Differences between 1299 and 1299S

Chaotic said:

Nope, I seriously doubt it...unless there magically becomes a huge influx of money into the sport and motorcycles in general.

The trend over the past 5 years or so is to reduce costs. That is the reason for all of the restrictions. Even in Superbike and in some cases MotoGP, they have incorporated things like spec ECU's, engine mod limitations, caps on suspension costs, etc. They have eliminated GPS based traction control and things of that nature.

If EC Suspension had been this advanced 15 years ago, then it might have made its way into racing. But with the way things are now, I doubt we will ever see it. They are trying to make things cheaper and less complicated.

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Every bike in MotoGP costs what, $2M? In that light, electronic suspension is chump change

I think the more important issues are 1) reliability - electronic suspension is something else that could fail during the rigors of racing, 2) predictability - those guys require absolute predictability and consistency - I don't think it's at the level of traction control for example

ultra300x said:

Every bike in MotoGP costs what, $2M? In that light, electronic suspension is chump change

I think the more important issues are 1) reliability - electronic suspension is something else that could fail during the rigors of racing, 2) predictability - those guys require absolute predictability and consistency - I don't think it's at the level of traction control for example

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If you look at the total cost to build/develop a MotoGP bike, it is way more than that. IIRC, teams wanted something like $2 million just to lease a bike to the satellite team, and that didn't include motor rebuilds, data analysis, crash repairs, etc. And that was just to lease, they had to return the bike at the end of the season.

When it comes to anything electronic (TC, engine mapping, telemetry, etc), the actual components are the least of the costs/concerns. The big money comes in development, software, data analysis, engineers, etc.

The actual MotoGP level forks with EC capabilities would probably run somewhere around $80-$100k. However, we also have to consider incorporating the Dynamic ability into the Motec/Magnetti ECU, developing the software, hiring more engineers, the track/test time to develop them, so on and so forth. At the end of the day, it could very easily add millions to the overall cost.

When I was shopping for my panigale I looked into the panigale R, base, S. I was looking into some other makes such as BMW, and Aprilia, but determined the panigale was what I really wanted.

The base 1299 is good, but it's kind of basic no real excitement in term of oohs and aahs in terms of equipment. It's a beast of a motor with basic suspension and I felt it was just a regular run of the mill superbike.

I wanted a bike that will get my blood pumping with excitement every time I jumped on so I passed on the base and looked into the S and the R.

The R is something to behold standing in front of it. The exposed brushed aluminum on the tank, the historic charm of the white and red paint scheme, Ohlins front and rear suspension and adjustable steering damper. It's got the carbon bits for the f&r fenders and others and the lighter internals in the engine would make it rev quicker.

It's just too race oriented and the oil consumption due to the one less piston ring for less friction and the lack of LED headlights kind of turned me off.

The 1299 S, it hit all the hot buttons. Ohlins suspension with electronically adjusted semi-automatic damper and f&r. Forged wheels, LED headlights and the exciting feeling of hopping onto something special everytime I gear up and start her up to head to the twisties.

Do I need all the fancy bits like the carbon front fenders and EC Ohlins? Do I need the 205hp to ride on the road? I don't need anything of a $25k superbike capable of knocking me off the saddle if I twist the throttle in a careless manner.

It's a fancy toy which I work hard to have such a toy to play with on my time off. It's my stress reliever and I enjoy the sport. Get what you want. It's your hard earned money. It might be more to go for the S or the R, but if you don't get what you want and compromise on something less you'll just have buyers remorse and won't have the love for it the way you would have if you had gotten the one you really wanted.

You can always go the n+1 route.

ilmostro said:

I wanted a bike that will get my blood pumping with excitement every time I jumped on...

Do I need all the fancy bits like the carbon front fenders and EC Ohlins? Do I need the 205hp to ride on the road? I don't need anything of a $25k superbike capable of knocking me off the saddle if I twist the throttle in a careless manner.



It's a fancy toy which I work hard to have such a toy to play with on my time off. It's my stress reliever and I enjoy the sport. Get what you want. It's your hard earned money.

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^^^This!


Getting at it from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Chaotic said:

Street bike = base
Race bike = S
Track bike = base

The lighter wheels and Ohlins stuff is unnecessary on the street. Track days aren't competitions so it doesn't matter then either.

.02

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This is why we chose the base for our 2nd 1299 ... the first one was just a dream buy but in reality after owning one we went with the base model for my wife's bike.

We both don't deserve to ride these bikes as our ability is no where near deserving aside from saving $9000 in price difference.

Base = dealer display/demo
S = Street
R = Racetrack

Did I get that right?

ilmostro said:

The base 1299 is good, but it's kind of basic no real excitement in term of oohs and aahs in terms of equipment. It's a beast of a motor with basic suspension and I felt it was just a regular run of the mill superbike.

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"run of the mill" or not, twist that throttle to the stop and you're gonna get the same class leading acceleration (and braking)

If you could afford the S go for it - it has very stunning sexual appeal especially the LED head lights they attract a lot of lookers.

If you dont do tracks and you still want the S then get it for bragging rights my wife's base 1299 is so much better to ride on the streets.

The S is the Supermodel sexy girl friend that comes with the blings - the base is the sexy girlfriend that is sexier than all the other women

You can't go wrong either one is the best girl to take home

Alpha Male said:

If you dont do tracks and you still want the S then get it for bragging rights my wife's base 1299 is so much better to ride on the streets.

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If her base feels better on the streets, then check the setup (preload, compression, rebound) of your S.

I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure both bikes come with the same spring rates. Your S might have a stiffer/more aggressive setup from the factory, but you should be able to achieve the same feeling as her base by playing with the settings (keep in mind you can't adjust preload on the dash, it has to be done mechanically).

Chaotic said:

If her base feels better on the streets, then check the setup (preload, compression, rebound) of your S.

I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure both bikes come with the same spring rates. Your S might have a stiffer/more aggressive setup from the factory, but you should be able to achieve the same feeling as her base by playing with the settings (keep in mind you can't adjust preload on the dash, it has to be done mechanically).

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My S is really stiff when ever there is a strong wind i would bounce across the bumpy highway roads ;( they wont setup my suspension for me because i had my bike more than 6 months unless of course i am willing to pay for it but i'm not... they didn't even want to change her flat settings to progressive because we went back the 2nd time to get it redone and they were demanding money.