#panigale

We knew it was coming, but now that the cover has been taken off the 2019 Ducati Panigale V4 R, all we can say is wow! Take the WSBK-legal displacement 998 cc Desmosedici Stradale R engine, attach frame sections to both ends to mount top-shelf Öhlins suspension, and wrap the whole package in a Ducati Corse aerodynamics package, and you’ve got a superbike that is ready to take on the world.

Spy photographers have provided us with the first glimpse of the new 2019 Ducati Panigale V4 R, a 1000cc version of our recently-crowned 2018 MOBO Motorcycle of the Year. Designed to meet WSBK homologation requirements, the V4 R will form the basis of Ducati’s Superbike racing efforts for the foreseeable future. This particular motorcycle shows signs of being a racing spec version of the V4 R rather than the street legal production model, based on the presence of data acquisition components, the look of the rear subframe, lever guards, the carbon fiber faring and the lack of lights and mirrors.

Today, we arrive at the end of Motorcycle.com’s award season. Up to this point, we’ve named motorcycles in nine separate categories, the very best bikes that each class has to offer. The Motorcycle of the Year draws upon these winners and then looks deeper for the selection of the motorcycle that not only beat its direct competitors, but also embodies that special something that points to the road ahead for motorcycling as a whole. The 2018 Motorcycle.com Motorcycle of the Year does just that. The 2018 Ducati Panigale V4 S is a special motorcycle – one that simultaneously defines the current two-wheeled state-of-the-art while also expanding what we can expect from motorcycles in the future regarding the role technology will play.

We teased you recently with a dyno shootout between the Aprilia RSV4 RF and the Ducati Panigale V4 S, with the Ducati blowing the doors off the less powerful – and smaller displacing – Aprilia to the tune of 187 hp for the Panigale and 168 hp for the RSV4. This set the stage for our track shootout between the two Italians nicely, as on paper, anyway, the Ducati seemingly has the Aprilia’s number. A bigger engine clearly gives it a power advantage, while 20 pounds less mass on the official MO scales and electronic Öhlins suspension prevails over the RSV4’s extra heft and manual Öhlins bits. But what does that all translate to once the tire warmers come off and fast lap times need to be set?

The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli was bursting with Ducatisti during World Ducati Week 2018 this past July 20-22. Ducati claims attendance was up more than ten thousand from the previous year for this tenth edition of the event, seeing more than 90,000 passionate Ducati loving fans in attendance. With exciting events such as the Race of Champions, Scrambler Flat Track, Ducatista Parade, and live music, Ducatisti from all over the world made their way to the Adriatic Riviera to celebrate the Italian marque.

Ducati superbikes have long been known for running fairly warm. The rear cylinder’s header pipe connects to the engine just under the seat on some of the latest Ducati sportbikes and tends to create an often uncomfortable amount of heat for riders on warm summer days.

We just returned from the launch of Ducati’s all-new Panigale V4, and it’s no exaggeration to describe it as one of the best sportbikes ever made, perhaps even the best. Its new four-cylinder engine is melodious and powerful, it handles with agility akin to a much smaller bike, its electronics are leading-edge and fully customizable, and it looks sensational in person.

Here it is in the flesh, the first mass-produced Ducati motorcycle to mount a four-cylinder engine, and it’s derived, Ducati says, directly from the MotoGP Desmosedici. Actually there are three of them: Panigale V4, Panigale V4S and V4S Speciale – the latter two with electronic Öhlins suspension featuring a new Smart EC 2.0 system, plus forged aluminum wheels, lithium ion batteries, and other assorted exotica. If that’s not rich enough, the Panigale V4 Speciale is a numbered, limited-edition bike with dedicated livery, titanium exhaust and CNC-machined from billet components. If you have to ask how much, don’t ask.

We’re getting our first look at the sportbike that will mark the end of an era. This new V-4-powered Ducati will eventually elbow aside V-Twin Ducatis from the Superbike series.

Ducati released a video teasing a new model to be unveiled at the July 7 World Superbike round at Laguna Seca. The video, titled “When the End Tells the Whole Story,” offers a few tantalizing glimpses of the new model which we suspect to be a final edition version of the Ducati Panigale R.

Ducati capped off its 2016 EICMA presentation with a limited-edition 1299 Superleggera, packaging its powerful 1285cc Superquadro engine almost entirely in carbon fiber. The 1299 SL uses the lightweight material for its structural components, which is a first for a production motorcycle (albeit limited to 500 units), for a claimed wet weight of 364 pounds (368 for European models). The price for what Ducati calls the “quintessence of motorcycling?” £72,000 or $89,225 US. But you can put away your checkbook because Ducati says all 500 units are already sold out.

Ducati revealed a new 90th anniversary edition of the 1299 Panigale S this weekend at World Ducati Week. The limited edition (only 500 will be produced) Ducati 1299 Panigale S Anniversario sports a new color scheme, slightly longer wheelbase, several lighter components and updated electronics including a new traction control system that allows the Panigale to drift around corners. Watch Casey Stoner demonstrate some rear wheel sliding in the following video:

MO readers tend to be pretty vocal when it comes to our three-wheeler tests, insisting that only two-wheelers count as motorcycles and three wheels should be saved for sidecars or the trash bin. If that’s the case, then what do you make of this, the Lazareth LM 847?

What happens when you shoehorn a Ducati 1198 Panigale R engine into a Honda Grom? It burns to the ground due to a leaky fuel line, and you begin again with a new Panigale and Grom. At least that’s what Mario Kleff has reportedly done. According to TodoCircuito, the Thai engineer is quite the mad scientist when it comes to motorcycles. Another project bike of Kleff’s is a Grom powered by a turbocharged 1198 Duc. The video below is the first test ride of the Gromigale R before meltdown. By following this link to TodoCircuito, you’ll see more videos and photos of the bike itself. Enjoy!

Ducati’s Panigale is one of the most desirable sportbikes on the road today. Even the smallest Panigale, the new 959, is sexy and fast, and there’s plenty more where that comes from in the forms of the monstrously powered 1299 and wickedly exotic 1199R. But what do you do when those levels of sexy and fast and exotic just ain’t enough anymore?