2016 1199R Panigale

I thought it about time I put this up on here as well as the .co.uk forum which is more local for me.

Picked the new R up from Snell Performance a few weeks back and did a few hundred miles dodging thunderstorms and chasing the sun. Even on the reduced revs run in procedure the engine felt incredible. The bike is feather light and gives so much confidence that I was knee down through a couple of the fast corners on the next ride out which is something that has never happened on the road before. I don't even have knee sliders on some of my road leathers as there never seemed any point. It's an angry beast with the lumpy race cams and gets pretty hot when going slow through towns so wouldn't be much fun for the commute but for fast riding its incredible. I've kept hold of my S1000RR for now to use for long road journeys so the R will be doing track duty and a bit of fair weather riding. I still have the S which I'm hoping to go racing on after getting the licence sorted next month.
The titanium exhaust has already gone a beautiful purple blue colour.

Thoughts so far after 600km?

The engine is mind blowing even with the reduced revs that I'm running on at the moment. It's super responsive and so quick to spin up, but still with a shed load of low down grunt that you'd expect from a twin. It's feeling really strong and I'm excited to get use of the full revs. The bike is unbelievable light, I really love this aspect of it and can throw around so easily.
It's definitely not a commuter! The race cams are superbly angry and dont like low speeds so tend to make the bike surge in traffic. The seat gets noticeably hotter than my 1199S presumably for the same reason. I specifically didn't want the more friendly 1299S but if I was looking for a bike to travel on, do a bit of commuting and track days then I would definitely choose the 1299S over the R. Electronic suspension has come of age with the 1299S and the new S1000RR and for road riding I'm definitely sold. When you hit some bumpy road on the 1199S on race settings or the new R with it's stiff traditional suspension it feels like you have a puncture sometimes. With the 1199S you can at least just change modes whilst riding to soften the ride, and then flick back again when back on smooth roads which works well. No one would bother changing settings on normal mechanical suspension unless they knew they were on crap roads all the time, in which case there's no point having a bike like this anyhow.

So I'm most definitely in love with this bike and looking forward to using it properly. We've got track days at Snetterton and Brands Hatch GP coming up but it's not likely to pass the noise limits so the next definite date is Silverstone GP on 15th August for really stretching it's legs.

I've done 1200km so had a couple of ride outs on full revs and really starting to get a feel for the bike now. The biggest difference isn't so much the extra 500 revs but the lightness of the rotating mass at high speed. Most bikes start to feel heavy to move side to side when the revs are high but the R still feels featherweight, it's an amazing experience.

The cams and engine tune are noticeably higher up in the rev range. The engine is best run above 7000rpm which feels weird at first because you end up running second gear for longer than normal and as there's a lot of power in such a lightweight chassis it takes practice before you feel balanced through corners. My 1199S took a few months of trackdays before I got the hang of how best to use my body position due to it being very sensitive and I think the R would be quite difficult to learn to ride well if I hadn't already spent a couple of years on the other Panigales. Stomp grip is essential as the trick for me has been to make sure I'm not grabbing onto the handle bars as that amplifies any headshake it picks up from the ground. With the R there's so much power and it's so lightweight that it's quite difficult to stop yourself from doing this. I did start to get more balanced and better once I changed a few suspension settings to calm the bike a bit.

The two ringed race pistons means the engine drinks a bit of oil. There's no noticeable smoking but it has gone from through about 600ml of oil in 800 miles which is a bit better than the Ducati guidelines of it using around 300ml per 500km / 300miles.

The suspension setup feels like it matters a lot more on such a lightweight bike. To start with the back was too stiff and the bike felt pretty crazy at high speeds in corners, a bit uncomfortably loose and a little scary at times. My riding was quite messy and with un-precise lines to first time I started using the revs. I took a couple of clicks off the rear compression and rebound and it has really helped to bring it all together again and make it feel like a lighter weight version of my 1199S which I'm happy to chuck around at will. I have not gone over the Sag/preload setup yet but once I do that I'll put some numbers up for people to compare.

I'm itching to get it on track but it's unlikely to pass noise testing at Brands Hatch and Snetterton in the next couple of weeks so it probably will not get out until Silverstone GP circuit on the 15th August. Thats going to be a long wait!

Nice write up and glad you like it.

I'm amazed at how quickly this bike goes through the gears from 7k on it just surges towards the red line.

I also found the bike incredibly stiff, do you know what weight the bike is sprung for as I think I might need a light spring.

Thanks, yes it's mind blowing how fast it revs, very impressive and really lets you see where the extra money goes.

I'm not sure what weight the bike is sprung for but being italian it's probably for someone 80-85kg max which luckily is my weight. I'm doing some setup over the weekend so I should be able to get some rough idea when I do the Sag and I'll post up the figures.

Good phot from my friends man cave with all our bikes in!

royal said:

I still have the S which I'm hoping to go racing on

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Sorry, I might have missed the bit... why aren't you racing the R? And street-ride the S?

royal said:

Thanks, yes it's mind blowing how fast it revs, very impressive and really lets you see where the extra money goes.

I'm not sure what weight the bike is sprung for but being italian it's probably for someone 80-85kg max which luckily is my weight. I'm doing some setup over the weekend so I should be able to get some rough idea when I do the Sag and I'll post up the figures.

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We are roughly the same weight, I changed mine a little and softened the front end a bit but the rear is very stiff and getting some headshake when driving out of corners.

my bike is at the track so i'll share my initial settings when I ride again which probably won't be till the end of August due to travels.

