Ducati’s New Panigale V2 Proves Horsepower Is Overrated

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Unfortunately, numbers no longer make sense. In the era of fake news and willful disinformation, at least in the auto and moto industries, we always knew deep down that more power is always more better. But then, out of left field, Ducati hacked their new Panigale V2 motorcycle’s ratings in a big way, from 155 horsepower out of 955cc all the way down to just 120 ponies from 890cc. That’s a 22.5 percent drop in power from a 6.8 percent drop in displacement—a truly, inescapably, absolutely incomprehensible decision from the world’s most recognizable motorcycle maker. 

Now, sure, in all the marketing materials Ducati focused on weight savings as the answer to such a baffling math problem, which supposedly total up to 37 pounds. And though it’s borderline impossible to directly compare Ducati’s stats on paper—which purposefully avoid standardization with regards to wet and dry, coolant or fuel or not—still, assuming the best possible comp, the new V2 sportbike only shaves around 8 percent of the outgoing 955 V2’s mass.

Once again, the math’s not mathing. And ever since Ducati announced the newest Panigale V2 motorcycle generation, every fan naturally started to wonder whether Europe’s emissions legislation has effectively ruined the future of performance motorcycling. Luckily, I can now report the answer to that mystery is a profoundly positive negative, because the new Panigale V2 might just be the single most impressive motorcycle I’ve ever ridden.

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Impeccable Initial Impressions

I don’t make such generalized statements lightly. Don’t take me for some lightweight namby-pampy greenie-weenie, either. My favorite sport bike prior? The outgoing Panigale V4 S, with a gobstopping 215 horsepower and quite possibly the most stupendous suspension setup possible for gobbling up racetracks. Not to mention the V4 R, which only takes track capability to the next level but sacrifices too much in daily rider terms to take my personal cake. And yet, even in comparison to such spectacular siblings, the V2 requires a mindset readjustment to fully comprehend the benefits of playing around with so much less brute force.

Immediately, the easy geometry stood out. I hopped onto the V2 S and scooched onto a narrower and squarer seat, with significantly higher handlebar placement than the new V4. And that’s where the magic started, because then I squirmed around and pretended to hook a knee into that angular tank, imagining a deep lean into tight corners before even setting out on an introductory ride. Such ergonomic specifics might wind up varying from rider to rider, but the V2 S felt so thoroughly at home that even on the first ride, I immediately started hanging off lower and faster than ever before.

I can report, without exaggeration, that I have never adjusted to any other motorcycle so quickly. Usually, adjusting to throttle response and electronic controls and new footpegs and weight distribution and braking all combines to take a while. Not so with the new V2 S. The instantaneous mind meld between my struggling synapses and the machine hooked up before I even got the freeway, much less up into my favorite canyon roads. So much so that I almost turned around and headed home to do some hardcore nerding out on rake and trail, and wheelbase, and dry weights and suspension travel front and rear, before even ripping around very much.

Just kidding, of course—the addiction thrumming through my veins, I headed to my familiar stomping grounds as quickly as possible. Even cruising through traffic at reasonable speeds, I noticed that the V2’s clattering thump delivers more torque than expected from the 890cc twin. Once I needed to pull away from traffic at stoplights, hitting higher revs set that Akrapovic exhaust screaming—in almost similar fashion to the V4 R above 12,000 rpm. Almost, anyway. The quickshifter even clinked through gears smoothly, brake lever smoothly and capably hauling down speed.

And yet actually riding the V2 S hard then inspired exactly that level of scientific inquiry, so let’s dig into the nitty gritty before I arrive in Malibu, if only to better comprehend my initial impressions. I started to mentally compare the best aspects of my own Ducati, a 2006 Monster S2R 1000, as well as my 2006 Honda CBR954RR—only because these two bikes are the ones I’m most accustomed to riding regularly—but also the previous generation of 955cc V2, and the two recent gens of Panigale V4, the Aprilia RS660, and even Kawasaki’s Ninja ZX-4RR.

Also without exaggeration, I now own a spreadsheet with the rake, trail, wheelbase, front and rear suspension travel, weight, horsepower, and torque of all the bikes I love best. Precisely because the V2 S prompted me to get serious about how, exactly, Ducati turned a bigger power drop than mass cut into the most surprising bike of my life.

