- Joined
- Jun 7, 2021
- Messages
- 154
- Location
- FL
So, I found the perfect bike... A little backstory, but I come from a mixed motorcycling background ranging from a Busa as a young adult (ealry 2000's), touring on R and K bikes, tracking superbikes and supersports, and enjoying a morning run up a mountainside on a hyper-naked. The truth is, they have all been great bikes, not a single regret over the years. Some were more relevant to a point in time in my life than others, but they were all great bikes. I just don't think you can get a bad flagship bike from an OEM these days.
In 2021 I had neck surgery due to degeneration and the surgeon buttoned me up like Peyton Manning with no restrictions on impact sports, in my case, track days (never crashed after that surgery). I was more than elated to be back on a bike (a RR-R SP and a full race R6) and living out of a 5th wheel most of 2023 and 2024. Time marched along, I got older, neck pain returned, and a recent MRI highlighted that this time the retirement from impact sports is real. As a pilot, the risks are too high without mentioning having to pass a medical review every six months. The chapter is closed and this time I can accept that.
I recently took one of my all-time favorite bikes, the Streetfighter V4S, out for a back country trip; the configuration and lack of wind protection was immediately evident, my neck wasn't happy for days. When you look at it statistically, the bike was getting used a lot less. The bike was absorbing half of the miles of the previous year, every year, since 2022, and that was the reality. It was time to make some changes. Sold the RR-R SP to some 25-year-old kid that was coming off a 600 and he was ecstatic about having his dream bike. I am sure that bike is out there, living a second life with a loving owner, destroying S100RRs roll race after roll race. Come on, like you didn't do that at 25? No, you didn't have access to a 214-mph cruise missile back then because they didn't exist, but you would have. A hurricane ate my K1600GT (S1000RR colored version and a youthful connection to my Busa 20 years ago) and I was down to a Road Glide, RSV4, SF4V and a track bike. The RG is getting 5000 miles a year to the SFV4's 200 since 2025 started.
I have a good relationship with the dealer at Ducati Tampa Bay and they had a Panigale V4S on demo with the full GP style Akra. I had no interest in riding this bike, but a friend and sales associate said I cannot pass up an e-ticket ride on this Italian stallion, the price was right too. Free 93 pump, a Ducati Performance Tune and I was off! Holy crap, the bike is epic. Imagine RSV4 punch, typical Ducati aggression to rev cutoff, the smoothness of a RR-R and better comfort than the S1000RR. Ducati has done to the Panigale what Porsche finally did to the GT4, they cut their roots and allowed it to be the best. It really is. I put a deposit on the demo and walked away. Yes, I know.
That night I went out with the boys for the usual and the RSV4 did not disappoint. In fact, my 23 Factory is too close to being as good as the 2025 Panigale to justify having two bikes that close, especially when considering the price. There is a slight nod to the Panigale, which absent owning an RSV4, it would likely be sitting in my garage. Ducati has clearly invested real R&D into the 2025 whereas other than some comfort changes to the Aprilia in 2021, the RSV4 is mostly unchanged since 2019. But that Aprilia V4 sound! For the next week my neck was bad, really bad. It took two DPT's cracking, twisting and flossing nerves to get me back on the road to normal. After that week I started to really think about a Panigale and the point in space and time it would be entering my life. It wasn't a good fit. Maybe those days are over too?
The next week I went to the dealer to test ride a used Pikes Peak and they had just uncrated an RS, their second one of the year. The owner was there and said I was welcome to test ride his and after some discussion with a fellow rider, we agreed the RS was worth the test ride over a Pikes Peak. Now my best friend had a Pikes Peak in 2023 and I rode that quite a few times, in fact he kept it in my garage with the FOB! They are great bikes, but the touring version of the V4 sort of missed the mark for this adrenaline junkie. It was the MT10 of a naked bike, the R1250 of a touring machine and in a way completely disconnected from why someone would buy a Ducati in the first place. It needed to be the Raptor R of a Shelby GT500. It needed to be the M1000XR without being the usual sterile nature of any BMW larger than an M2CS. It needed to be an RS.
