2026 Ducati Panigale V4 Review | Superbike Endgame

This is a 2025 Ducati Panigale V4. It represents the latest and greatest from the mad scientist over at Bologna, and it truly is Ducati operating at its very best, creating an apex predator superbike. Let's get geared up, swing a leg, and go for a ride. All right, folks, Ducati Panigale V4. This is the seventh generation superbike from the Bologna factory, and it has all the goodies. And we talk about trickle-down tech from Ducati, finding their ways to the V2 products, the electronics, the race-winning pedigree. It all starts with this. This is what Ducati does best. This is what they focus on, and everything else comes second to this. So this is a 2025 model. It has the new double-sided hollow swing arm, which is kind of a big deal. It provides more feel and kind of lets you ride the bike a little bit easier. And the whole thing about this bike is ease of riding. That's what Ducati kind of engineered and thought about, because through their MotoGP programs, their World Superbike programs, Ducati's figured out that when a bike is easier to ride, riders are more confident, they're able to extract better lap times, and ultimately, at the enthusiast level, the amateur level, like most of us are here on Yammy Noob and myself as well, that just makes the bikes better, you know? Nobody wants a super aggressive, tough, difficult-to-ride motorcycle, and the fact that this machine is even rideable at all on public roads is somewhat of a miracle. So, 1103cc, 90-degree V4 with a counter-rotating crank, producing 209 horsepower here in the United States markets, 216 quoted power in the European market, but the important figure is that this Desmosedici Stradale engine right here, when it's flashed, has been dyno-confirmed across several sources I saw online to be producing about 211 wheel horsepower. Yes, you heard me right. 211 at that tire, out of this engine. Crazy. With a wet weight of just 421 pounds, with a fully geared-up rider on top of it, this thing actually has a superior power-to-weight ratio than a Bugatti Chiron. Do with that information what you will, I just wanted to let you know because I think it is absolutely incredible. This is the base model V4. I didn't want a spring for the S, and to be honest, ours are kind of hard to find, and I thought that for the Yamanoob audience, a base V4 would be the best pick for someone who's going to win it. So, this has the mechanically adjustable Showa suspension, Brembo-style calipers, and the normal wheels. The S version gets the Marchesini forged wheels and the Electronics Ohlins suspension. Very nice to have, nice little, you know, accoutrement on your Ducati, but ultimately, this has all the bones you would need to go fast, and Lord have mercy, can you go fast on this machine. So, what am I looking for in today's ride? Well, really, this is a thinly-disguised race bike, right? This is the platform that Ducati spins up so they can go racing, turn it into the R version with the shorter-stroke engine, and just clean up shop in competition. This has the bigger engine, it's more road-oriented, so really, for as much performance as this has, I just want to make sure that I can somewhat normally ride it on public streets, and it's not too crazy, because that's all it really needs to do, because really where this shines is on track. Later in the video, I will have a whole portion dedicated to discussing how this motorcycle works on track. I took it out to two different track days, that's why this bike has about 538 miles on it, and some fresh rubber, because I've actually owned it since October of last year, so I got the chance to kind of live with and own this bike as a track motorcycle. I've spent very little time with it on road, so I'm actually kind of curious to see how it goes. Let's fire her up, shall we? From the Ducati electronic starter to life, this is that classic, like, you know, they kind of tune the V4 to have that grumbly V-twin quality down low, and you can hear it when the clutch is out and I'm not in gear, it kind of sounds like a twin, and if I rev it up a little bit, sounds mostly like a twin, but then when I click it into first gear, you actually hear it kind of change a little bit, so Ducati was so worried about the, you know, Ducatisti wanting that twin sound and feel, that they were like, we got to include it, right? I am in sport mode today, and I don't think I really need to be in anything beyond that. This is a extremely fast, extremely capable motorcycle, and sport mode is plenty good enough for me. When you have this much power on tap, really what it comes down to is the electronics. It's, I'm not going to say it's not that hard to make 200 plus horsepower out of an 1100cc V4. It's still pretty difficult, like, technically speaking, and, you know, just kind of going through the metallurgy side of things, the precision engineering required to produce that kind of power, but most manufacturers can figure it out. What's really difficult to figure out is putting it all together, as I watch this gravel right here. Building a motorcycle that has this much exclusivity factor, has this kind of x-factor, has this kind of performance, and is rideable to the point where a rider feels confident, boy, that's hard to pull off. You're talking about creating a motorcycle that has a chassis, swingarm, suspension, geometry, all that provides enough feedback to the rider. It's not about making this thing as stiff as possible. This is not a Moto2, you know, one-off chassis. It's not MotoGP