A few decades ago, associating Ducati with comfort would have been a cause for surprise, or perhaps even laughter. Ducati didn’t care much about comfort; The goal was to achieve speed and the most advanced product in its category. If you had some reliability issues or the occasional heart-stopping service bill due to the technology, that was just an accepted side effect of Ducati ownership. This is what has made the brand so distinctive.
However, times change, people change, and obviously motorcycle brands too. Ducati has now entered segments that prioritize comfort like adventure motorcycles and cruisers. This was already a big change for Ducatis, but imagine the surprise when comfort became a priority in Ducati’s most unexpected style.
Ducati sports bikes usually justify the pain
Ducati sports bikes are known for being very aggressive, uncomfortable machines that deliver surprisingly low lap times on the racetrack. You need to be able to post great lap times with the physical flexibility and patience that professional racers have. However, Ducati’s attitude towards production motorcycles has recently changed.
The Panigale series of motorcycles is the culmination of Ducati’s extensive experience with sports bikes and racing to the highest levels of motorsport, and yet the latest Panigale offers far more comfort than you might expect. After all, if the general public can’t get on board with your Halo series of products, sales figures will never increase. The latest middleweight Ducati sports bike proves exactly that. Here’s how this Ducati walks a fine line between old and new, and satisfies brand loyalists as well as newcomers.
The Ducati Panigale V2 is the Ducati that’s more comfortable than it looks
The Panigale V2 is one of the new wave of Ducatis that exchange a little performance for a lot of comfort. It still looks flashy, but is usable and less intimidating than you might expect. It’ll turn heads wherever it goes, but at the same time, it’s kinder to your back and wrists. It’s the same with performance: it still has the same performance you’d expect from a Ducati sports bike, but it does it in a slightly different way. It has traded brute force for agility with great results.
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You get a surprisingly reasonable base price
The Panigale V2 has a base price of $16,995, proving that luxury can also be practical. However, if you consider the sport bike segment as a whole rather than just the premium products, it walks on the toes of the litre-class supersport segment. The Panigale V2 S with its electronic suspension is five dollars less expensive than the $20,000 mark. Additionally, if you’re a MotoGP fan, you can get special-edition variants featuring either Marc Marquez or Francesco Bagnia livery, which cost around $25,000 due to their exclusivity and options.
New engine, less power, but more utility
Ducati sport bikes are known to be high-revving monsters for whom valve clearance checks are a horror story financially. However, Ducati is moving away from desmodromic valvetrains for most of its range, and this surprisingly includes the Panigale V2. It’s a 90° V-twin, yes, but it now uses conventional valve springs with variable valve timing on the intake valves.
It displaces 890 cc, retains the short-stroke format, and has a compression ratio of 13.1:1. Power and torque figures are 120 horsepower at 10,750 RPM and 69 pound-feet at 8,250 RPM. A notable difference in the characteristics of this engine is that 70 percent of the torque is already available from 3,000 rpm, making it a balance between speed, precision and everyday comfort.
The monocoque chassis complements the engine perfectly
Ducati has done a lot of work on reducing the overall weight of the Panigale V2, and nowhere is this more evident than in the chassis. It is a monocoque frame with the engine being a stressed member, but this is higher than other designs claiming it. The front monocoque is bolted to the front cylinder head, while the rear subframe is bolted to the rear cylinder head. The swingarm is bolted to the engine’s crankcase, and is made of aluminum. You can expect some weekend track talent here.
Suspension consists of 43mm Marzocchi fully adjustable upside-down forks and a fully adjustable Kayaba single shock at the rear, with 4.7 inches of travel available at the front and 5.9 inches at the rear. You get similar travel in the Panigale V2 S, but the Öhlins suspension is definitely a step up from the base model if you’re focused on better lap times and more comfort on the road.
Both versions get twin 320 mm semi-floating brake discs at the front paired with Brembo M50 monobloc radial calipers with a four-piston fixed design, and at the rear there is a 245 mm brake disc and a rare two-piston fixed caliper. The 17-inch wide-spoke alloy wheels ride on tubeless radial Pirelli Diablo Rosso tyres.
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The Panigale V2 is compact but comfortable
Panigale sport bikes are known for their elbow-high seating position, making them very nimble around the racetrack, but a pain in the back everywhere else. However, the current Panigale V2 deliberately chooses a less aggressive riding position to allow more usability, more time. Seat height remains a fairly high 33 inches, but the position of the handlebars and footpegs allows for a more open rider triangle.
The current Panigale V2 weighs 395 pounds wet without fuel. It’s a far cry from its predecessor, thanks only to an engine that’s 20 pounds lighter than the old Superquadro V-twin engine. This has caused a lot of depreciation: a good reason to pick up one of the older ones today! Coming back to the current model, the frame weighs 8.8 pounds, reducing the overall weight by 33 pounds.
All bases covered when it comes to features
While the Panigale is the best supersport for actual riding, Ducati hasn’t stepped up with the feature set. It has a five-inch TFT display, but Bluetooth and navigation are optional extras for which you’ll have to pay $372 and $688, respectively; Tire pressure monitoring is another paid option. As far as electronics are concerned, you get the complete package that includes a by-wire throttle and a six-axis IMU. It has ride modes, cornering traction control, wheelie control and engine brake control. The package includes cornering ABS with three levels of adjustability and a two-way quickshifter. Cruise control is an optional extra cost of $366.
Two signature models are also available, the Marc Marquez model and the Francesco Bagnaia model. They cost around $25,000, but they’re track-ready variants that cost the extra money to add whatever accessories they need to make it a better track machine than stock. Of course, they have graphics that reflect the official Ducati MotoGP team colors, and also have the riders’ race numbers on them.
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The only true alternative to the Panigale V2 – but it’s not from Ducati
In the market, it has many different competitors because of how unique the features and prices of the Baby Panigale are. We could go with another premium Italian middleweight supersport – the MV Agusta F3 800 retails for $15,998, but it’s an uncompromising track weapon. You can choose from one of the liter supersport options: The Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade is priced at $17,099 and is the most comfortable of the liter sports bikes, while still being light, lively and surprisingly powerful.
However, the Panigale V2 has only one true competitor, and that’s the $12,499 Yamaha YZF-R9, which packs a punch despite its price. Its approach to performance and comfort is similar to that of the Panigale, keeping an eye on real-world comfort while providing thrills on the racetrack. It offers a little less power but is definitely easier to maintain in the long run. It also has some features that are better, like the larger TFT display and the ability to have track telemetry as standard.
Source: Ducati USA
