Panigale Stripped.
*Archives – March / April 2022 digital issue.
Undressing an Italian icon can result in a nervous mess of hoses and wires. But it can also be the beginnings of another icon. Depends how it’s done. With the Streetfighter V2, Ducati demonstrates its unzipping talents.
La Palma del Condado, Spain. A Panigale V2 with a high handlebar minus a couple horsepower and a fairing equals a Streetfighter V2. That’s how Ducati describes its new $18,995 955 cc naked. During the bike’s global launch, in the press room overlooking the Circuito Monteblanco, about an hour from Seville, I listened to the presentation and took notes, but that initial description kept bugging me. Creating a naked from a track-focused sportbike can indeed be as simple as undressing it and switching its clip-ons for a wide handlebar. But the fact is there can be quite a few drawbacks when that’s really the extent of the transformation. So right after the conference, I caught up with Alessandro Valia, Ducati’s Official Tester, who spoke during most of the presentation. «Is it really that simple?» I asked. His answer was immediate : «No!». He went on : «If you just put a high handlebar and take the fairing off a sportbike, you get into problems. It becomes unstable, for example. So, there’s quite a bit of work that goes on behind the scenes to make a good naked out of a sportbike like a Panigale. We did a lot of testing and with a longer swingarm, new suspension and specific electronics adjustments, I think we ended up with a great result.»
It was the info I was looking for. I’ve been noticing for years that the more powerful nakeds get, the harder they are to control when pushed hard. The difference in riding position between a sportbike and its naked version alone is enough to make the latter very wheelie prone during acceleration. Traction and/or wheelie control systems are then triggered and bring the front wheel down, but even with good electronics, stability issues aren’t rare at that point, especially when the various modes are set to be minimally intrusive. Bottom line is more needs to be done to a pure sportbike to transform it into a civilized street bike. After riding the 2022 Streetfighter V2 on both the Circuito Monteblanco and the supremely twisty roads that surround it, it’s obvious Ducati put in that work.
I was glad my day began with the road portion of the test. It would let me get familiar with the SF V2 before giving it the beans on the track later in the afternoon when the temperature would have warmed up a bit. We left the circuit and headed for the hills where in no time, we got into some seriously twisty roads rolling up and down typical rocky and brownish Spanish hills. The pavement was generally good, but the two-lane roads were very narrow and since my group adopted a very fast pace from the get go, riding with precision was essential. Although the Streetfighter is a naked, the riding position still has a sporty flair to it. Footpegs are high and back and the handlebar is just low enough to give the posture a slight slant forward, but not to the point of loading the wrists.
As is common on V-Twin Ducatis, the engine works wonderfully as long as it’s not kept below 2000 rpm in third gear or more. Above that, good low to mid-range torque followed by exciting, but not overwhelming top end power allows the rider to either adopt a relaxed, short-shift rhythm, go full Word Superbike, or mix it up. An up/down quick shifter is standard and the 6-axis IMU controlled electronic rider aids suite includes advanced systems for ABS, traction control, wheelie control, engine brake control along with three ride modes and three power modes. The lowest setting of the latter brings power down from 153 hp to a friendly 110 hp.
With all that wizardry transparently doing its thing in the back ground, hard braking entering corners and traction management coming out of them becomes essentially worry free, which I did appreciate on this cold morning riding unfamiliar roads at a fast clip. Also immediately apparent in that context was how precise and planted the narrow Panigale-derived platform felt. But what’s especially particular about the Streetfighter V2 is that Ducati accomplished the adaptation from track to street explained by tester Valia very well: while it’s obvious the SF V2 has superbike genes, it behaves gracefully on the road where there’s just no sign of nervousness. It’s agile, light (178 kg dry, 200 kg fully fueled) and quick, but never to the point of becoming capricious or stressful.
The reasonable —relatively— level of power produced by the Superquadro engine is also responsible for the SF V2’s «fun without being terrifying» nature. The claimed 153 hp is an excellent number for a 955 cc V-Twin and barely less than the Panigale V2’s 155 hp. Accelerations are about on par with something like a GSX-R750, so way less intense than what 200 hp nakeds offer. And while the latter are unbeatable when it comes to bragging rights, the reality is on the road, they’re essentially overpowered and almost impossible to regularly use to their full potential. Not so with the SF V2. I would often exit a corner in second then pin the throttle, make a clutchless up shift and stretch third before braking hard for the next bend. Occasionally, the tarmac would straighten up just enough to get the most out of fourth. On these empty Spanish country roads, I appreciated very much this opportunity to push the Streetfighter’s V-Twin to its maximum. It was good fun without drama —an oh so nice to the ears. Also worthy of mention on the street is the suspension’s pleasant smoothness which allowed for a ride exempt of jolts over bad pavement, but without sacrificing control during sport riding. Every time I come across regular suspension this good and natural feeling, it makes me question the complexity and cost of those semi-active setups. The excellent front brake is identical to the Panigale V2’s, but with less aggressive pads.
For the track part of the test, mirrors were removed, suspension was adjusted to a baseline suggested by Ducati’s tester, fresh tires were mounted and the optional set of carbon fiber winglets was installed. They’re said to generate 27 kg of downforce at 265 km/h — and look pretty cool. After the morning ride’s fast pace and hundreds of turns, getting up to speed on the track came easy and after the first 15 min session, the Circuito Monteblanco layout began to make sense. During the 3 sessions that followed, I never stopped refining my lines, pushing back braking and improving corner exits. And just as on the street, it all happened naturally, without a hint of drama and with loads of fun. The same qualities I had noticed on the road —precise steering, impressive narrowness, solid and agile chassis, etc.— were allowing the Streetfighter to become this ultra-efficient track tool, which basically means that in its journey to become a street bike, the Panigale V2’s core characteristics absolutely weren’t lost. As for the welcoming nature of the 153 hp on the street, it was even more apparent on the track where that power was enough to have fun, but always remained very easy to manage and never stressful.
Turning a sportbike into a naked sounds easy, but my experience is that a great result isn’t a certainty at all. Manufacturers sometimes end up maintaining all the track capability at the cost of nervousness and bad comfort on the street. Other times, the street side takes so much room the resulting bike is only a shadow of what the original was on the track. The Streetfighter V2 is an unusual case because it succeeds in being very good in both worlds. On the street, if you weren’t aware of the model’s lineage, you’d easily be fooled by the decent rider comfort, sexy looks, torquey V-Twin, predictable chassis and generally welcoming manners in believing it was built for the road from the get go. But it wasn’t and under that cool Italian minimalist styling really still is a Panigale V2, a bona fide track machine and one of the great current middleweights sportbikes. The Streetfighter V2 is essentially two different very good motorcycles seamlessly blended into one.