bike. This is supposed to be a road bike, in theory. So putting that all together is really tough, and that's where Ducati shines. It's the electronics, man. So this has the DVO, that's the Ducati Vehicle Observer, and that is a simulation of 70 sensors on board from the machine that predictably utilizes, like, algorithms and sensors and all this crazy stuff to sort of think about what it is you want to do with the machine. With your lean angle, your throttle input, your braking application, the bike just sort of figures out what you want to do, and what happens is you get this kind of, like, video game magic carpet feeling from this machine. You don't really feel like any of the inputs are yours, and what's interesting about it is I wouldn't say it's a satisfying motorcycle to ride. You know, it's kind of become a bit more BMW-esque in the way that it feels and handles. It's a bit sterile for what a Ducati is supposed to be, even on road, where you can barely tap into the performance this thing has, and you guys will see in today's video it's basically impossible to use this bike's power anywhere, really. On track, it's sublime. It's phenomenal. It's so unbelievably good, but on road it kind of just, you know, all the inputs just feel a little sterile and neutered because it has to be. This thing makes 200 horsepower. How do you expect to be able to ride something like this and have it feel raw and analog? If that were the case, you would just flip end over end on this thing. You would literally just send yourself to the moon, and it's so funny to ride a bike like this on road, where since I can't rip it out, I can't really use any of it, the experience kind of ends up, you know, like, I wouldn't say boring, but if you're familiar with riding a bike on track and you understand what it feels like when you really pick it up off the apex, you smear the rear end, you slide it out of a corner, that's exciting, and this bike lets you do all those things, but the fact is you're utilizing maybe five to ten percent of its capabilities on road, and so what are you left with? Well, you're left with a motorcycle that looks really beautiful. This bike has such an amazing aggressive presence about it with its wings up front, that evocative Ducati design. You have an extremely luxe riding position and feel over here, right? You have this widescreen TFT display, really nicely laid out gauge cluster that's configurable depending on the mode, you know, if you put it to road mode, race mode, sport mode, it'll change and move things around. A beautifully gorgeous machined triple tree right here. This really has, like, an incredible amount of experience factor, right? Like, you genuinely think, okay, like, you know, I'm riding something really special, really cool, really unique. This throttle response is so unbelievably dialed in for a ride-by-wire system. It changes depending on where you are on the revs, how much gas you give it, and when and where in the lean angle. You can tell it's manicuring this throttle for you all of the time, you can tell that. But the thing is, you got to just let this thing, it kind of rides you, you know? You don't really ride this bike, you're just kind of along for the ride, and that's what I'll kind of talk to you guys about in the track portion of the video, where really my feedback for it is, you just pin the throttle and hang on for dear life, and it just really sorts everything out for you. You don't have to think too much on this motorcycle, and that's what I'm noticing here on road. You know, I'm able to putt around with this thing. I don't have to be some kind of MotoGP star to be able to ride it. You really can be a relatively competent rider and ride this bike, which should be impossible. It should be totally impossible to swing a leg over a 200 horsepower Ducati, and you know, as long as you have maybe a year or two of riding experience, you're not going to immediately destroy yourself and kill yourself, you know? You know, I got to say, the braking performance is stunning on this machine. Stunning. This has the new Brembo Stylema Hyper Calipers, I think it's what they're called. This is the top shelf stuff. It's so good. You have so much feel, so much precision, even for a system with ABS, which, you know, normally I would say, okay, strip out all that ABS crap, go direct down to the lines. But this bike, because it's so complicated and has so much going on, you need to keep the brakes pretty much as they are if you want to use some of those higher level electronics, because this actually controls rear brake actuation for you mid-corner, allowing you to tighten your line. And that's something I felt on track with it, is that you have that kind of super, like, superhuman levels of slow speed with this thing, because it just dabs that rear like you're a MotoGP Pro, and it just tightens it up, and it's just incredible. Really, really incredible motorcycle. You know, I've taken really powerful motorcycles down this road. I remember actually about six years ago, I had a Yamaha R1 that I took down here, and I put it in the most aggressive mapping mode and all that stuff, and I remember just thinking, like, wow, this is way too much of a handful, and this bike doesn't feel like that at all. There's so much performance here. It's just crazy. It's just crazy how much performance there is. This is one of those bikes that just kind of laughs at you. It's like, really, dude? Like, what are we doing, bro? Like, take me out to the track. And I will say, goodness gracious, whoever wins