Feeling the Need to Nerd Out 

Compared to the outgoing V2, the new model shaves 0.4 degrees of rake, from 24 to 23.6, but adds 1.2 inches of wheelbase. Those two changes seem counterproductive, since a steeper rake should increase twitchiness, but a longer wheelbase makes a bike more steady. And yet trail, the distance from the contact patch forward to an imaginary laser projected out at the steering stem’s centerline, only increases 0.1 inches. Which suggests a potentially lower ride height—especially because the seat height only drops by one tenth of an inch, too.

Similarly, the new bike’s front suspension travel exactly matches the old, but the rear travel increases by 0.8 inches…OK. So we’ve got more response up front, and more steadiness from the rear. So far, the numbers seem to make sense to my brain. Comparing a Panigale to my S2R 1000 admittedly makes less sense—and yet, the frequency with which I hop off the best modern motorcycles in the world and then onto my own Monster, only to then remark to nobody in particular that I somehow bought quite possibly the most spectacular motorcycle ever made in the history of motorcycles.

The S2R 1000’s rake matches the previous V2 exactly. And befitting a naked bike that rides higher, the trail increases by a whopping 1.5 inches. But the wheelbase also measures a full inch less than the new V2, and the rear suspension travel is even one-tenth of an inch less. Meanwhile, the S2R 1000 and V2 S weigh within four pounds of each other.

Now let’s throw in the CBR954RR, quite possibly the easiest superbike to ride in my humble experience. It’s got a rake that splits the difference between the old and new V2s, but a longer trail (which likely implies a higher center of mass). The CBR’s wheelbase actually beats the rest of the pack by a full 1.4 inches, with the same front suspension travel as both the new and old V2 Panigales. But keep this in mind: the Honda also produced almost the exact same horsepower as the old Panigale—at 154 versus 155 horsepower, respectively—while weighing 18 pounds less than the new bike dry. Not bad, Honda, especially for the turn of the millennium.

So far, Ducati appears to be playing with the various geometries that bring out the best characteristics of my own two motorcycles. Did they build the new V2 just to please me? Maybe. Well in the name of science, we might as well consider my other favorite two-cylinder sportbike, the Aprilia RS 660. Once again, the numbers look eerily similar. The RS 660’s rake actually relaxes to 24.3 degrees, which explains a slightly longer trail at 4.1 inches. But the wheelbase clocks in another seven-tenths of an inch shorter than my CBR, with almost identical front and rear suspension travel for a bike that weighs just three pounds more.

Clearly, the marginal gains of fiddling with each individual measurement make a bigger difference than expected for just a few pounds, or a degree of rake here and there, or a few tenths of an inch of wheelbase. And unfortunately, we’re a ways off from the automotive industry, where OEMs release easily calculable figures like front-to-rear weight distribution or the way rear steering angles affect cornering capability. 

Instead, the polar moment of inertia—the exact center of mass that the entire bike rotates around—and the seat height and the tank design and the foot pegs all affect a bike’s positioning into and through corners, and the human riding it, even while accelerating and decelerating, more than ever.

Real-World Performance vs. Stats on Paper

But almost the least important number in my attempts to consider how well the new Panigale V2 S rides? Horsepower. I simply adjusted to the new V2 easily precisely because the bike’s character made riding so easy. Now, sure, another 30 ponies to match the old V2 would be nice. But to help compensate, Ducati used super-duper short gear ratios. For context, the new V4 redlines at an obscenely ridiculous 102 miles an hour in first gear (ask me how I know). The V2 hits more like 60 mph in first, with shorter than short ratios up into second and third. Basically, staying up above 5,000 rpm becomes the name of the game, and at full throttle as much of the time as possible.

Living toward the top of the rev range at all times, the V2 delivers plenty of giddyup to get that old rollercoaster sensation in the belly, and even delivers some of the screaming, raucous nature out of those twin exhaust tips that to my eyes directly reference the V4 R. The quickshifter helps, ripsawing up through gears and blipping back down, smoother than the old V2 but—as usual—not quite as indistinguishably smooth as the V4, which I suspect benefits from a bit more rotating mass to help manage the transmission’s behavior.

