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/196545
FIRST RIDE P92 2014 DUCATI PANIGALE 899 1 The 899 looks a lot like the 1199 Panigale, but it's the every man's version – a 148 horsepower, $14,995 Panigale. 1. The 899 gets a Showa fork and Brembo brakes. bike. It's not… well, it's not the 1199 Panigale. Yet it is still very much a Ducati. It still features that "iconic" Ducati superbike style and it still offers superbike performance – albeit with a bit more "street tuning." It's made to be less intimidating than the 1199 Panigale and it is. And it's more affordable – at $14,995 for Ducati Red and $15,295 for Arctic White. We were fortunate enough to be on hand for the world press introduction of the newest Panigale at the Autodromo Enzo E Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. And could things get any better? There we were with a stable of brand new 899s, an iconic racetrack in Italy on which to ride them… but it pissed down rain the entire time. Yes, it was one of those days when you just wanted to smack Mother Nature up the side of her head. Although it's not the 1199 Panigale, the 899 certainly started life closer to the Panigale than it did the 848 Evo. For starters, it shares the same crankcases as the 1199 but it gets its 898cc from a bore and stroke of 100 x 57.2mm – extreme, but not as extreme as the 1199. The compression ratio is 12.5:1. The Superquadro powerplant on the 899 also gets a redesigned cylinder head with 41.8mm inlet and 34mm exhaust valves. According to Ducati, the 899 produces 148 horsepower at 10,750 rpm – eight more horsepower than the 848 Evo, which makes its max power at 10,500 rpm – and 72 foot pounds of torque. Ducati says the torque on the new Panigale is 20-25 percent more than the 848 Evo in every gear. In other words, it's going to accelerate much better than the Evo. The bike also gets a fivetooth larger rear sprocket (44), to further help in acceleration. Unlike the more expensive 1199 Panigale that gets magnesium engine covers, the 899 gets the less-expensive aluminum (clutch, sump and valve) covers. Chassis-wise, the other obvious changes over the bigger and more expensive 1199 Panigale is the double-sided swingarm on the 899 – a shorter and stiffer unit made from cast aluminum. The swingarm was changed from the single-sided unit on the 1199 to keep the cost down. Ditto for the subframe. Although the engine remains a stressed member of the chassis, the rear subframe is now constructed of tubular steel. "The one on the bigger Panigale is an aluminum-casted piece," said Andrea Forni, the