When the pain stops
The V4 makes sense when you ride it really fast. You experience snatches of this on the road – full throttle away from toll booths, taking motorway exit curves faster than signposted, flicking through an S-bend at 2000 metres above sea level. These are tantalising clues. Clues to how blinding a bike it is to fling balls-out around the world’s best racetracks. Ridden slower, you begin to notice things. Despite being roomier than the 1299 the seat slopes downwards, forcing you forward into the tank. The rear brake fluid is boiled in slow traffic by its proximity to the rear cylinders and loses potency. Pretty headlights are woeful at lighting the way ahead. The sidestand pin is so small it’s almost inoperable when on the bike. So the V4 is either bloody amazing or frustratingly painful. But that’s to be expected from a bike that’s so focused on doing one thing better than any other production bike. That’s what we celebrate. It gave me the most painful ride through Europe I’ve ever experienced, but it leaves me gobsmacked. There’s more. When we tested the V4S, the top spec, £24,000 version with electronic suspension, back in July we concluded that it was a 10/10 motorcycle. In for a penny… the electronic suspension makes the V4 a better road bike.
‘It gave me the most painful ride through Europe… but it leaves me gobsmacked’