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/476137
VOL. 52 ISSUE 10 MARCH 10, 2015 P51 switchback Portimao track with repeated significant elevation changes, revealed a bike that is truly the best of both worlds in terms of twin-cylinder per- formance. It has even more serious top end performance than the 1199 Panigale R and is now matched by the kind of midrange muscle which that bike lacked—an endearing and effective feature of the tradition- al-style 1098R L-twin that was missed. Settle aboard the 1299's definitely more plushly pad- ded seat and you'll encounter an unmistakably racy riding position, with quite a lot of your body weight on your arms and shoulders. But, hey—they did it at last! After years of complaints by magazine test riders like me (as well as customers) about the slippery and smoothed-out cast footpegs on all their sportbikes, Ducati has finally fitted hard- ware becoming a motorcycle of this quality. The new Panigale comes with machined aluminum footrests that would not disgrace a factory Superbike. Better late than never. For the first time ever at a Ducati track press launch my feet didn't once slip off the footpegs in the middle of a turn. Little things mean a lot. Thumb the starter button and glory in the trademark sound of thunder from the tubone exhaust with its upsized 60mm headers, select bottom gear, and you're off. That's the last time you'll need to touch the clutch lever before you return to the pits and stop the Ducati. For while the auto-blipper system now fitted is switchable, you'd be crazy to turn it off because it works even better than the one on the new BMW S1000RR, which isn't as consistently predictable or as smooth. Even at pit lane speeds it works perfectly, because it's smoother and more intuitive in operation. It works brilliantly in delivering a seamless backshift in every gear just by you work- ing the shift lever with your toe. And not having to worry about fingering the clutch lever means you can focus 100 percent on hitting your braking markers and the right entry line for a given bend. Plus, the blip function, when it comes doesn't upset the bike's behavior. Wait til you try an auto-blipper system, if you haven't done so yet, and I promise it'll live up to the billing. You'll wonder how you got along without one for so long! In any case, you don't have to work the gear lever as hard on the 1299 Panigale as you needed to on its 1199 prede- cessor, and that's because the promised extra midrange punch is there in spades. It's no longer critical to choose the right gear for each section of track in order to keep up momentum. In fact, it's better to use one gear higher than you might otherwise think of doing, and hold that gear from way low to way high, just as I did with the Superleggera at Mugello. The 1299 Panigale de- livers the dynamic values of that motorcycle to a wider audience, and at infinitely less cost. You now have the luxury of shortshifting if you want to settle the bike early to drive through a turn for an ideal line, or where you want to cut out gearshifts on (Top) Ducati's Superquadro ultra-short-stroke engine has the largest diameter pistons found in any production car or motorcycle available today. (Middle) The Thin Film Transistor (TFT) dash adjusts automatically to provide the best data according to riding conditions or selected riding mode. (Bottom) The S model gets a fully adjustable Ohlins TTX36 unit with electronic compression and rebound damping adjustment with semi-active mode.