Seven paragraphs in and here are my thoughts. The RS is everything an almost 50-year-old, former expert track day rider, former expert Miata Cup car track day coach and former UH60 pilot in Iraq could ask for. For starters, my inseam is 32 inches on a good day, I have to stop at a light like I am setting up for a corner on the track, but I love it. It is tall, but the view and advantages that offers in the most densely populated areas of the country are worth it. It is far removed from the squatted, duck walking position of my Road Glide which means this bike will get the road time it deserves. The engine, holy smokes the engine. We have all ridden the Ducati V4 desmos and this one is no different. To 130 mph, this bike is to the Panigale what the Raptor R is to a GT500. They made an adventure style bike without killing it's roots to a racing pedigree. They increased the gear ratio and matched an engine that revs out like a desmo should. Their choice of cams means the engine isn't struggling with the extra weight; over 5k it handles the weight like a boxer. Get it over 9k and it is the usual Ducati shenanigans to the cutout, limited by wheelie control until 4th gear. The stock exhaust and EPA mandated noise regulations do the bike no favors, it sounds like any other 4 cylinder with a giant catalyst and resonator box. However, I, the owner had a full system on his RS and it sounded like any other V4 desmo. As of writing this, I have been told the full exhaust and tune are in. There is a slight chatter to the dry clutch, but an open cover is on order for that as well. Nothing like having a Harley guy look over at you and ask what that noise is before you bend his mind to the next stop light.
The bike is stable at speed to include dirty air and crosswinds. There is no sashaying down the road like the K bikes, think Road Glide stable. Response to bar inputs is incredible with light pressure at any speed but without a sacrifice to stability. The dash is bigger and simplified, it's ease of use is the Apple of motorcycling. As I mounted up to leave the dealer, my friend just told me which button to gets me into the menus and from there it took a minute to figure out how to setup a soft suspension and have an uncorked engine on tap for urban work. On the softest settings, it is quite a bit plusher compared to the Streetfighter, but all the same usable street power is on tap.
In closing, if you love sport bikes, especially V4 desmos, and find yourself still doing sport bike type riding, and you are seeking a bike that will obliterate a Gixxer 750 all the way through, enjoy the thought of having paniers to hold water bottles, tire patch kits, compressors, air bag vests, the gal's purse, is two-up capable, a touring machine, has blind spot monitoring, blip of the throttle wheelies, a potent track or canyon weapon, softer on the neck, still keeps up with the group, makes other groups feel boring, and something that stands out in flat Ducati colors, the RS will not disappoint! I love my RSV4 (the sound) and the Road Glide is the ultimate beach town and open road touring machine, but this bike could replace them all. Would I miss them? Hell yes.
In 2021 I had neck surgery due to degeneration and the surgeon buttoned me up like Peyton Manning with no restrictions on impact sports, in my case, track days (never crashed after that surgery). I was more than elated to be back on a bike (a RR-R SP and a full race R6) and living out of a 5th wheel most of 2023 and 2024. Time marched along, I got older, neck pain returned, and a recent MRI highlighted that this time the retirement from impact sports is real. As a pilot, the risks are too high without mentioning having to pass a medical review every six months. The chapter is closed and this time I can accept that.
I recently took one of my all-time favorite bikes, the Streetfighter V4S, out for a back country trip; the configuration and lack of wind protection was immediately evident, my neck wasn't happy for days. When you look at it statistically, the bike was getting used a lot less. The bike was absorbing half of the miles of the previous year, every year, since 2022, and that was the reality. It was time to make some changes. Sold the RR-R SP to some 25-year-old kid that was coming off a 600 and he was ecstatic about having his dream bike. I am sure that bike is out there, living a second life with a loving owner, destroying S100RRs roll race after roll race. Come on, like you didn't do that at 25? No, you didn't have access to a 214-mph cruise missile back then because they didn't exist, but you would have. A hurricane ate my K1600GT (S1000RR colored version and a youthful connection to my Busa 20 years ago) and I was down to a Road Glide, RSV4, SF4V and a track bike. The RG is getting 5000 miles a year to the SFV4's 200 since 2025 started.
I have a good relationship with the dealer at Ducati Tampa Bay and they had a Panigale V4S on demo with the full GP style Akra. I had no interest in riding this bike, but a friend and sales associate said I cannot pass up an e-ticket ride on this Italian stallion, the price was right too. Free 93 pump, a Ducati Performance Tune and I was off! Holy crap, the bike is epic. Imagine RSV4 punch, typical Ducati aggression to rev cutoff, the smoothness of a RR-R and better comfort than the S1000RR. Ducati has done to the Panigale what Porsche finally did to the GT4, they cut their roots and allowed it to be the best. It really is. I put a deposit on the demo and walked away. Yes, I know.
