2020 DUCATI PANIGALE V2
R I D E R E V I E W
P106
HANDLING, SUSPENSION,
CHASSIS AND WEIGHT
Showa BPF forks and a Sachs rear shock
and steering damper match the 959
specs, but there are tweaks to the geom-
etry to improve the handling with a focus
on road use. Specifically, there's a new
setting for the front suspension while the rear pre-
load is decreased, yet the shock's linkage makes
it two millimeters longer. A new longer and thicker
seat has increased seat height by 0.3 inches up
to 33.0 inches and offers plenty of wiggle room,
allowing you to push back in the saddle under
braking for more even weight spread.
Suspension is set somewhere near track expec-
tations, although a track-day regular might wish to
firm up the front. Corner speed and agility is where
this bike lives, carrying its 441-pounds wet weight
well. The distribution of which is forward bias by
52 percent (up by one percent over the
959) in theory to assist with turn-in speed
and devilishly good it is, too. Lighter wheels
would make it even more arrow sharp, but
that's by no means a gripe of the V2. Quick
turning and dynamic handling is evident as
I barrel over from right-to-left out of turns
two and into three, then a quick squirt on the gas
and into fourth gear and turn four for the long,
slightly uphill left which seems to gets faster the
further over you lean and it's one of those corners
you look forward to getting to on the next lap. The
balance plus consistent and predictive nature of its
agility is one of the best from a production motor-
cycle available today.
Ably assisting the terrific geometry and steering
ability are the Pirelli tires. The production model will
have Diablo Rosso Corsa 2, but on track today, we're
running Supercorsas, mainly to emphasize handling.
The handling
is smooth and
predictable and
is massively
assisted by the
excellent upgraded
electronics
package.
