Ducati Panigale V4 Breaks Cover

The first ever four-cylindered sportbike from Ducati has been finally unveiled. Yes! The world finally got a look at the Ducati Panigale V4. For the longest time, Ducati has stuck to its tried and tested L-Twin or 90 degree V-Twin formula for almost all its bikes. This is the first time that the Italian marquee has departed from the norm and created a V4 bike. While, the bike has been spotted testing quite often in the past few months and Ducati revealing the engine long before, this marks the first time that Ducati has actually presented the bike globally.

The bike officially makes 211 bhp at 13,000 rpm and churns out a peak torque of 124 Nm at 10,000 rpm. The bike weighs around 195 kg. The company also says that it has worked hard on the electronics and this is perhaps the most advanced bike to come out of Ducati's facility in Borgo Panigale, Italy.

(Ducati Panigale V4)

Ducati will be launching three variants of the Panigale V4. Yes! The company has already announced the prices at the unveiling! The base variant (19,250 pound sterling) will be the Panigale V4 followed by the Panigale V4 S (23,895 pound sterling) and the Panigale V4 Speciale (34,995 pound sterling). The Panigale V4 Speciale will be a limited edition model and only 1,500 of these will be made. It will have a dedicated livery, titanium exhaust and multiple carbon fibre upgrades.

The V4 engine displaces 1,103 cc and the cylinders have an 81 mm of bore, same as Ducati's MotoGP bike. The power can be further boosted to 220 bhp with the optional Titanium Akrapovic race exhaust. Most road-going bikes have the crankshaft rotating in the same direction as the wheels. But the Panigale V4 gets a counter-rotating crankshaft, which the company says will help in improving handling, managing the inertia and offer exceptionally quick direction changes.

The configuration of the engine is two 90-degrees V-twin canted rearwards at an angle of 42 degrees, which again, is exactly the same as the MotoGP bike. The bike gets a twin-pulse firing order, with the ignition process happening at 0 degrees, 90 degrees, 290 degrees and 380 degrees. The engine itself weighs 65 kg. The bike breathes in through four oval throttle bodies connected to variable height velocity stacks.

(Claudio Domenicali, CEO, Ducati, with the 2018 Ducati Model Line-up)

Coming to the features, the Panigale V4 gets a bunch of fancy electronics such as Ducati Slide Control, Ducati Traction Control, three riding modes (Race, Sport, Street), Ducati Wheelie Control, a bi-directional quickshifter and a TFT instrumentation console. Also, there is the cornering ABS, Ducati Power Launch, Engine Brake Control and finally, Ducati electronic suspension.

The frame of the bike is all-new, which uses the engine as a stressed member. It is also more compact and lighter than the regular perimeter frame that Ducati uses. The frame itself weighs just 4 kg.

Well, we would like to go on and on about the new Panigale V4 but there are other new Ducati models which caught our interest. So keep logging in to Carandbike.com to get the latest updates from the EICMA Motorcycle Show.