DUCATI’S SWANSONG SUPERBIKE
Just like Christmas Day and lap dances, all good things have to come to an end, and that includes Ducati’s iconic line of V-twin superbikes.
For 29 years, and a few handfuls of days, the Italian powerhouse has ruled supreme in the twin pot department, producing a plethora of pornographic (looking and sounding) motorcycles that will forever leave an impression on sportsbike fans the world over. And while it’s hard to conceive, this really is the end of an era for the Bologna-built bullets, Ducati has rightfully and honourably chosen to send off its V-twin heritage in the most fitting and worthy way by going balls out to produce an extra lightweight, ridiculously powerful and stunningly beautiful street bike.
KING OF BLING
Aptly, they’ve called it the 1299 Panigale R Final Edition (FE), and it’s officially the joint most powerful production V-twin to grace this wonderful world (sharing that prestigious accolade with its spanking 1299 Superleggera sibling). But the good news is it costs around half the price of the latter, with a retail price confirmed at £34,995.
If you’re like me, and by that I mean tight, then you’re probably doing the maths and calculating how many other production sportsbikes you could get for that kind of money, but rest assured that this is one of those instances of quality over quantity. See, every last inch of the FE has been finely honed with both beauty and performance in mind. This isn’t just the most powerful sportsbike on the market, but also one of the very lightest, with a kerb weight of just 190kg. And it’s also one of the most sophisticated, crammed with an abundance of technological brilliance that includes GPS, lean angle monitoring, a race-spec traction control package and more rider customisation than you can shake a stick at. The list goes on and on in a manner that reassures the investment you’d be making, should you decide to rob a bank and hand over some of those hard-earned spondoolies.
The performance theme’s continued in the handling department where the 1199R’s die-cast frame is mated with Öhlins’ latest and greatest race quality suspension (NIX forks with a TTX36 shock), which are both laden with adjustability. The suspension units are mechanical, as opposed to the Panigale S’s electronically alterable options, but that’s undoubtedly a nod to the pursuit of the ultimate lap time, and lightest of builds (as electronic gizmos do add weight). Hidden within the focused monocoque frame lies the model’s potent 1285cc motor, which makes 206bhp and packs enough torque to rip your arms off – if they’re not glued on properly.
POWERFUL STUFF
Thankfully, mine remained in their sockets during my test ride of the Final Edition at a sun-blessed Nurburgring track launch. On arrival, it was love at first sight from an aesthetic point of view, and the relationship blossomed intensely when the monstrous V-twin was fired into life; launching heavenly notes from the full titanium World Superbike style Akrapovic exhaust system. If you’re a Ducati owner, fan or even a hater, then you’ll undoubtedly be familiar with that rumbling boom that big twins create, which in the case of the FE has been taken to a heightened level. I was having fun just revving the bike to warm it, but the real enjoyment got under way when I cocked a leg and headed off down the pit lane.
It was one of those times when excitement and nerves blend to leave you curious as to how you’ll cope. But any pre-ride jitters were soon quashed as our group was released and I found myself up at the pointy end on a track I’d never seen outside of a computer game.
The course proved a good mix of technical and speedy sections, with the latter zones allowing me to sample the enormity of the Ducati’s motor. It was, well… not really that scary to be honest. I had visions of the motor being a right handful, leaving me wincing under my helmet, but the sophisticated tech on the Ducati meant that the bike’s motor was simply very usable, much more usable than the 1299 Panigale S, as it happens, which months earlier had tried to ping me off over the course of two days on our SBOTY test.
Yep, I was pleasantly surprised by the motor’s character, but also by its pace. Before long I found myself scrapping with an RSV4-armed German who was slightly better in the corners, but struggling to stay close down the straights. The FE would just zoom past at a fair rate of knots, and the awesome Brembo M50s made light work of stopping my derriere come the end of the straights. They are simply the most amazing calipers on the production bike market, offering great feel, loads of stopping force and blingy looks. And these particular items also boast the advantage of cornering ABS, which meant I could trail away deep into corners without ever risking an embarrassing get off. As the Ducati guy said to me before I got on the bike, “I’m not going to tell you not to crash, but have fun, because when you’re having fun it means you’re not crashing.” With that directive in my mind, I was truly out to make the most of this unprecedented motorcycle.
GETTING TO GRIPS
Despite its many new features and qualities, the Ducati didn’t feel totally alien, especially in the handling department, where its characterful weave felt all too familiar to other Panigales I’ve ridden through the years.
They’ve all seemed to have this wayward motion that’s not dangerous but, just like an aged dad on the dance floor making all the wrong shapes, it is a tad off-putting. It’s weird because the bike felt perfectly planted once in a bend, and it wasn’t particularly unstable on the entry to corners, but it got a bit frisky when the gas got cranked on the way out; this weave would kick off and it was a case of having to navigate my way through it by either sheer brute force or a sympathetic throttle. A switch of gear was also a good way to calm down the situation, but I found the Ducati disliked short-shifting. Don’t get me wrong, with a bike that packs 142Nm of torque, it could never be lacking in oomph, but there was a definite lull in the delivery if I found myself even one gear taller than where I ought/needed to be.
Back to the topic in question – stability. No matter what tweaks I made to the set-up, including raising the rear of the bike to put more weight over the nose, nothing got rid of the shakes. And tweaking the steering damper by a few clicks didn’t prove to be a fix all, either.
I got chatting to the Ducati guys about it and they said the first lot of journos had complained of the same behaviour at Hockenheim a few days earlier, which reassured me that I wasn’t going mental. It feels wrong to criticise a bike this beautiful, but this was, for me, its biggest foible. That and the height of the standard pegs that saw my feet on the ground at speeds utterly unholy; a totally unsettling experience, that would cause me to twitch, which in turn