After giving us disc brakes, suspension and mismatched wheelsize, it looks like motorbikes are finally taking some tech inspiration from mountain biking.

>>> What is the best mountain bike for under £3000?

As reported by GPOne.com MotoGO news site, a mysterious two-button bar-mounted contraption appears to be a stickered-up SR Suntour remote lock lever. But why?

On the Ducati race bikes the remote buttons are coloured red and green, presumably glued-on decals to help the rider remember which button locks and which button unlocks. You can see the spy shot pics on the GPOne story linked above.

There are a few fans who first assumed it was some sort of holeshot device (a button-release for timing the release of the throttle at the start of a race) but recent gossips from the chattering MotoGP masses are convinced the remote is doing the same sort of thing it does on a mountain bike. Namely, lock-out (or firm-up) the suspension, the rear suspension in this instance.

But why would a motorbike need a lock-out? There’s no pedal-induced, energy-robbing bobbing to fight after all. Understandably, Ducati remain tight-lipped on the mystery mechanism. It’s possible that the device is there to somehow deal with squat/anti-squat. Or maybe it’s purely to do with adjusting ride height on-the-fly? Or both? Maybe it’s for releasing an oil slick behind the bike to make chasing competitors crash in a Wacky Races stylee? Probably not.

Regardless, it’s notable that this is the first instance we can ever recall of motorbikes taking some technology from mountain bikes – in this case literally – and applying it to their sport. After we’ve