Different Direction

Ducati go against the tide, producing a lighter but considerably less powerful Panigale V2 for 2025. Will those horses be missed?

- Adam Child

THE NEW DUCATI PANIGALE V2 IS NOT just an important bike for Ducati, but also a big moment for the larger motorcycle industry. Why? Because in an attempt to stamp its authority on the thriving middleweight sport bike (or, in racing terminology, supersport) market, the Bologna factory is claiming that the new Panigale V2 is 'the best Ducati sport bike on the road ever made'. Wow, pick the bones out of that one.

Perhaps, the most startling aspect of that claim is that the new 890 V2 Panigale is not, as you might expect, more powerful than the existing model but some 35 hp down on the 155-hp Superquadro it replaces. After all, new sport bikes are always lighter and more powerful than the previous models—that is the name of the sport bike game or at least it was until now.

On the face of it then, a backward step. Except that in its drive to create the definitive road-going speed device for the revitalized mid-capacity sport bike sector, Ducati have produced a bike that is a massive 17 kilograms lighter than the outgoing Superquadro-powered Panigale. That bike is light but the new S model 890 tops the scales at just 176 kg and, according to Ducati, is the lightest in its class.

Despite such a significant power deficit according to Ducati, in private back-to-back testing, the lighter Panigale V2 was nearly as fast as the older Panigale at the Vallelunga circuit with a former racer astride it. With a fast track-day rider astride, the new V2 surpassed the old bike, just.

Ducati explain that is because the new V2 is easier to ride, due primarily to its lightness; an easier-to-use, torque-rich motor; improved rider ergonomics; a new monocoque chassis; and a vast chest full of electronic rider aids. In fact, they say any “average” rider should lap quicker and with less physical effort on the new V2.