Doesn't get the juices flowing like the red. If you want a pure and highly capable track whore and your only aim is lap times, it makes perfect sense. It does nowt for me. Looks Jap, sounds Jap. And when you look round the paddock on a track day, every fekkers got one. Nah...
Exactly like the Gen 3 BMW in a way. I bought my R after not being very excited by the BMW before the slick chip went in. I specifically wanted a more linear and friendly ride this time since its easier to go quicker on when racing. The bikes that are a handful (Ducati) are often more exciting for Joe public who is not racing them. Next season should be a good one with all the new bikes. I hope the V4R is able to do the business.
Believe it or not the S1000rr BMW's tend to hold better value than the Panigale, or at least they tend to lose less....which is kinda the same thing. It's always helped that BMW offer a complete 24 month warranty with any 2nd hand bike purchased through a BMW dealer, something that Ducati promised for years. Yet even now it's materialised from Ducati it's not offered on every bike and it's only 12 months in most cases I've seen. The new bikes from BMW come with 3 years warranty, kinda shows they're happy with the quality of the product they're putting out and the costs of keeping them on your road https://www.bmw-motorrad.co.uk/en/service/three-year-warranty.html For me the V4 Panigale is 'ok' but that's it. Yes I know there are other models like the S and R. But it's simply massively over priced for what it is, £5k overpriced really. It's fast, but straight line fast and not 'getting it's shit together round track' fast, at least that's what most journos and track reports say. Even the looks are subjective, I personally prefer the 1299/899 to the flabby V4.
I don't posses the experience or talent to fully exploit the V4S but Michael Rutter does. And it's top of the leader board round Donington in his PB magazine feature. He reckons it's top bike by quite a margin so it can't too shabby. Perhaps like the previous Panigale, it's more difficult to ride to it's potential where as the bimmer is more user friendly. I don't know.
I can’t wait to give one a try, if the torque figures are correct it will be a fantastic ride on road and track. The BMW actually gets my juices flowing more than the Ducati as I can rack up more carefree miles compared to the V4, and for me, that’s ultimately the best thing about bikes.
MCN review here : https://www.motorcyclenews.com/bike...W&email_hash=238e35bc1740f7f30753651b375e90b4
“it handles like a lightweight 600cc supersport racer with the grunt of a V4 and the manic top end power of a competition superbike.” Time will tell but it looks like BMW have moved the bar again
Now the V4...... Even the 1299s is faster than the S1000RR for him round there. Just depends what floats your boat and gets the juices flowing, plus what suits someone more. What one likes and gets on with another might not.
@Mary Hinge one thing I will say, we’ve just got back from Jerez, there was a few v4’s running in both red and yellow group. Monners beamer with a full system was reeling them in down the straights. Like I said when I rode one, Hype is one thing, Ducati love hype. But I thought at the time the gen 3 s1000rr was as fast if not quicker than the v4. Can’t compare wsbk etc because even the teams have expressed that the v4r is absolutely nothing like the S and the race bike is basically a prototype. New bmw is 220bhp with a pipe apparently, and being bmw, it’ll probably actually put that power out. The gen3’s are around 200bhp at the wheel on the dynojet bsb dyno (which is more than a v4 puts out on a dynojet)
It's all just cock waving really. And very rider dependent skills wise. The short and tall is, there's very little in it. I did Almeria last year and there's a very long straight where any bike will get to stretch it's legs. I'm not the quickest rider in the paddock but believe me, absolutely nothing reeled me in on that particular stretch. If I got good exit drive, I was drawing past S1000RR's (half way up) like they were bust. An instructor friend of mine on his S1000RR (tuned) followed me several times and declared my V4S was the fastest bike in the paddock. But it really doesn't matter. Unless of course you rely on income to race bikes. For the rest of us, we're just having fun dicking about on super fast sports bikes
Well of course not, it's a different engine. The V4R has a 5mm shorter stroke length. This will change the power output characteristics massively.
I think corner exit will play a huge part on speed down the long straights, remember it’s he who gets to full gas first that wins lol!
That new BMW in ///M trim does look the bollocks and just shy of £20k with the carbon wheels etc would get my cash before a base V4... or even an V4S and I think its better looking
Who was organising Jerez? I would love to get involved but I only seem to hear about these trips subsequent to them happening!