this motorcycle, I really hope that you have some degree of experience on the track, because it is where this bike belongs. I know that some of you in the comments, you know, you're like, oh my god, he's going to talk about the track, and he's such a dweeb, he's such a track guy. But come on, man, this bike's supposed to spread its wings and fly on a racetrack. That's what it was built for. And the fact that it can even be on street is just remarkable. Now, I got to say, I'm not any faster on this machine, on this road, than with any other bike I've ridden on it. You know, really tight twisties. There's really not a lot you're going to do with this bike that you couldn't do with a middleweight naked, even an adventure bike. Where this is going to mop up is obviously like those bigger, wider sweepers, you know, this will lock in the line and just absolutely fly. But, you know, the tighter twistier stuff, you can do it with this. You have to kind of train your, you know, body a little bit, get a little limber, have a little bit of fun with it. Well, this is just simply sublime. I'll tell you guys what, let's get this thing out on the highway so we can hear it rev up a little bit, and then we'll get back in the shop and talk over the technical details, my track experience with it, and go from there. All right, boys, we are in race B mode, which gives me full bananas. I'm about to jump on the highway over here, and we're going to give her a little squirt, see what she does. Because how else are you supposed to test a Panigale V4 if you don't have a highway available to you? All right, third gear. This light to be that stable is just, wow, that's really impressive. What's really crazy about it is just how controlled it feels. It doesn't feel scary at all, which makes me sound like the biggest squid in the world, but, man, that is just so smooth and easy. And it comes with a warranty? You can buy this brand new from a dealer? That's crazy. Should that be allowed? I don't know. You drop a comment down below if you think that should be allowed. It feels a little crazy to me. All right, let's get this thing back in the shop, talk over the technical details and my experience with it on track. So this is the part of the video where I would show you some amazing footage of me riding this bike on track. But due to technical issues, we do not have the footage, only a few photos I took on my phone the different days that I was at the track. I was able to take this motorcycle out to two different racetracks, Eagles Canyon Raceway in Decatur, Texas, and Circuit of the Americas right here in Austin. I brought a lap timer to both track days and logged some data. The bike's electronics and suspension were switched to race B mode per the user's manual. I also swapped it to GP shift, removed the mirrors and tail light section, but otherwise, it was bone stock. Same tires, brand new out of the box Supercorsa SPs at track PSI. I don't want to bury the lead, so here's the important part. This is the fastest motorcycle I have ever tested at any racetrack in terms of top speed and outright lap time. I clocked a 202.6 at Eagles Canyon Raceway, and I was able to achieve a 181 mile per hour top speed at Kota. My lap time at Kota is not really indicative of the bike's capability or my own because it was about 47 degrees Fahrenheit or eight degrees Celsius that day, slightly wet and really windy, so just wasn't really a good day. This base model V4 Panigale went about a second faster than the time I was able to produce with the last generation Panigale V4R in 2023 at Eagles Canyon Raceway. That is remarkable. This places my 202.6 lap time roughly 7.6 seconds off the all-time lap record at Eagles Canyon. And keep in mind, I took this thing out bone stock, and it's a giveaway bike, so just small adjustments for the pressure, electronics, and suspension. The lap record is currently held by CMRA racer JC Camacho on a fully prepped Kawasaki ZX-10R on Pirelli slick tires, according to my research. It is absolutely insane that the stock Panigale is that close with me riding it. I think with an extra day and a set of slick tires and warmers, I could have gone under two minutes at ECR, no questions asked. So how is it so fast? What is the secret sauce? In my opinion, it comes down to confidence and electronics. It is the easiest big bike I have ever ridden by a wide margin, and it just works with you. It is so far beyond any other motorcycle in terms of how it lets you ride well and push further. This thing is a cheat code at the racetrack. There's an almost video game level of ease to how it behaves on track, and you just feel like you're way more of a track day hero than you really are. The bike slides out of corners confidently, and you feel like you can brake way deeper than you have any right to, and the DVO adjusts rear brake inputs mid-corner, making it turn like a 600. The back section of ECR has a really tight left-hander, which has always felt really awkward to me on big bikes. This bike just eats it up. It feels so small and nimble, letting you get back to full throttle. The whole point of a fast lap time is minimizing your dead spots and utilizing 100% of the racetrack. Throttle, brakes, getting to wide open as soon as possible, carving the most efficient line through the racetrack. It's not rocket science. The Panigale meters and adjusts the raw input you give it to extract maximum performance. So you just need to stay on line, use as much brake as you dare, and pick it up wide open throttle as soon as possible, and