Interested to hear your thoughts on the Panigale R vs V4S!
2015+ R is a very special bike, and I would say it's probably the last analog(ish) sport bike. The Ohlins suspension is buttery, the engine is very powerful and hard hitting and the bike sounds amazing. In compare to the previous R and 1199 generation, the handling is day and night better. I think it has a lot to do with the Ohlins suspension and the change of bike geometry.
The V4S is like the Nissan GTR of motorcycles, in the sense of just mash the pedal and let the car do it's magic. First of all, the engine has power everywhere consistently. That combined with the electronics and the throttle feedback gives you an opportunity to open the gas everywhere. As we all know, when you're on the gas the bike does everything better. The problem with the R was that when you even slightly crack the throttle you never knew what kinda response you'll be getting from the bike, sometimes it jumped, sometimes it coughed, sometimes nothing came out. I tried to get a dyno tune to fix that mid range, and it made it even worse for partial throttle openings. The V4S encourages you to open the throttle and modulate with an amazing accuracy.
There is also a decent power difference between the two bikes. The V4S dynoed 14hp more than my reflashed ECU and decatted Akrapovic R bike on the same dyno. Normally since we are no Motogp or WSBK stars, we could all live with little bit less horsepower huh? The answer is yes and no. Yes, normally most of us don't use that power because of our talent or we are only riding at the track once or twice a month if we are lucky. My answer is no with the V4S, because the bike really helps you using the max power. Another friend of mine, who rode a 17 S1000RR, almost instantly became a better rider by just changing to the V4S. I can't imagine how the power difference would be with an Akra/Termi pipe.
Last but not least, I was always not a fan of electronic suspension. Owned a 15 S1000RR that pogoed, rode the 14 Panigale R that was straight up numb. The V4S seems to be doing fine with the suspension so far. I have not played with the custom settings yet, but I would like to do that at the track. It's nice to have a bike that changes settings at the touch of a button, sometimes I would like to take a cruise to the beach or the city (starbucks lol) and R's track dialed suspension was a torture to my spine on the regular roads.
