Italian expertise

Road test

During our day with McMartin we tried numerous settings, all along the same stretch of twisty road. First it was Rain mode with the factory settings, which were ok, but better when we softened the damping slightly. McMartin was also spot on with his view on Rain mode, with ‘only’ 120hp on tap it was easy to ride, rode the bumps very well for a sportsbike, and the softer power delivery allowed you to cruise along, with the Panigale feeling more relaxed than if it was in Sport mode. In Sport mode we tried the base settings then tried less compression damping but slightly more rebound and this was better again.

There was never any need to reduce the pre-load on the forks.
The same could be said for the shock but we tried it just for the exercise. McMartin reduced the rear pre-load in basically a matter of seconds (check it out in the video) such is the simplicity of the system.
In this guise the bike was even better again. Race mode is just too full on for the street, and you would expect this to be the case, so we just concentrated on riding the bike in Rain and Sport mode.

Worth the effort

Getting the best out of a Panigale is likely to take some experimentation from an owner: Ducati has its base settings when you pick up the bike, but tailoring suspension settings to suit your weight, ability, the road conditions and preferences is why there is so much adjustability available. If you do this you will open up a whole new world which most motorcyclists will never get to experience.
During this, our second ride of the Panigale, the bike handled poor road conditions much better than it did during our first test of the bike – and that’s down to better set-up.

When you purchase a Panigale, your dealer will take you through how to set-up your bike, and you’ll be provided with a comprehensive manual to refer to. We can envisage just about all sportsbikes going this way in the near future.
See the test on the BMW S 1000 RR HP4 is this issue to see what we mean. Not only is the technology on these new breed of road burners making them better track bikes, it’s making them better road bikes too.
Not long ago that would have been almost unthinkable.