New Ducati Owner

Hi all,

New (excited) owner here. I've always been an admirer of all Ducatis however timing meant I had never really been in a position to own one. For most of my riding life i had been on BMWs RRs and recently an Aprilia RSV4 Factory. I have had two Gen 4 and 1 Gen 3 BMW. I wasn't a fan boy as i didn't own a BMW Tyco T-Shirt but i really did like them.
And then I jumped ship and went to a 2021 RSV4 Factory and this was by far my favourite bike on track i have owned, it was the latest 2021 model. But i've a feeling it's replacement will be my new favourite.

However the poor old Aprilia wasn't the most reliable, well it would start (most of the tim), run and do laps around the circuit. But it suffered from poor build quality, mainly a few oil leaks in various locations, it would overheat and finally it did fail to start. (All sorted by Aprilia Warranty)

Anyway the Panigale was pure chance purchase. I was going for a ride and thought I would pop into my local Ducati dealer to sort this itch out with a test ride on a V4. But as I walked into the dealer they had a 23 V4S that just came, a pre reg 3 miles on the clock at a price that was just too hard to to dismiss. Booked a test ride, went out for 30 mins and came because i knew it was the one. Deal done and picked up the V4S last Friday. However i should add, as i was leaving Ducati after the test ride (the deal was to trade in the Aprilia) The Aprilia decided it wouldn't start due to a loose cable on the start motor...common apparently. Thankfully i got it sorted.

Anyway to say it is exceeding my expectations is an understatement. The fuelling/throttle connection is amazing, the bike is very telepathic with where you want it to go and I couldn't ask for better ergos. It is like Ducati took all the best bits of the RR, RSV4 and added them to the Panigale and produced this master piece. I am also genuinely surprised how good it is as a road bike. Coming from BMWs which are probably one of the best Superbikes on the road for comfort. I'd say the Panigale is pretty close. But of course this is not for road comfort, this will be used how it was meant to be used. A bimble on a Sunday and a track day on a Monday.

I'm looking for to my Ducati adventure and meeting a few people at the Ducati track days.

Cheers

Gav

 

Cheers guys for the warm welcomes.

Here are a couple of pics of the bike. As soon as I had it home I had the fairings off to fit the Evotech Rad/Oil guard and GB racing covers, plus switch it into GP shift. Got to say its quite an easy bike to work on.

 

haha! I've got one sitting on my desk. I'll take the real thing over the lego kit.

 

Have you owned a BMW or Aprilia?

 

The glory years