That night I went out with the boys for the usual and the RSV4 did not disappoint. In fact, my 23 Factory is too close to being as good as the 2025 Panigale to justify having two bikes that close, especially when considering the price. There is a slight nod to the Panigale, which absent owning an RSV4, it would likely be sitting in my garage. Ducati has clearly invested real R&D into the 2025 whereas other than some comfort changes to the Aprilia in 2021, the RSV4 is mostly unchanged since 2019. But that Aprilia V4 sound! For the next week my neck was bad, really bad. It took two DPT's cracking, twisting and flossing nerves to get me back on the road to normal. After that week I started to really think about a Panigale and the point in space and time it would be entering my life. It wasn't a good fit. Maybe those days are over too?
The next week I went to the dealer to test ride a used Pikes Peak and they had just uncrated an RS, their second one of the year. The owner was there and said I was welcome to test ride his and after some discussion with a fellow rider, we agreed the RS was worth the test ride over a Pikes Peak. Now my best friend had a Pikes Peak in 2023 and I rode that quite a few times, in fact he kept it in my garage with the FOB! They are great bikes, but the touring version of the V4 sort of missed the mark for this adrenaline junkie. It was the MT10 of a naked bike, the R1250 of a touring machine and in a way completely disconnected from why someone would buy a Ducati in the first place. It needed to be the Raptor R of a Shelby GT500. It needed to be the M1000XR without being the usual sterile nature of any BMW larger than an M2CS. It needed to be an RS.
Seven paragraphs in and here are my thoughts. The RS is everything an almost 50-year-old, former expert track day rider, former expert Miata Cup car track day coach and former UH60 pilot in Iraq could ask for. For starters, my inseam is 32 inches on a good day, I have to stop at a light like I am setting up for a corner on the track, but I love it. It is tall, but the view and advantages that offers in the most densely populated areas of the country are worth it. It is far removed from the squatted, duck walking position of my Road Glide which means this bike will get the road time it deserves. The engine, holy smokes the engine. We have all ridden the Ducati V4 desmos and this one is no different. To 130 mph, this bike is to the Panigale what the Raptor R is to a GT500. They made an adventure style bike without killing it's roots to a racing pedigree. They increased the gear ratio and matched an engine that revs out like a desmo should. Their choice of cams means the engine isn't struggling with the extra weight; over 5k it handles the weight like a boxer. Get it over 9k and it is the usual Ducati shenanigans to the cutout, limited by wheelie control until 4th gear. The stock exhaust and EPA mandated noise regulations do the bike no favors, it sounds like any other 4 cylinder with a giant catalyst and resonator box. However, I, the owner had a full system on his RS and it sounded like any other V4 desmo. As of writing this, I have been told the full exhaust and tune are in. There is a slight chatter to the dry clutch, but an open cover is on order for that as well. Nothing like having a Harley guy look over at you and ask what that noise is before you bend his mind to the next stop light.
The bike is stable at speed to include dirty air and crosswinds. There is no sashaying down the road like the K bikes, think Road Glide stable. Response to bar inputs is incredible with light pressure at any speed but without a sacrifice to stability. The dash is bigger and simplified, it's ease of use is the Apple of motorcycling. As I mounted up to leave the dealer, my friend just told me which button to gets me into the menus and from there it took a minute to figure out how to setup a soft suspension and have an uncorked engine on tap for urban work. On the softest settings, it is quite a bit plusher compared to the Streetfighter, but all the same usable street power is on tap.
In closing, if you love sport bikes, especially V4 desmos, and find yourself still doing sport bike type riding, and you are seeking a bike that will obliterate a Gixxer 750 all the way through, enjoy the thought of having paniers to hold water bottles, tire patch kits, compressors, air bag vests, the gal's purse, is two-up capable, a touring machine, has blind spot monitoring, blip of the throttle wheelies, a potent track or canyon weapon, softer on the neck, still keeps up with the group, makes other groups feel boring, and something that stands out in flat Ducati colors, the RS will not disappoint! I love my RSV4 (the sound) and the Road Glide is the ultimate beach town and open road touring machine, but this bike could replace them all. Would I miss them? Hell yes.