Snk1199 said:

Sorry, I might have missed the bit... why aren't you racing the R? And street-ride the S?

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The original plan was to part ex my S1000RR for the R to use on track, convert the S back to street riding, then use something like Daytona 675 for racing because it would be cheaper and more practical.

Many UK tracks have low noise limits that the Panigales can't go on so it was a good man maths excuse to keep the BMW for noise limited tracks and street riding which it is better at than the Ducati.

I dont want to lose the Ducati warranty or make it more likely to crash the R so I'd rather race the S which is more than capable. Perhaps I'll change my mind later because the R is such a good bike but for now it seems like the best compromise.

royal said:

The original plan was to part ex my S1000RR for the R to use on track, convert the S back to street riding, then use something like Daytona 675 for racing because it would be cheaper and more practical.

Many UK tracks have low noise limits that the Panigales can't go on so it was a good man maths excuse to keep the BMW for noise limited tracks and street riding which it is better at than the Ducati.

I dont want to lose the Ducati warranty or make it more likely to crash the R so I'd rather race the S which is more than capable. Perhaps I'll change my mind later because the R is such a good bike but for now it seems like the best compromise.

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nice man logic

Stupid noise limits. My stock 2009 675 except the arrow can blew 105db at snetterton (limit 102db) the other day. 3 weeks before that she was at 101db at cadwell (limit 105db) I had to shove the baffle in for Snett and it went down to 98db. I feel some bs was flying around. I want to take my 1299 to Snett at some point but I fear I will be wasting my money!

It's a damn nightmare. I'm lucky enough to have the BMW which shouldn't have any noise problems but I'd rather be on the Panigales. I've put up a noise limit thread over on ducatiforum.co.uk (I'm royalwithcream over there). I could put it up here as well but it's only for the UK.

Its been a while since I posted any 1199R porn on here so figured now is a good time. I've had a couple of crashes and had to replace body work a few times. I was soo gutted to smash the stuff with the number 44 on as it was a beautiful spray job. I've been racing the R6 this year but had some awesome sessions on the R towards the end of last year. I've posted the vids elsewhere but dont think I put up any of the phots?

Aragon was perfect for the bike and one of my favourite tracks so far. Look out for the guy crashing in front of me at about 30 seconds:

[youtube]iEgyCHURPFs[/youtube]

Portimao was even better still. One day was tipping it down with rain and I was able to lose my wets virginity. I have a big moment towards the end which was a lot worse than it looks! I ended up sitting on the tank with the heart beating a few extra times.
[youtube]OGRvPJFrYyw[/youtube]

In the dry the place is incredible; again one of my favourite tracks so far.
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Bike looks sweet!!!

Are you running any type of tune on it?

No it's fully stock. I may have something in the pipeline though. It makes a huge difference having the race cans but I can't warrant the even more massive price that DP sell them for!

Yeah it's ridiculous. Great to see it being enjoyed.

Awesome posts, I am hoping to get lots of track days when I am in Germany. I saw Why choose Focused Events? | Focused Events have some nice track days in the UK, what are your recommendations for track days in Europe?

So awesome man. I am so incredibly envious of you guys in Europe....the abundance and quality of the tracks out there is just so cool. Glad to see you enjoying your bike and that opportunity to the fullest.


Also...that crash @ :30 in the Aragon video...so strange! How did he just fall off the bike before it stayed upright and continued off the inside line?? Never seen a fall like that before.

Hello Royal

I've had the pleasure of reading quite a few of your threads and posts here over the last few weeks - Would honestly like to convey that everything you wrote is very educational , not to mention how well you write also! It makes everything alot better when reading an articulate storyline man! Great job!

Out of the million bikes I've ridden in my life, the Ducati R is the only one I haven't. After reading your threads, and of course those of all my colleagues who've been here since day 1 on this forum - you guys make it come to life for me - therefore I'm living thru you Royal. Lol.

Stay safe, post MORE , and start opening the thing up more now that you've dug deep enough into the Break In Period (Matter of opinion on that of course) Wring it out and let us know what gear can still bring the front wheel up - unless riding w the features which prevent that kind of fun. OH LASTLY - Who doesn't drool seeing an exhaust get nice and purple / blue?? Amazing Royal, simply amazing !!

mhaddad said:

Awesome posts, I am hoping to get lots of track days when I am in Germany. I saw Why choose Focused Events? | Focused Events have some nice track days in the UK, what are your recommendations for track days in Europe?

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Hey mate, the guys we use as much as possible are Pacedayz but they are quite specialised as they are a British SuperBike team who use the trips for testing. They are a little expensive due to very small numbers, very friendly and they almost always sell out way in advance.

We're using Focused Events to go to Imola and Mugello in August. They are probably the biggest trackday organisation and do lots of extras like bike hire so probably useful for your situation. They have a bit of a patchy reputation because their admin in the UK is pretty poor and the Boss man upsets a lot of people. We've had two or three trips with them to Almeria which were all very successful but haven't used them for about a year due to them messing me around with bike pickup in the UK. They are the cheap option and you have to pay extra for taking wheels and tyres and stuff. They transport bikes without stillage units so they are all piled in together and there's lots of stories of damage. No problem for track bikes but since a lot of customers are less experienced with stock bike it makes a lot of unhappy people when they do it. Hopefully Italy will go smoothly as it has potential to be the most amazing trip.

The other big organiser is Nolimits Trackdays who have always been really good for us and generally my second choice after Pacedayz.

There's a bunch of smaller companies who have recently started and getting good reviews such as Redline,etc