Base vs V4S

Base V4 vs V4S

So the difference is basicly the suspension and the battery?

Is that correct?

Is the BASE suspensión good?

Or is the ohlins suspensión worth it?

Or upgrading the base suspensión a better option?

About to pull the trigger on one of these beauties

From the Ducati tech specs:

Panigale V4 S
• Same standard features as the Panigale V4 with the exception of:
o Suspension and steering damper with Ohlins Smart EC 2.0 system
o Ohlins NIX-30 forks
o Ohlins TTX 36 shock absorber
o Ohlins steering damper
o Aluminium forged wheels
o Lithium-ion battery

Most people would not call the base suspension good, but whether one should go for the S or just upgrade the suspension and wheels for the price difference between the base and the S is a personal choice. Lot of opinions on that subject.

I would call the big piston Showas excellent .
With a little work just as good if not better than the bargain basement Ohlins .
Add a decent rear shock you have a better set up IMO

For mostly street riding electronic suspension is well worth it. It's dynamic nature makes it work very well whether you ride aggressively or chill, good road surface or bad.

For mostly track riding, I'd go with base and upgrade suspension to non-electronic ohlins/equiv.

For me the difference in pricing bought me a set of forged aluminium OZ wheels a Ohlins TTX rear shock a Ohlins steering damper spent $450 re valving and modifying the Showas and a 520 set up with a quick change carrier and a few sprockets .
Ended up with a spare set of wheels and money still in my pocket .

jbraslins said:

For mostly street riding electronic suspension is well worth it. It's dynamic nature makes it work very well whether you ride aggressively or chill, good road surface or bad.

For mostly track riding, I'd go with base and upgrade suspension to non-electronic ohlins/equiv.

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If you really understand suspension and like to switch back and forth between different setups the eSuspension is a nice to have. For the most part, a well set up suspension for you, changes in compression and dampening change tire wear and keeping the wheel on the ground when going over bumps, which may or may not be important to you.

Unfortunately the adjustment you really need to switch/adjust quickly is preload, which is still manual. An electronic preload adjustment would give the rider much more precise and usable changes. Front preload should be between 30 and 40, rear is 25 to 35. A stiff rear (25) and a soft front (40) will ride and turn very differently than a soft rear (35) and a stiff front (40). When I finally set my suspension I was at 44 front and 22 rear. No matter what I did the the clickers or dynamic setting, the bike was unstable at speeds above 50mph but turned in quickly. I set the preload to 35 front, 28 rear and the difference was night and day. Had the preload been electronic there no way I would have put almost 2k miles with the preload set the way it was.

For every motorcycle I've owned, and can see the list in my signature, a change in the compression and dampening made almost no difference, it did a little. A change in the preload made a night and day difference.

The wheels are worth at least $1500. Lighter wheels also means the suspension does not have to work as hard going up and down, and turn in is quicker. Is that important to you.

If you are a pro racer that light battery will make you really fast. Lol

On the S you may notice a difference on the road, but it won't be huge, deffo not enough to make an S maybe any faster at all. I'll be putting a KTech shock in sometime & leaving my forks alone, no lightweight wheels as it'll make dam all difference on the road.
S is mid ground, guys that know what they're doing with suspension usually prefer manual adjustability.

Is an S worth the £4500 premium to me?, no, deffo not

Before I placed my order for the V4 (base) the dealer here in Vancouver, British Columbia only had an S model. My thoughts are the Ohlins ride much smoother than the base suspension on the road. Handles bumps a lot better. For that reason alone, I would go up to the S as the majority of the riding I do is on the street.

I tested an S and ended up with a base. The difference was not worth the money to me. Even with me being purely a street rider.

Better imho to get the base model, buy a set of forged alloy wheels off eBay, have a professional adjust your stock suspension settings for your most frequent kind of use, and enjoy the bike as is for at least a year...then if you feel the need for race-like suspensions go for the manually adjustable Ohlins or Mupo (just as good and cheaper).

Consider an S and the electronically adjustable Ohlin suspensions only if 70+ % use will be on the streets...and mixed streets, from twisties to straights to urban, because if you only take the bike out on a Sunday to hit twisties, then you'd only need the manually adjustable suspensions (stock or race).

mordor said:

From the Ducati tech specs:

Panigale V4 S
"¢ Same standard features as the Panigale V4 with the exception of:
o Suspension and steering damper with Ohlins Smart EC 2.0 system
o Ohlins NIX-30 forks
o Ohlins TTX 36 shock absorber
o Ohlins steering damper
o Aluminium forged wheels
o Lithium-ion battery

Most people would not call the base suspension good, but whether one should go for the S or just upgrade the suspension and wheels for the price difference between the base and the S is a personal choice. Lot of opinions on that subject.

Click to expand...

There are some cosmetic differences between the V4 and the V4S. The V4S has a black front fender (red for the V4) and has red wheel stripes (none on the V4). And the Ohlins forks have a golden finish (steel finish on the Sachs of the V4). Minor stuff but noticeable upon a close scrutiny.

KarmaRider said:

There are some cosmetic differences between the V4 and the V4S. The V4S has a black front fender (red for the V4) and has red wheel stripes (none on the V4). And the Ohlins forks have a golden finish (steel finish on the Sachs of the V4). Minor stuff but noticeable upon a close scrutiny.

Click to expand...

V4 doesn't have Sachs forks btw. They are big piston Showas

Veteran said:

V4 doesn't have Sachs forks btw. They are big piston Showas

Click to expand...

Sorry about that mix-up - Sachs shock at the back and Showa BPF at the front.