The more I drive cars and trucks, especially on track, the more I discover how much suspension and steering comprise that extra 1 percent of wizardry separating the good from the great. In that regard, the V2 S as set up from the factory borderline boggles the mind. Choosing the S adds manually adjustable Öhlins dampers for the fork and the rear shock—versus a Marzocchi fork and Kayaba shock for the base V2—which contributes to around 6.6 pounds of the weight savings along with a lithium-ion battery. And as much as I’d love electronically adjustable shocks at the price point of $18,995 (or so, depending on where you look), the traditional damping absolutely erases cracks and bumps in the road, perfectly straddling the line between taut and compliant.

Meanwhile, every time I started to process a thought about tipping into a corner, I realized the V2 S already knew what I wanted to do. Pulling hard on the Brembo brakes, the nose never dove so much that my forearm workout took mental attention away from body positioning. I swear the V2 automatically pinches the rear brakes à la the new Panigale V4 to prevent the tail from lifting quite as much—not so, once again.

Then I started to truly hang off, reminding myself not to drag knee on public roads, which I rarely do—or even want to do. Was I ripping through the canyons egregiously fast? Well…. Not as egregiously as on a liter bike, in fairness. Given the season, I stayed in Sport mode rather than track, trusting Ducati’s electronics in questionable canyon conditions. The entire time, stability while leaned over on roads eaten away by erosion after every rainstorm, never left me wary of low-siding out over a cliff’s edge. 

Dreaming of a Track Day

Back at home, I started to think of other lightweight bikes, that Aprilia RS 660 or even the spectacular Ninja ZX-4RR. Admittedly the ZX-4RR lacks both the grunt and refinement of a Ducati, but more importantly, the twitchy nature of that Kawi tends to reveal rider flaws far more. Add it to the spreadsheet, you say! Sure enough, the ZX-4RR’s steep rake even overtakes the V2 S by a tenth of an inch, and yet the trail also measures a tenth of an inch longer—that suggests a higher center of gravity, especially considering the layout of a transverse inline-four versus a V2. And the ZX-4RR’s wheelbase measures another tenth of an inch less than the Aprilia RS 660, while giving up a full inch in rear suspension travel to the V2 S. No wonder the bike reacts so immediately.

By contrast, the Panigale V2 S ends up so capable, so reliable on any public road, that I wound up craving some track time. C’est la vie, not every loan approves a chance to go out and truly test the limit. Not to mention the new launch control function. In openness, I do suspect that on a racetrack, such a significant power gap versus the outgoing V2 will wind up as something of a bummer. Even for—or especially for—an amateur such as myself annoyed by sketchy amateurs on liter bikes ripping past on the straights, then clogging up the corners.

But as is, given the Euro 5+ regulations and the reduced displacement and the power drop, the new Panigale V2 S takes Ducati to another level. And remember, this bike is just the first iteration of a new generation, a new ethos, and a new lineup entirely. Later gens of this engine will no doubt add 5, 10, 20 more horsepower. Plus, Ducati now does the VAG thing and proliferates parts more efficiently across the lineup, meaning that the Desert X and Streetfighter and Hypermotard also get this engine.

I’ve ridden none of those other bikes so far with this V2, but have no doubt the new 890cc will probably fit best for most riders in the new Streetfighter, which was already the bike I recommended most often in its previous iteration. Then again, the hooligan nature of the Hypermotard, given how much I loved the 698 Mono, might just take the cake even more. The uber-svelte 698 Mono at 333 pounds may well have set Ducati down this lightweighting path, even if the rest of the rake, trail, and wheelbase specs matter less given the ultra-upright nature of a supermoto.

So now add another 50 horsepower to the Hypermotard, with maybe just another 30 pounds or so of mass. All of a sudden, the math’s mathing—now we’re talking. Even for me, a dedicated sportbike lover, this kind of increasingly impressive engineering in the V2 S with a complete disregard for how the specs of paper might look, proves that Ducati once again sits a step ahead of the motorcycle and automotive industry as a whole. Or perhaps this represents a return to the old ways, what Colin Chapman knew at Lotus (and what every racer knows at heart). That unfortunately, due to the laws of physics, Hollywood’s obsession with losing the right amount of weight in the name of a good performance still truly separates the stars from the superstars.

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2026 Ducati Panigale V2 Specs

• Engine: Liquid-cooled, 4 stroke, DOHC, twin-cylinder
• Displacement: 890cc
• Transmission: 6-speed manual
• Horsepower/Torque: 120 hp/69 lb-ft
• Weight: 395 pounds (wet)
• Fuel Capacity: 4 gallons
• Seat Height: 33 inches
• Price: From $16,495