FIGHT OR FLIGHT? DUCATI STREETFIGHTER V4S

The naughty naked we've all been waiting for will soon be coming to our shores so we took one for a spin, Fast Bikes style…

- MIKE BOOTH

I was like a dog with two erm… bones, when my name got put down to go on the launch of the new Ducati Streetfighter V4S. It was going to be in Spain and I simply couldn’t wait. But after months of waiting excitedly, we were given the inevitable news that, thanks to the current global coronavirus crisis, the launch wouldn’t take place. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was, of course, totally understandable and necessary. In our anticipation of things going south, though, we pulled a bit of a blinder as far as the Ducati’s new naked weapon goes – a few weeks before the country went into complete lockdown, we managed to get our hands on one to take for a spin on the UK roads (in fact, I believe it was the very first one registered in the country) – it’s not what you know, it’s who you know, right?

There has been loads of excitement about this model, and for good reason. With a power-plant straight out of a Panigale V4, the new naked makes 205bhp (@ 12,750rpm) and 123Nm of torque (@11,500rpm) and with a dry weight of 178kg (kerb weight 199kg), the boys (and girls) from Bologna had told us that their new weapon was going to blow the opposition out the water, and if the spec sheet is anything to go by, most would be inclined to agree. The ‘S’ version would cost roughly ₹20 lakh, coming with Marchesini forged wheels and the latest Öhlins EC 2.0 semi-active electronic suspension, while for around ₹17 lakh you would be able to get hold of the standard version.