Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1183666
2019 DUCATI PANIGALE V4 R RIDE REVIEW P76 Ducati Traction Control (DTC) algorithm that takes center stage. This is one of, if not the finest TC systems on the market today and offers the right amount of adjustment to either let the motorcycle have all its head or absolutely none of it. BMW's 2019 S 1000 RR has 14 levels of adjustment by comparison, which is far too many for anyone to truly need. The Ducati system is a vindication of the "less is more" approach. Tailoring the electronics to your liking is imperative. You'll want to set and forget them be- cause you'll be too busy keeping everything in line and out of the weeds. The chassis is taut and extremely stiff, and it may sound somewhat cliché, but the Pani- gale V4 R in standard trim is far more a real race bike than any- thing else on the market today. With proper conventionally- adjusted (not electronic) Ohlins front and rear in the beautiful 43 mm NPX pressurized fork and TTX36 shock, the feel at the bars and bum is sublimely tangible, al- lowing you to feel every nook and crack at Big Willow (and, trust me, there are lots). Yet you're never totally comfortable, as the aluminum front frame chassis has The experience is akin to being front row center at a Metalli- ca concert emotional high- pitched riffs mixed with intake and exhaust noise so loud you absolutely must wear earplugs. It's like James Hetfield screaming, "acting like a maniac… whiplash!" The V4 R motor is one that loves to rev. Below 8000 rpm, nothing much happens. Indeed, peak torque of 83 lb-ft comes 3500 rpm higher at 11,500 rpm, but it comes in with a rush that has the chassis scrapping for grip as you're hurtled into your near future at mind-warping velocity, throwing gears at the motor like dollar bills in the club. But you've still got another 3750 rpm to go before you reach the claimed maximum horse- power of—wait for it—220 horse- power, or 162 kW if you want to be entirely accurate. When Nicky Hayden won the 2006 World Championship on ar- guably the greatest MotoGP mo- torcycle ever created in the glori- ous five-cylinder Honda RC211V, he had "over 207 horsepower" at his disposal, according to the of- ficial Repsol Honda website—the team for which he was riding. The Ducati Panigale V4 R thus makes substantially more power than the best MotoGP machine from the previous decade, which, when you think about it, it's a baf- fling fact. And the Panigale R has a license plate. Suddenly that sparring analogy doesn't sound too far-fetched, right? Thankfully for those not as talent- ed as the late Kentucky Kid (which equates to roughly 99.99997 percent of the rest of the world), the Panigale V4 R comes laced with every conceivable electronic gadget to keep the $39,995 MSRP machine rubber-side down, far more than Nicky had at his disposal all those years ago. At Willow Springs, with its surface so severely deteriorated it's like a once-great runner who's lived at In-N-Out for the past 23 years, it's a good thing you are not left entirely to your own devic- es on the V4 R. There's wheelie control, slide control, cornering ABS, engine brake control, but it's the Panigale's nine-stage (Above) Isn't that alloy tank just beautiful to stare at? (Left) Ohlins' Superstock-spec TTX36 race shock provides a stiff but direct feel. (Top left) Wings add a claimed 66 pounds of downforce at 167 mph.