a mechanic you should know what justifies the difference in capacity is the given bmep of an engine - the more cylinders for a given capacity the higher it will rev and thus the more power it will make. Yes, Ducati could build a four (actually they did - it's called MV

) but their whole marketing raison d'etre are twins. It's what sets them apart. Superbikes are a race version of a road bike, NOT a road version of a race bike, therefore it's logical that Ducati use a twin. If they can get an advantage in capacity or weight, so what? Honda tried it on with their siamese V8 (sorry oval piston V4) didn't they
I like to see as many engine configurations out there as possible, it all adds to the sound and spectacle. Who cares if the rules need a little "jink" to keep thjings competitive, in the end we're (the buying public) the winners
