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/933834
2018 DUCATI PANIGALE V4S FULL TEST P72 note which sounds more like the old twin than a four, although that's about where the similarity between the two ends. On track the V4 is not as torquey as the old twin, obviously, but it's so, so much smoother in its delivery. The V4 has an insa- tiable appetite for revs, pulling reasonably hard from 4000 rpm, but rocketing from 6500 rpm to a redline of 14,500 rpm so fast it'll make your head spin. It has power to absolutely burn around the tight confines of Valencia and will feel right at home somewhere like the open spaces of Road America, where you'll really be able to let it off the leash. Who the hell cares if this motor isn't race legal? If you do care, then you don't like fun, and we can't be friends. One of the aces in the motor's hand is the new counter-rotating crankshaft. Commonplace in MotoGP, Ducati fitted the V4 with this crank to produce inertia-linked torque in the opposite direction of wheel travel, helping the back-end stay planted under heavy braking and the front to stay closer to the ground under hard acceleration (don't worry, it still does wheelies. Big ones). It works tremendously well, es- pecially under hard acceleration. You can pin the throttle to the stop onto the Valencia front straight and when combined with the traction and wheelie control systems, the front will stay close to the ground and the speed will increase scarily fast as you click up that oh-so- sweet Ducati Quick Shift (DQS) gear change. The counter-rotating crank adds some extra weight than what a traditionally spinning crank would because it needs an extra gear to change the rotation direc- tion, but it's absolutely worth it because this V4 is more power- ful, smoother and just downright better than any production engine Ducati has ever made. The engine experience is tightly controlled by the electronics, with the variable riding modes of Street, Sport and Race offering vastly different throttle responses, which is to be expected. It opens the ma- chine up in ways unimaginable on the V-twin, which even Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali told me could be like the bike riding the rider, instead of the other way around. The initial throttle response in ev- ery mode—but especially the Race mode—is direct and predictable. It makes opening the gas wide open a total joy, as the revs reach for NEW PIRELLIS Pirelli has developed a special Diablo Supercorsa SP SC2 rear tire that's slightly taller in profile. Now measuring 200/60 ZR17 instead of the 1299's 200/55 ZR17. The new tire size is a popular slick option in WorldSBK, and allows for more contact patch on the ground at full lean. The SC2 tire itself is a dual-compound construction, with the shoulder compound the same as in WorldSBK, while the center is a harder construction. The front tire is also slightly wider to aid mid-corner grip. THAT FRONT FRAME The chassis is the first Ducati Front Frame, an evolution of the monocoque that was first debuted in MotoGP and later in the first generation Panigale. Think of the Front Frame as half a twin-spar design—the engine is still a structural chassis member—but the thick, beefy Front Frame allows the engineers to vary torsional and lateral rigidity separately to make the bike handle the road surfaces with better stability. All up, the Front Frame weighs 8.8 pounds and is secured to the upper half crankcase of the front cylinder head and to the rear cylinder head. The motor itself also acts as the anchoring point for the rear suspension and a pivot point for the single-sided swingarm. The front subframe is made from magnesium, with the seat subframe constructed in aluminum and secured to the bike via the rear of the Front Frame and to the rear cylinder head.