By Wes Siler, Hell for Leather
“Ducati has never built a sportbike as advanced as the 1199 Panigale,” says Ducati general manager Claudio Domenicali. “We are moving into a revolution of the species.”
This is the long-awaited, much-leaked, often-spied, ridiculously rumored Ducati 1199 Panigale. It is incredibly light at 164 kilos dry, incredibly powerful at 192 horsepower and incredibly intelligent. It has ABS, traction control, ride-by-wire, engine brake control, electronically adjustable suspension and a thin film transistor dash.
But, most importantly, it is incredibly, ridiculously, epoch-definingly fast.
The 1199 comes in three flavors: vanilla, S and corse.
[partner id="hellforleather"]The basic version uses fully-adjustable Marzocchi front/Sachs rear suspension and is fitted with traction control, quickshift, “engine brake control” (more on that in a minute) and ride-by-wire as standard. ABS is optional.
The Ducati 1199 Panigale S adds electronically adjusted 43mm Ohlins NIX30 forks and and TTX36 shock, while ABS remains optional.
The Ducati 1199 Panigale S Corse comes with a titanium racing exhaust, tricolore paint and a data analysis package that will spit out lap times, lean angles, deep-dive engine parameters and TC actuation info to either a Mac or PC.
The big question hanging over the Panigale was the configuration of its frame. As we guessed, the front subframe/airbox/headstock is aluminum, a material choice likely taken to keep costs down over the carbon fiber item on Ducati’s MotoGP bikes. It attaches to the cylinder heads only. The aluminum rear subframe bolts to the rear cylinder head, while the die cast aluminum single-sided swingarm bolts to the rear of the engine. All this facilitates that low weight, but it has other advantages too; the swingarm is 39mm longer than that of the outgoing 1198 while the total wheelbase of the 1199 is just 7.6mm longer.
The electronically adjustable suspension is borrowed from the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S, working in a similar fashion. Both rebound and compression damping front and rear are adjusted electronically, the rider will need to manually adjust preload at both ends.
Switching riding modes on the thin film transistor dash alters engine output, power delivery and TC settings, as on bikes like the Aprilia RSV4, but the Ducati goes one step further, changing suspension settings to suit each mode too. The rider can select from stock setups or pre-program their own to switch through on the fly.
That sidemount shock? It’s there to facilitate that short wheelbase and to help with packaging of the exhaust, but a side benefit is easy access to its linkage that’s adjustable from progressive (road, passenger) to straight rate (track).
“Engine Brake Control” limits back torque by working with the wet slipper clutch to limit the effects of back torque on the rear wheel. Under quick deceleration, stepper motors on the throttle bodies open, reducing the effects the engine has on corner entry. This is MotoGP tech for the street.
The heavily-contoured brake calipers are a new Brembo Monoblock design called M50. They grip massive 330mm brake discs, leading to what should be unprecedented braking ability. Optional ABS only works on the front wheel, but can work to prevent stoppies in more conservative riding modes.
Compared to the 1198, the 1199 should be slightly more human friendly. Seat to tank distance is reduced 30mm, while the bars are 10mm higher and 32mm wider.
The leaked power and weight figures are close, but not identical to what has been officially released. Instead of 195 horsepower and 395 pounds, it’s 192/414. The fuel tank carries 4.5 gallons, so weight will fluctuate ~27.7 pounds between empty and full. It’s not clear if that weight is with a full tank, empty tank or somewhere in between. If it weighs 395 before adding fuel, then it would have ~1.5 gallons (or enough fuel to get the reserve light to go off) in the tank at 414 lbs. With a full tank, it would weigh 423 pounds. Conversely, if 414 is with a full tank, it would weigh 386 sans gas.
Regardless, it still has a power to weight ratio higher than that of any other liter-bike in production.
Prices will run $17,995 for the standard version, $22,995 for the “S,” $23,995 for “S” version with ABS and $27,995 for the Italian heritage-inspired Tricolore version.
Photos: Ducati
