DUCATI 1299 PANIGALE S
RIDING IMPRESSION
P84
This is engineering extremism
masquerading as consumerism
for the technical generation. A
road bike with 205 horsepower
makes absolutely zero sense
when I'm of the firm opinion 150
horsepower is still probably too
much. You don't need this bike.
But two weeks of living with
the beast has let me unwrap
layers of personality that aren't
always apparent when you first
meet a good-looking stranger.
I'd missed the chance to ride the
1299 at the world launch late last
year on the Algarve coastal town
of Portimao in Portugal, so our
introduction came six months
later on the door of the Pacific
in SoCal. I figure the California
coastline is just as nice as the
Portuguese one, anyway.
There would be no track rid-
ing, no knee dragging in our ren-
dezvous. There would, however,
be traffic lights, crossings, pot-
holes, manhole covers, scared
squirrels and crying babies. Ex-
actly the kind of environment the
Ducati and its earth-shattering
205 horsepower shouldn't work
in; the kind 95 percent of all
1299 Panigales sold around the
world will be ridden in.
We had already track tested
the 1299 here, highlighting just
what an electronic tour de force
this Panigale really is. There are
very few electronic systems on
