{"id":1495493,"date":"2021-03-09T06:40:46","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T20:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bikeme.tv\/?p=1495493"},"modified":"2021-03-09T06:40:46","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T20:40:46","slug":"2020-ducati-panigale-s-review-i-am-a-wormi-am-a-serial-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/2020-ducati-panigale-s-review-i-am-a-wormi-am-a-serial-killer\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 DUCATI PANIGALE S REVIEW \u2013 \u201cI AM A WORM\u2026I AM A SERIAL KILLER\u2026\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

IMAGES BY NICK ‘BOLOGNA’ EDARDS<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cSon of a bitch\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>
\nGive me a drink<\/strong><\/em>
\nOne more night<\/strong><\/em>
\nThis can\u2019t be me<\/strong><\/em>
\nSon of a bitch<\/strong><\/em>
\nIf I can\u2019t get clean\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats<\/p>\n

\"\"

This is me being surprised.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

My time with the Panigale did not go as planned.<\/p>\n

At all.<\/p>\n

Instead of my usual \u201cRide it around some, go about your normal business, find some empty road, see what happens\u201d stuff, things went a different way.<\/p>\n

No-one was more surprised than me. I had already told myself I would struggle on the Panigale. I ain\u2019t no superbike rider. I certainly have no business bellying up to this\u2026this\u2026 impossible Italian fiesta of firepower. What the Hell am I gonna even do with 214-horsepower, 124Nm, and 175kg of computer-assisted, devil-red rage and rat-bastardry?<\/p>\n

\"\"

It is a handsome winged devil.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

In pre-season MotoGP tests, this thing had just lapped Jerez a scant two-seconds slower than a bloody MotoGP bike. Ducati boss, Claudio Domenicali, was grinning so hard I thought his head would split open. I don\u2019t blame him for beating his chest and making war noises. A production bike \u2013 albeit in the hands of apex-predator riders \u2013 lapping within two-eye blinks of a million-dollar prototype race bike? What the Hell is that even?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And what possible business had I with it? None, one would think.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Except, as it turns out, I had every business parking my belly on its tank, leaning forward to grab the wide clip-ons, and turning the black thing on the right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Those numbers above? I figured I\u2019d just ride them \u2013 as hard as I could. I decided, early on in the piece, to roll the devil\u2019s dice and hope the Highway Patrol was elsewhere when the numbers made their meaning clear.<\/p>\n

\"\"

See that black thing just behind the peg? It’s like a blacksmith’s forge.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

And the clarity they provided was very clear the moment I\u2019d left Sydney\u2019s traffic behind. Up until that point, I was on fire, and not in a good way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But five kays into a deserted mid-week Mother Putty, I suddenly understood what those numbers meant.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Panigale turned me into a worm. I squirmed and wriggled shamelessly before and after each ride, helpless before its superbly managed savagery. I could do nothing but abase myself before it.<\/p>\n

\"\"

It has the ability to make the floppiest muppet faster than he thinks.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

And it also made me into a serial killer \u2013 obsessed, psychotic, focused on nothing but the kill\u2026erm, ride \u2013 and aching and sweating until the next kill\u2026erm, ride.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To say I loved it would only be partially correct. I did love it, but I was also little insane about it. The Irish have the perfect word for it. Fey. I was as fey about the Panigale as an Irishman with a belly full of Guinness, a handful of broken fighting-bottle, and a Leprechaun for a slave.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Forged Marchesini with Pirelli glue. A wonderful combo.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

The Panigale was with me for ten days. I rode it every day. On some days, I rode it twice. I took it touring, for pity\u2019s sake! I did one unhinged over-nighter to Gloucester via the pitiless broken bitumen of Gresford and Dungog. And then back again \u2013 dry-eyed and feral with intent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My wife, who is well used to my strange and wicked ways, was starting to notice things were not the normal strange and wicked.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here I was, every morning for ten days straight, wheeling the Panigale out of my garage and heading for Mother Putty\u2019s cruel and twisty brilliance. On days when I felt unfulfilled upon my return home, I\u2019d wheel it out again in the afternoon and head back. I\u2019m sure serial killers feel like this when they\u2019re packing their kit-bags for a night out.<\/p>\n

