The motorbike maketh the man

So you thought you were buying a nice new Italian motorcycle? A year or two ago, that might have been the case. No longer. That shiny red thing isn't a bike at all: it's an expensive prop in a theatrical production called Lifestyle 2004. You, the customer, may have a ride-on part in this show, but the stage play is by an Italian motor cycle manufacturer called Ducati, the company that has metamorphosed from small-time northern Italian motor engineering firm to global lifestyle brand.