Heavy rider - V4 or V4S?

Hey all. I'm planning to purchase a Panigale V4 later in the year.

I'm a bigger guy at 130kg/285lbs or so, and I'm not sure what would be better - a regular V4 (with uprated springs?) or a V4S with the adaptive Ohlins.
It seems the Ohlins offers great electric adjustment but less potential for mechanical changes?
Appreciate any advice. Hopefully it's more than "eat salad you fatty!"

I regularly ride a Ninja 1000 SX and have had a couple of test rides on the Pani - no issues with the ergonomics etc. It's more a case of wanting the bike to operate correctly. If it's all optimised for an 80kg rider than it might not work right.
I'm an enthusiastic road rider. No track use to date, but I might have a casual lap or two on the new machine in the future.

Thanks!

Adaptive ohlins vs base suspension should have little to no bearing to which bike to buy. Either bike will require you to swap the springs as soon as you buy the bike. The S damping electronics won’t do .... to help that the springs are for 165lb person, electronic and adaptation won’t help.

since you didn’t leave better options in the poll I’m going with eat salad

I'm 250 LBS, and I went with V4S and upgraded the Spring Rates to Front 1.10 KG and 1.00KG for the Rear.


It works fantastic for me now.

I’ll also add that if you don’t swap the springs out you can guarantee fork bottom out if you ever emergency brake and will inevitably lose control of the bike.

Choose your bike, order springs for it, and have them installed before you take delivery of the bike.

I agree; the Springs Rates are key. The only other thing that you need to consider if you go with bigger Springs is that you might need revalve rebound damping. I needed to do this on my TTX shocks for both my R1 and Gixxer 1000r once I upgraded to 110 rear shock spring.

brad8266 said:

Adaptive ohlins vs base suspension should have little to no bearing to which bike to buy. Either bike will require you to swap the springs as soon as you buy the bike. The S damping electronics won’t do .... to help that the springs are for 165lb person, electronic and adaptation won’t help.

since you didn’t leave better options in the poll I’m going with eat salad

Click to expand...

stan1 said:

I agree; the Springs Rates are key. The only other thing that you need to consider if you go with bigger Springs is that you might need revalve rebound damping. I needed to do this on my TTX shocks for both my R1 and Gixxer 1000r once I upgraded to 110 rear shock spring.

Click to expand...

That is correct, get the revalve done while you’re in there to slow down the damping some. The S ohlins don’t have enough damping even for me and I’m 180lbs. Revalve + 10.5 springs transformed my S.

Good advice, thanks all. Sounds like a combination of salad munchment and spring replacement is the go!

There's been a bunch of discussion about the V4S or base V4 and the Öhlins - besides the springs.
I see the the choices have a great deal to do with where you ride, how much you like to wrench, if you're on the track more or streets, if you want to upgrade parts a lot and all that.
The S version is great for me because I live where an amazing twisty road turns into a goat trail and back again every other 10k. The semi-dynamic suspension has been really great for that as it adjusts for wild shifts in road surface and you can set different setting for different days out. Hit button, go.
At the track the argument is, it's the same 3.5 miles all day. So set up your suspension, & leave it. That's better. If you're all about shaving 10th of seconds off your lap times, you want to dial in yourself and not have a calculator do it 22 times a second.
The base model is great for people who want to upgrade a lot specific to their thing or don't need those performance aspects.
Whatever you do, ya, dial in the suspension to you - it'll change your life. Get someone really pro at it. Dave Moss is one - works over video chat too.