\"\"

No head-rightness here.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not right in the head,\u201d my wife said to me on Day Five.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThat is hardly news to either of us,\u201d I replied, pulling on my helmet as the Panigale warmed its greasy war-blood up \u2013 and you do have to warm it up \u2013 and prepared itself for battle.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s that special, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d I nodded. \u201cIt\u2019s that special.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And it really is. And you\u2019d expect it to be. And you would not be disappointed.<\/p>\n

\"\"

You will see numbers on here that will make you wee a little.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is a $40,890 motorcycle. And it is worth every cent of the asking price. There is a $31,690 version (the Not S Panigale). For the extra money, the S comes with the brilliant \u00d6hlins Smart EC 2.0 system that controls the suspension and steering damper \u2013 and that newly-calibrated suspension is \u00d6hlins Nix-30 forks and an \u00d6hlins TTX 36 rear shock. Oh, and forged Marchesini wheels, a Lithium-ion battery and sports grips.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve set your feet upon the path of this particular damnation \u2013 you just keep on walking. It\u2019s the only thing to do. Pay the extra money. You don\u2019t want to be explaining to people who will come and stare at your Panigale (and they will) that you were too cheap to spend the extra dollars for the one with all the fruit.<\/p>\n

\"\"

It’s one of those back-ends that start wars.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

So what makes the Panigale S so special? Why did this bike, of all the bikes I have had the pleasure of riding, turn me into a mewling psychopath?<\/p>\n

Put simply, it goes exactly like my feverish dreams promised me it would. It delivers on the promises my dark, go-fast fantasies make. It makes me feel like I’m a far, far better rider than I am. It makes me feel like I’m a bit special when I ride it, because it is a lot special. It is voodoo.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s comfortable. I could ride it all day. Yes, it\u2019s a race crouch, and yes, it\u2019s a superbike in every sense of the word, but somehow, Bologna has made it ergonomically viable for the road. There was actually very little weight on my hands, and my body still works well enough for the Panigale\u2019s peg-seat-\u2019bars relationship to be very doable for me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That kinda gobsmacked me a bit. I rode Yamaha\u2019s insanely able R1 around for a month and it brutalised me like a farmer catching an ox in the cabbages. The Panigale is, relatively speaking, a very comfortable race-bike.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The God button is on the left-hand clip-on. It does God things.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Yes, OK. It gives off heat like an overloaded stove. That 1103cc V4 Stradale engine is a vast lump of exotic metals \u2013 with an insanely convoluted exhaust-system hanging off it. It radiates significant levels of heat \u2013 and glomping around in traffic is nigh-on unbearable. But even at 160-180, it\u2019s searing your delicate thigh-meat \u2013 but by this stage you\u2019ve gone mad and don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I stopped caring about the heat thing after Day Two. Sure, there were times when I actually thought my right foot was on fire and my left thigh was a weeping burn-blister. But I didn\u2019t care. I was able to compartmentalise this by going faster. Adrenaline and all that, you understand.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That is the price you must pay to ride one of the most amazing bikes ever made on this earth. Yes, it is THAT good. I\u2019m not. And you\u2019re not. But it is. It so, so, so is. And because it is not as ergonomically compromised as other superbikes, you will find it so easy to suddenly ride in a fashion and with a level of elan and grace you\u2019d have imagined just not possible.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Burning love.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

You\u2019re not going to find the Panigale\u2019s limits. I\u2019m not even sure it has any as far as mere mortals are concerned. It\u2019s better than you at doing everything \u2013 and not just a little better. A lot better.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The way it deals with corners \u2013 all sorts, smooth, bumpy, terrifying \u2013 is sublime and effortless. Whenever I\u2019d run out of confidence, it didn\u2019t. But as the pace climbed, the more intense it all got, and the more focused and purposeful I got, and the better the Panigale responded.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And it\u2019s legitimately, resoundingly, and brain-fryingly fast. But you\u2019d never know that just toodling around in traffic or around town. I thought it would hunt, or burp, or something, at low droning speeds. Nope. All smoothness and manners. But turn that throttle in anger and you\u2019ll suddenly see what anger really is \u2013 real, red-meat anger.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Golden globs of goodness.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