the bike just does the rest. You basically just hang on for dear life, and you have the fastest lap times you've ever seen on your Solo 2. So in that regard, in terms of the design brief of this machine, which is meant to be the ultimate track ready motorcycle, it's a 10 out of 10. And with a 15,000 RPM redline on an 1103cc V4, it's a very exotic and fun experience, too. I feel so lucky that I was able to experience this bike on a racetrack. Let's take a closer look at the specs, special parts, and the overall design of this absolutely incredible machine. The Ducati Panigale V4 in base configuration will set you back about $25,995. I chose the base because you guys know I'm a value-driven person. And although owning a Ducati caters to the flex offenders out there, I really think this is 98% the motorcycle an S variant is. So, we don't have electronically adjustable suspension or Marchesini wheels, but I really don't think you need it. This bike simply needs slick tires, some warmers, paddock stands, front and rear, and you're ready to go. Ducati makes it really simple to prep this bike for serious track duty. Mirrors and lights come off easily. GP shift is just two bolts and you swap it over. The computer accepts the new inputs without any fuss, and you can switch it over to race A or B mode and adjust the suspension accordingly. When I used this motorcycle as a track bike, I installed a lap timer mount from HSBK Racing for my Aim Solo 2, and I installed some tank grips. I've since removed the tank grips and I spooned on some fresh tires for the new winter because I'd kind of smoked those things. And I completed the first service, so this bike is broken in and ready to go. Let's take a closer look at this chassis. Ducati has now evolved from the old monocoque design of the previous Panigales. A traditional monocoque is a single shell, but this new front frame is a compact aluminum structure that weighs only about 7.6 pounds. It attaches directly to the steering head, directly to the cylinder banks of the V4 engine, and is still using the engine as a stressed member, of course. By using this new design, Ducati can fine-tune the lateral stiffness, which is the amount of flex you get from side to side, without compromising the longitudinal stiffness. This comes as a result of their MotoGP prowess, realizing that increased lateral flexibility allows the tire to grip better and gives better feedback to the rider when at lean. Because when the bike is leaned all the way over at 60 degrees, the suspension just can't act the way it's supposed to. So the bike's handling at that point basically comes directly from the frame. But of course, since this bike is blisteringly fast, you need proper stiffness front and back. If you want to do those heavy braking zones, you got to make sure the bike is nice and stiff. Chassis tuning like this is what separates Ducati from everybody else. The other big talking point, of course, as we mentioned, is the dual-sided hollow swing arm. Yes, the old unit was prettier, but this one, it just performs better. The MotoGP bikes don't have single-sided swing arms, and now the homologated bike, the V4R, and this platform doesn't either. The Panigale is now sporting Brembo Hypur calipers. This is the latest top-shelf unit for street bikes from Brembo. They're lighter than the old Stylemas, and they're designed to dissipate heat more efficiently. I also think the smaller offset logo looks nice. They're pinching 330-millimeter rotors through this very generous master cylinder up top fed through ABS lines. So as I mentioned in the track portion, the Ducati has the eCBS system or combined electronic braking. So swapping this out to a direct line to the caliper might not be feasible unless you're a proper race bike shop setting this bike up for competitive use. The moral of the story with this bike is, unless you're a top-grade professional, don't touch anything. For suspension, the base model comes equipped with the 43-millimeter Showa BPF, that's big piston fork, with adjustment for rebound compression and preload in each leg of the fork. I personally found this unit completely adequate as an expert-level rider at pace at the track, and I wouldn't bother swapping it with anything else unless I was racing and I really needed the ultimate competitive edge. The shock out back is a Sachs unit, which is also fully adjustable, and the actual adjusters are quite difficult to reach, so I thought that was kind of annoying. The bike is sporting a 120-70-17 up front and a 260-70-17 out back with Pirelli Supercorsa SP tires fitted as standard. So Supercorsas are great for the average track enthusiast, but for those of you who would like to ride this bike at a high level, I think you should really consider track-day slicks or proper racing slicks. Ducati has actually optimized electronics for slick tires on board because, of course, they do. The display is a beautiful unit with 6.9 inches and an ultra-wide screen aspect ratio. The TFT display sometimes has too many numbers and info, and I'm going to be totally honest, at proper pace on the racetrack, you are not looking down at this thing. You have configurable modes depending on if you're in street or race, and you get a different layout. I love that it defaults to dark mode. No display should have white backgrounds. It just looks a little weird. Ergonomically, this is a proper big bike. It has a 33.5-inch seat height, and it's pretty wide and sturdy. I'm about 5'11 with a 32-inch inseam, and it's just barely comfortable for me to ride it. If