It was only a matter of time wasn’t it? After the success of Ducati’s Streetfighter V4 and Panigale V2, over the past few years, Ducati were never going to pass up the opportunity to amalgamate the two ideas, and produce a Streetfighter V2. And the news that they have is finally out.
It’s exactly as you’d expect it; a Panigale V2, stripped of it’s fairings and given a set of wide handlebars. OK, that might be oversimplifying the job a little bit. When you delve into the spec, you soon realise there are quite a few technical differences between this and the Panigale V2.
Starting with the riding position. As well as having higher, wider bars, the ‘pegs are lower, giving you a bit more room to get comfortable. You get a wider seat too, with some new padding, further enhancing the baby ‘Fighter’s comfort; or so they say.
The chassis setup, although similar, isn’t identical. It’s an aluminium monocoque, which uses the engine as a ‘stressed member’, and you get the single-sided swinging-arm. But Ducati have altered the geometry a bit, to give the Streetfighter V2 a bit more stability. Notably, the swinging-arm is 16mm longer on the ‘Fighter than it is on the Panigale.
The Shocker
It comes with 43mm Showa BPF forks and a Sachs shock. The suspension is all adjustable and has been set up specifically for comfort on the road. So if you did want to take your Streetfighter V2 on track, you’d probably need to stiffen the standard stuff up a bit.
Engine-wise, you get the same 955cc Superquadro V2 engine as the Panigale, which makes 153hp (@10,750rpm) and 101Nm (@9,000rpm), which is, give or take a pony or two, about the same as it’s sportsbike stablemate. The difference being, the Streetfighter has a shorter final drive ratio (15/45 vs 15/43), so you’ll get a bit more punch when you open the throttle at lower speeds, or lower engine revs (at the cost of a little bit of top-end speed).
The Streetfighter comes with the same Brembo brakes as the Panigale, apart from the brake pads. They have given the ‘Fighter slightly less aggressive ones, that they reckon ought to be more suited to road riding.
Babycakes
The electronics package has been carried over from the Panigale, too, including the 6-Axis IMU. That means you get all the traction, wheelie, and engine brake controls, as well as a quickshifter and three riding modes (Sport, Road and Wet).
The Streetfighter V2 might be the baby Ducati Streetfighter, but there isn’t really anything babyish about it. Because of the fact that it’s smaller than the big Streetfighter, some might want to put it in the ‘middleweight naked sports’ category, but with a nigh-on 1000cc engine, and over 150bph, I can see it giving a few genuine ‘super-nakeds’ a run for their money.
They’ll be in dealerships from December, in Ducati Red with black rims. We haven’t been told the price yet, but I’d hazard a guess, it’ll be about £15,000. Or maybe a bit less.
3 Responses
Loving this.,Yes please I’ll take one.
I want one!
They really nailed the street fighter in the looks department, probably the best looking bike available atm.