It isn’t much of a secret that street bikes have gotten VERY fast over the years. A few days ago Ducati held a test in Jerez Spain. This was a preseason test as Ducati prepares for the 2021 MotoGP season.

Preseason tests rarely function as marketing opportunities, but when the world’s best throw a leg over a Ducati Panigale V4S, it’s the perfect showcase. Jack Miller, Pecco Bagnaia, Johann Zarco, Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini, and Luca Marina each rode the road-legal V4S during the two-day test. The best lap time achieved by the Panigale was 1:43.3. That’s even more impressive when compared to the 1:41.1 lap time recorded by Ducati’s MotoGP GP21 bike.

Considering the cost to own, maintain and service a prototype racing motorcycle it is shocking how the street legal V4 Panigale seems to be inching closer to the GP bike. I didn’t expect a $28,695 motorcycle to be only 2 seconds behind an extremely expensive prototype racing motorcycle. Yeah sure that’s a lot of money for a motorcycle but I’d argue it’s a small price to pay for the performance you get.

A few years ago at Mugello the Panigale was something like 15 seconds off GP lap times. That was without a professional rider though. Now that pro riders have ridden both bikes on the same track the actual gap between the two machines is much more clear....and MUCH closer than I would ever have expected.

Link to article

Pure sex on wheels.

Beautiful bike.
I'll admit that I lust after the Streetfighter but I'm sure I'll never own one. Wouldn't make much sense here in flat Ohio.
About 12 years ago when I lived in Salt Lake City, I had Kawasaki Z1000 and loved it. I had canyons to ride in so it made sense. I sold it when I moved back to Ohio.
Ducatis are high end bikes meant to be raced and pushed.

Now that is impressive! I bought a Ducati Diavel last summer. I have a lot of respect for Ducati engineering. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had on a motorcycle. Amazing performance and drop dead gorgeous.

That is one SEXY Bike! I always lusted after a Ducati....LOVE that sexy mechanical Desmodromic Valve Train w/ the Dry Clutch rattle!

Although the split was tighter than I would expect, it's not as shocking as it appears. Street legal sport bikes have always been the basis for race bikes (sometimes vice versa) and commercially available bikes are capable of some pretty insane performance with relatively few enhancements.

My last sport bike, a 2000 ZX-7R had many features found on race bikes such as a factory slipper clutch and a rider geometry that very close to track bikes. With open exhaust, proper tires and keeping the motor at the right RPM's, I recall surprising quite a few competent liter bike owners in the twisties by staying right with them until the straigtaways let them make use of their much better power to weight ratio.

Ducati's have always been serious performance bikes right out of the box in a lot of areas. The low end grunt really makes a difference in less than straight roads.

Kawasaki fans (especially fans Jonathan Rea) have been claiming for a while now that WSBK or 1000cc super bikes based off of production motorcycles are not that far off from the speed of MotoGP bikes.

In Ducati’s case they built the Panigale two purposes, #1 to take the WSBK crown & #2 to build a truly mental and beautiful racing motorcycle that you can ride on the street. They built a truly iconic masterpiece. While it has seen some racing success it has been a spectacular sales success for Ducati. Time will tell if Suzuki can capitalize off of winning its first GP championship in 20 years and whether that will translate into any increase in moto sales.

The speed at which MotoGP tech is finding its way onto street bikes right now is just wonderful. Suzuki wasted no time tossing its brilliant mechanical VVT system from its Grand Prix GSX-RR onto its street legal GSX-R1000. We are right now living in the golden age of fast motorcycles. These bikes are providing million dollar supercar performance for in some cases the cost of a sub compact econoshitbox car.

Eventually the cars will catch up but for right now this is a golden age for those who adore fast motorcycles. I am absolutely LOVING it.

It looks like a cardinal.

Considering the price of a Harley, I'd surely rather have something like this for the money. Of course, I'd immediately kill myself on it.

It does look a little like a bird perched on a branch. Especially with that tail angled up as it is. That isn’t a bad thing this motorcycle definitely flies.

I loved the 999 and it’s successor and the Panigale is only improving upon what I consider to be one hell of an incredible act to follow. Yes the Ducati is expensive but you are paying for a racing motorcycle for the street so it’s going to be expensive no matter what. The choice to abandon the 90° twin in favor of a V4 was a very good decision. Personally, I’ll always have a 90° twin in the garage if possible but the addition of two cylinders has made the Panigale one hell of a contender.