it were any taller or larger, I probably wouldn't get along with it that well. If you're a little bit more vertically challenged, you may struggle with this machine. You'll also notice the new aero package with these different wings, and this has also been an area where Ducati has been advancing at light speed. When winglets first started getting introduced on street bikes back in like 2017, I thought they were pretty unnecessary, but the tech has actually improved. It actually has become very noticeable at ultra-high top speeds. On track, you really do sense the stability that they provide, and the bike tracks like an old-school Hayabusa. It is so stable, except for the fact that it's getting to that top speed way faster than a Hayabusa could ever dream of. So, let's wrap up my thoughts on this absolutely exceptional motorcycle. As a dyed-in-the-wool sport bike guy, Ducati obviously really appeals to me. I appreciate that there's a company solely devoted to creating the finest go-fast motorcycles. I have to admit, before riding this new generation Panigale, I thought to myself, how could it really be that much better over the last generation? I've gotten the chance to sample many new flagship Ducati products, most notably a previous generation Panigale V4R on road and on track. I found the bike to be so unbelievably good, I thought to myself, how could anyone improve this experience? And yet, here we are. This bike in base configuration is faster than the old R, at least with me riding it at the same racetrack, your results may vary. It's easier to ride, it has more sophisticated electronics, it's nicer to live with if you want to make it a road bike, it has more advanced tech, and I think it looks cooler too. When you keep going deeper on something, you often run into the idea of diminishing returns. Exponentially more effort for less and less payoff. We see it in racing all the time, where manufacturers are fighting for those last couple of tenths of seconds while spending millions and millions of dollars and pouring thousands of man hours into a project. But something miraculous can happen after doing that. Sometimes, in rare cases, you get a breakthrough. A combination of factors during the long hard road down the abyss of diminishing returns that causes a total shift. Science and tech typically have this, where all of a sudden there's an explosion of development and growth in an area that was previously unthinkable. Here's my take on this bike. If you love sport bikes, there is no serious case to be made to not at least appreciate this machine. If your checkbook can't afford it, if you prefer other brands for their different emotional appeal, that's fine. Nobody's going to force you to buy a Ducati if you want a Yamaha. But saying Ducati doesn't make the best sport bikes in the world right now is not a serious position. The results have borne out that fact anyway. Ducati stands as the undisputed leader with 443 wins in World Superbike, earning 20 Constructors' Championships and 16 Riders' Championships. This is a company truly born out of passion. And even if you don't like sport bikes, maybe you're just into motorcycles in general. Maybe you're the guy that says, I can't stand all those crotch rockets. I just like my breeze. The fact that Ducati exists is beneficial to motorcycling writ large. I don't want to live in a world that only has value-driven, optimized bikes with 750cc parallel twins that sip fuel and are comfortable to ride. Much like I don't want to watch films that were crafted through committees and sloppified to achieve mass market success. I don't want to eat mass-produced foods at chain restaurants with vaguely pleasing aesthetics. I want edge. I want emotion. I want to feel something. I want it to be dangerous. I want an unexpected flavor combination at a restaurant by a chef who is passionate. I want a film that challenges my conception of storytelling. One that leaves an impression long after I've seen it. One that I want to tell my friends about. I want music that inspires, perks my ear, and delights me. Life is so short and fleeting. I want a 15,000 RPM V4 Italian motorcycle that's blood red and ready to obliterate the racetrack. And I think you do too. This bike is a marvel of engineering, crafted to an incredibly high degree, gorgeous in its execution, and I love it. It's my idea of a finisher bike, the perfect crown jewel to a balanced motorcycle stable, perhaps fitted with a full Acura exhaust system, slick tires, some tank grips, and that's about it. I love looking at this bike. I love riding it on track even more. And even though it is utterly, maniacally stupid to ride on road, I'm really happy it exists. For my own tastes and sensibilities, this bike executes on its mission perfectly, so I think it's a 10 out of 10. I think for the broader public, it fulfills its mission as a dream bike and allows Ducati to keep being Ducati. But being that it's just not as accessible to everyone, I would give it a 9.5 out of 10. At the same time, I don't think Ducati is meant to be accessible to everyone, so maybe I will stick with my 10 out of 10 score. Thank you for watching this one all the way to the end. I really do appreciate it. If you're lucky enough to catch this video on the first seven days of the launch, you're in luck because you can still get entered to win this motorcycle. It's seven days only, and we're also doing $2,500 cash on top. It's a giveaway bike on my website, yammynoob.co. Do not miss your chance to win. Catch you in the next one. See you later.