Ducati is surveying its European customers to see if they would be interested in the idea of a naked version of the 1098 Superbike.
Company boss Gabriele del Torchio has floated the idea across some magazines to gauge the response.
The idea is to run the model alongside, rather than instead of, the successful Monster series.
It would be up against stiff sports-oriented competition such as Aprilia's Tuonio series, and no promises have been made about actually putting the idea into action.