Just hypothetically, if one was to acquire a Gen 2 Panigale R later this month, what would one lucky soul need to know to make any essential ‘improvement’ to such a paragon? I understand the non-folding mirrors are a PITA and have earmarked Moto-Science for such (though these don’t look so attractive as the originals) The non-cat Akrapovic are probably out of £ range (now that the budget has been comprehensively blown more but don’t tell *her* that) Heated grips seem to spark some dissent, OEM or aftermarket. (I’m *old*, you see, had my Covid innoculation back in Feb)
I have half moon cf Ducati Performance clutch cover per Cooksters photo. DP fluid reservoirs. DP Matt tank protector. Full six CF rear seat hump/cover. Optimate charge lead plugs into std loom. Brembo SC pads.
DP or lightech rearsets are on my want list and I forgot the obligatory throttle spacer mod that I have. I have the rear brake and gear change set to lowest possible angle and they are still slightly too high for my liking, and pegs themselves are too low for me.
i was lucky with mine it came with the hpk front discs, i got the rearsets and most of the carbon off here. Though i did buy the rear floating disc new at a ridiculously expensive price(which i never use but it matches the front).
One of the best overlooked upgrades for any Panigale is upgraded radiators, they run hot and loose power.Ducati Panigale 1199 1299 Additinal water/oil radiator – JMRaceRadiators.com
The single best mod I made to my 1299 was an oberon clutch slave cylinder. Changed the clutch from horrible, snatchy and fading when hot - to just like a normal bike. made the bike so much easier/more pleasant to ride. About £100 and and hour to change. After that adjust the suspension to your weight unless you are around 100kgs when it'll be about right. Without the above the bike can be hard to ride - with them the bike will be great to ride - everything else is nice to have. The exhaust sounds amazing as standard anything after market will be too loud and not allowed on UK tracks. Lighter wheels are the next performance mod - make the bike even better to ride but not essential. The bike looks awesome standard All the carbon bits - lots of £'s - don't make any significant weight saving Alloy bits - in my opinion most of these make the bike look worse and add weight Rad guard - never had one on a sports bike for 30 years and >200k miles, and never had a rad failure. I rekon I've saved enough money not buying rad guards for all those bikes to buy a radiator if it ever happens.
Both rads at the front, oil cooler is a exchanger set up below the abs pump, Panis are renowned for running hot , running cooler gives them more power, tri options bikes tend to run the fans all the time to help keep the temps down .
I had a rad fail on my 1198. Middle of dartmoor. Had to wait for aa, who along with me managed to get some rad weld in it to get me going again. Then had a mad dash in dying light with a dark visor to hotel on st austell through the lanes etc. I use guards now.
On those bikes the rad guard can cause the issue with splitting the weld at the top. This was a known fault anyway. Under heavy braking, like track, if guard too far away the front wheel fouls and adds pressure to the top weld iirc.