At 4000rpm it\u2019s doing 120. It redlines at 17250. And no. I do not know how fast it goes. Faster than me, that\u2019s for sure. I saw numbers consisting of a pair of twos and maybe a two and some threes \u2013 but then I stopped looking and caring and just rode. The Panigale is, by any measure, devastatingly fast and potent \u2013 and surprisingly much louder than I thought it would be. It actually sounds rather magnificent \u2013 and only a V4 could ever make a noise like that, or maybe a Tyrannosaurus fighting another Tyrannosaurus \u2013 despite the stock exhaust.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is technologically sophisticated beyond compare. I\u2019m not going to get into all its computers can do, but I\u2019m sure a moon-landing is not beyond them. You can look it up, or go to the Ducati website for all the tech-stuff HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"

I’m thinking Bayliss can relax.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

I fumbled around with the manifold modes and settings \u2013 and then, like 99 per cent of muppets, found a setting I liked and left it there. It\u2019s up-and-down quickshifter is the best I\u2019ve used, its horn is indifferent, its styling is sublimely aggressive (I did very much like the deeply recessed headlights rimmed by wickedly-pitched LED running lights), its petrol addiction is hardcore (maybe 200 out of a tank\u2026maybe not), its headlights are OK if you\u2019re not going fast, and its service intervals are 12,000 for a normal service and 24,000 for the one that\u2019s gonna sting a bit. See my povo-comment below, but you can\u2019t shop at this end of town and then bleat about cost. It is unseemly and crass.<\/p>\n

\"\"

These would be ALL the brakes. Every last one of them.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

And the Panigale is also wonderfully weird in that it runs higher tyre pressure in the front than it does in the back. A neat 36psi in the front circle of Pirelli Corsa liquorice, and 32psi in the back hoop. It\u2019s to do mainly with the counter-rotating crank and how it\u2019s action loads the front tyre up. Ask the sales-bloke about it. Watch him spin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ducati has gone to great lengths to make the Panigale straddle two distinct worlds like a sexy, red, speed-warping colossus. It is a track bike without peer \u2013 and it is a road-bike that redefines how you ride on the road \u2013 because you can<\/em> ride it on the road. Oh Lord\u2026how you can ride it on the road\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ducati even puts red accents on the God tube. Bless.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

But just because I think it is one of the finest, fastest, and most beautiful bikes on the planet, some villagers will immediately start to screech in protest at my view.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let me just deal with that, shall I?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too bloody expensive!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Silence, povo-worm. You just don\u2019t want it bad enough because you haven\u2019t yet ridden it. Get another job. Get another two jobs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt runs too hot! That has to be a design fault.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019re a design fault. The Panigale runs at exactly the right temperature to keep the soft, the unsure, the weak, and the feeble away from it. Go ride one. Get more leathery. In time, the heat will anneal your soft skin and make you stronger.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt has no pillion seat or ability to carry luggage!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Damn straight. It\u2019s a Panigale. If it had a pillion seat and luggage, it would be a Multistrada. How did you get out of the Ulysses aged-care facility? You need more liver pills? Is that it?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI think 214 horsepowers is just silly. No-one needs that.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNeed\u201d has nothing to do with \u201cWant\u201d, Karen. Your husband may need you to take the kids to school and do the laundry, but he wants that sassy, hot barmaid who pours him beers on payday. See the difference?<\/p>\n

\"\"

Getting my worm on.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

CONCLUSION<\/strong><\/p>\n

I do not think the Panigale is a bike you own.<\/p>\n

I think it owns you \u2013 heart and soul.<\/p>\n

I am a worm\u2026I am a serial killer.<\/p>\n

And I am grateful to the Panigale for making me those things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IMAGES BY NICK ‘BOLOGNA’ EDARDS   \u201cSon of a bitch\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Give me a drink One more night This can\u2019t be me Son of a bitch If I can\u2019t get clean\u2026\u201d Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats   My time with the Panigale did not go as planned. At all. Instead of my usual \u201cRide it [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1495494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[256,80,106,421,58],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1495493"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1495493"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1495493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1495511,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1495493\/revisions\/1495511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1495494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1495493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1495493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikeme.tv\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1495493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}