Story time!
Waaaay back when I bought a 2003 ST4S, I took delivery in January in New England, and promptly rode it. Great fun, except I discovered it would not start below 20F. I had to leave a 60 watt light bulb under the engine overnight to get it to start, but once I learned to do that, it would start down to 6F (below which I didn’t ride, that was my lower limit). My dealer also richened the mixture and replaced the oil with a thinner one, both of which helped it start in the cold.
Later that year, my dealer (Bruce of BCM) visited the Ducati factory and while there asked them about their winter testing. “Oh yes, of course we test for winter! We ride in winter too!” “What kind of temperatures?” “All the way down to 5ºC!”
For the Americans in the audience, that’s 40ºF.
It’s designed by engineers. But their assumptions may be a little different from ours.
