Absolute beauty. I was tempted to give this a thumbs down as I’m incredibly envious. Instead however I’ve decided to harness the power of the green eyed monster in order to put the necessary green backs away in order to do my usual thing of buying a bike (hopefully an 1199R) in December when sellers can’t give bikes away for love, money or a night with Miss Venezuela.
Outstanding plan. I bought my V4 in February. It makes a lot of sense. Just gotta sell the Z in the next few weeks and then I can take my pick for the everyday bike through the winter.
One of your other posts mentioned that the R was “tamer” (in terms) than the V4. From what I recall reading, most journos seemed to be saying the R was a bit manic and the V4 quite civilised (though I don’t think I’ve ever read/seen a back to back review). I also used a V4s on track for a day a few weeks back and although it was an animal in terms of how much power it put out, I didn’t find it at all intimidating and actually thought it quite forgiving. One thing about the V4 I didn’t like was that although I’m 5’9” and proportionally long in the leg, I couldn’t flat foot it. Does the 1199 have a lower seat height or is it because the V4 is wider? Or both? Cheers
The v4 runs that hideous aluminium top frame making it wider whereas on the twins everything bolts to the engine. Judging by the amount of heat felt in the meat and two veg area on a twin you would also think your balls are bolted the engine also
Bit early to properly comment on the differences in performance but initial impressions remain the R requires less effort to corner, the V4 I felt I had to muscle it into corners. Both are hot as hell but the frame on the V4 gets red hot - cheaper than running central heating when I'd been out for a ride - you could have had a cannabis factory in my garage then. Im 5" 5" and the R feels quite a bit lower. The V4 is tippy toes everywhere, the R is much narrower and might have a very slightly lower seat (check the stats). I was running the V on fixed suspension settings tailored to me as opposed to Dynamic (it was the S). The standard rear preload gave zero (nil/nothing) free sag. I wound it pretty much all off. The R has some static sag but that's as far as Ive got so far.
Does willy wonka know that all the oompah loompahs have escaped and are now riding panigales everywhere?
They could market a Ducati Performance mounting block to assist us vertically challenged blokes to get on the bloody things. Me first, me first.
I went to one of Prince's nightclubs in Minneapolis a long time ago. Metal detectors on the door. When me and my boss walked through it and there was no alarm, the bouncer asked us why we didn't have any guns as we would probably need them. We did not get his drift until we went in and saw that we were the only white faces in the place. It turned into a very good night as soon as they heard our accents though.
The V4 is a powerful beast of a thing. But the electronics feed the power in progressively. Once your on the fat of the tyre, throttle pinned in 3rd or higher, it's power is impressive. The 1098R, although lower peak power, gives it to Sir ready or not. The lot! For a 10 year old it's equally impressive. Maybe even more so. I struggle for space in my garage but I just can't bring myself to flog the R.... I love it!
This should help all you vertically challenged panigale owners. Or maybe get 1/4 mil drag bikes as they are low
