It is noteworthy that the Ducati 1199 Panigale was introduced to the European press over the weekend, and the first reports are very positive. Here is a link to an excellent report by Ben Cope of Visor Down. Follow that link and you will see a video of Mr. Cope lapping Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi during the press intro, exhibiting great difficulty keeping the front wheel on the ground. We provided all of the details of the lightest, most powerful Ducati superbike ever in an earlier article.
Below you will also see a video of Troy Bayliss lapping the same circuit. We may have our own report from a European correspondent (frankly, we are not entirely sure of that at this point), but we wanted to give you these links, nonetheless.
sweet vindication perhaps for preziosi and his frameless design after the “carbon debacle” in grandprix. admittedly (not that ducati would show this), i was waiting for a front tuck that never came. good stuff.
Nice bike, great rider….the buildings at the track look like something from the Jetsons.
I think I need a cigarette after watching that..
That looks like a Sunday stroll for Bayliss. As beautiful and great a bike as it is, I bet it feels like a station wagon to Troy. Sure do miss seeing him race.
It’s beautiful but most of America cannot come close to affording it. Too bad the Diavel was built with too much in it. Take off the expensive electronics and other bling and just make a nice sport cruiser that is a comfortable alternative to a Harley. I sat on the new 2012 Kawsaki Ninja 650 and that is more like it, something we can afford that looks nice with its upgrade. Bring on the Honda NC700 as well. Diamonds look nice. A Bentley looks nice. We need to ride to work and to the store and the post office and the train station and so on. Probly sell a ton in China with all the interest they are making on our debt!
They’re not going after the majority with this piece. The Monster line is meant to cover that. Ducati never meant to compete directly with the Japanese makes, they have been a premium maker for a long time. That said, there’s plenty of buyers in America, just not likely you and me.
Yeah, good point, Dave. It’s a nice looking machine for sure. Interesting that Ducati is for sale. Could get away from the Ducati vision with new owners. I hate the idea of people just pumping money into something without getting their hands dirty. If you want to buy it you should have to spend some time in the factory. Hands on. Otherwise you just try to dictate revenue from afar and you as an owner are too far removed from the vision of what Ducati means. Anyway, I like the Streetfighter 848 even more than the Monster. Sat on both.
re: “It’s beautiful but most of America cannot come close to affording it.”
a few years back when the desmosedici came out they sold something like 20+ in just texas alone. this at nearly 4x the price, so quite the opposite, america’s rich.
re: “We need to ride to work and to the store and the post office and the train station and so on.”
buy a car.
Is that an example of counter steering 12 seconds in? See how he turns the bars left to fall into the corner and then once the bike is turned he turns the bars right to go with the corner.
Sorry I meant he turns right first.
Well, yes, but when he slid the bike into the corner that’s referred to as “backing it in”. When the front wheel was really turned over to the right that was to help control the slide so that he didn’t high side. You never turn the wheel to go with the corner, in this case to the left. You counter steer every corner whether you realize it or not. If you turn the bars to the left to go with the corner you will tuck the front unless it is at a slow speed corner on the street like at an intersection.
Keith Code’s “Twist of the Wrist II” goes a lot more in depth about counter steering if you would like a better example.
I wish i had 20K+ to spend on a Ducati …i would do it
cafe-racerhub
Cool to watch Bayliss back in to the first corner, shame about the sound-sync in the video, it’s way off. Poor editing.
Ok, so I ‘ve been living under a rock: what’s the wires coming out of the fork caps purpose?
I think that would be on-the-fly suspension adjusters, like on the Multistrada.
Thanks, I just ran across that on the wera bbs. I didn’t know (nor have I seen them on the Multi) that they were using them (E dampers) for this application.
Actaully, that is telemetry from the forks(and rear shock as well) that show the fork reaction to speed, distance, compression rate, rebound, etc. The are measurement tools used to help fine tune the various fork and shock adjustments for a given track under specific weather and temp conditions.
Actually not measurement tools, not in this bike. These are electronically adjusted front and rear suspensions on teh S version and up. They call it DES (Ducati Electronic Suspension) to be set up through the screen.
What a great video, shame it was with stock can. No obnoxious soundtrack, just a pro showing what these bikes are capable of. Outta my league, what a sexy bike. Ducati hit it outta the park, I don’t care if it wins, sounds, looks, performance, panache what’s not to like?
If this doesn’t get your blood boiling you’re not a real bike RR fan. That old man Baylis still has what it takes to haul ass !! I’m sure he loves his part time job for Ducati. First time I’ve seen the liquids bouncing around at speed.
re: “First time I’ve seen the liquids bouncing around at speed.”
wait, did somebody say something about “liquids bouncing around at speed”…?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ACK09MLgaY&feature=related
Just beautiful. It has taken many years, but there is finally a sport bike that rivals the MV Agusta F4 in looks. That picture of the bike in 3/4 wheelie is my new screen saver.
+1
Just spectacular.