Joined Apr 2012
572 Posts | 554+
Irvine, CA
Hey guys, I'm not on here very often but I thought I would share my experience for those who are interested in knowing the differences between Ducati's latest superbike.
A little background on me to qualify my experience...I have been racing since 2001 with CCS, WERA and AFM in the unlimited, open, superstock and superbike classes. I have won several novice/amateur championships and one at the expert level and I have raced at tracks like Barber, VIR, Mid-Ohio, Chuckwalla, Sonoma, Laguna Seca, etc. I currently race a Kawasaki ZX-10RR as an expert in the Superstock, Superbike and Open classes against some of the best racers in the country here in California and I ride a lot of different bikes from motocross, supermoto, flat track, etc.
So I thought it would be useful for those interested to get a real understanding of the differences between V4R and my V4 in Santiago Canyon, here in SoCal...now on to the point of my post....the 40k question!
I currently own a 2018 base V4 which I purchased last year and built a custom Ohlins fork and shock for that bike. I installed a full Akrapovic, had the dealer install the correct mapping, Ducati's billet racing rearsets and I put a set of the wheels from the R that I had sitting around. I do a lot of setups for people so I thoroughly understand chassis geometry and I set this bike up for use in the canyons for 185 lbs rider.
I had a customer stop over for a setup of his new V4R which literally has all the same stuff (same rearsets and exhaust, etc). The compression side of the front fork, which is basically a FKR (pressurized) is different and a really nice touch from Ducati as that technology has excellent feel without blowing through the stroke (I have been using this on many of my race bikes for the past few years). The rebound side of the fork is the same and both bikes have a manually adjustable TTX with similar valving specs.
I set V4R up for the same weight and left the swingarm in the -4 position (as delivered). The rear shock has a 105 N/m spring versus the V4 having a 95 N/m (I believe this is due to the anti-sag properties the adjustable swingarm pivot offers on the V4R) because it really has less torques and about the same horsepower. The fork springs are the same on both bikes (10 N/m) BUT one typically runs .5 N/m lighter with pressurized forks so I believe Ducati is accounting for the down force generated by the wings, which can be as much as 66 lbs at 168 mph!
So what we have here is a real comparison of two bikes with the only differences being wings on the R, dry vs wet clutch, adjustable swingarm pivot set at -3 mm versus the non-adjustable position of the V4 at 0 mm (relative to the V4R) and the difference in displacement.
The first and most obvious change is the feel of the dry clutch. I raced a 1098 for years and it was a REAL pain in the ... to keep that clutch working optimally. Frequent replacement of the basket, plates and getting a decent start off the line took finesse. The clutch plates had to be removed after EVERY race to be checked and prepared for the next race - not really worth it and you can feel the "grabby" nature of the dry clutch on the V4R. That is not to say it doesn't work perfectly as a dry clutch but just that it cannot be slipped very much and has a on/off or wooden kinf of feel kinda like the stock brake pads on a R1 (if you know you know).
The second thing I noticed was the lack of low-end grunt. Leaving from a stop the V4R doesn't have the grunt off the line or the mid-range pull of the V4 and this is not really a surprise. What is a surprise is how long that motor continues to build power and the power is smooth and linear and I could see how a little less torque could benefit a rider at lean on track. It seems to rev forever and I am not sure how a motor this peaky can be enjoyed around town or in the canyons but it is a really cool experience when you get the rev up! By comparison I recently rode the new Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory and THAT bike has almost too much grunt off closed throttle in around town riding but the Aprilia RSV4 has always had the best throttle to rear tire connection in the business and both the V4 and V4R are much better than the last generation but still not as good as the Aprilia.
I thought to myself after riding each bike 2 times back to back on the same canyon roads, that the V4R is no better than the V4 and in fact I liked the torque of my V4 better but the V4R DID handle better! It was a small difference but for me that difference is significant!
The V4R has better front end support under braking into a corner and once leaned over going towards the apex the bike had a more confidence-inspiring chassis. I could feel the flex of the newer frame on the V4R communicate to me in a way that surprised me. It turned VERY well.
I did the setup on BOTH bikes and I rode both of them back-to-back and I am now considering buying a V4R. The only other bike I have ridden that turned this well is the 2016 Aprilia RSV4 RF. Ducati provides some guiidance on setup and some changes in shock length IF the full Akrapovic is installed. I followed this guidance and chassis stability was excellent, turn in was awesome and Ducati has really knocked it out of the park with this bike!
A little background on me to qualify my experience...I have been racing since 2001 with CCS, WERA and AFM in the unlimited, open, superstock and superbike classes. I have won several novice/amateur championships and one at the expert level and I have raced at tracks like Barber, VIR, Mid-Ohio, Chuckwalla, Sonoma, Laguna Seca, etc. I currently race a Kawasaki ZX-10RR as an expert in the Superstock, Superbike and Open classes against some of the best racers in the country here in California and I ride a lot of different bikes from motocross, supermoto, flat track, etc.
So I thought it would be useful for those interested to get a real understanding of the differences between V4R and my V4 in Santiago Canyon, here in SoCal...now on to the point of my post....the 40k question!
I currently own a 2018 base V4 which I purchased last year and built a custom Ohlins fork and shock for that bike. I installed a full Akrapovic, had the dealer install the correct mapping, Ducati's billet racing rearsets and I put a set of the wheels from the R that I had sitting around. I do a lot of setups for people so I thoroughly understand chassis geometry and I set this bike up for use in the canyons for 185 lbs rider.
I had a customer stop over for a setup of his new V4R which literally has all the same stuff (same rearsets and exhaust, etc). The compression side of the front fork, which is basically a FKR (pressurized) is different and a really nice touch from Ducati as that technology has excellent feel without blowing through the stroke (I have been using this on many of my race bikes for the past few years). The rebound side of the fork is the same and both bikes have a manually adjustable TTX with similar valving specs.
I set V4R up for the same weight and left the swingarm in the -4 position (as delivered). The rear shock has a 105 N/m spring versus the V4 having a 95 N/m (I believe this is due to the anti-sag properties the adjustable swingarm pivot offers on the V4R) because it really has less torques and about the same horsepower. The fork springs are the same on both bikes (10 N/m) BUT one typically runs .5 N/m lighter with pressurized forks so I believe Ducati is accounting for the down force generated by the wings, which can be as much as 66 lbs at 168 mph!
So what we have here is a real comparison of two bikes with the only differences being wings on the R, dry vs wet clutch, adjustable swingarm pivot set at -3 mm versus the non-adjustable position of the V4 at 0 mm (relative to the V4R) and the difference in displacement.
The first and most obvious change is the feel of the dry clutch. I raced a 1098 for years and it was a REAL pain in the ... to keep that clutch working optimally. Frequent replacement of the basket, plates and getting a decent start off the line took finesse. The clutch plates had to be removed after EVERY race to be checked and prepared for the next race - not really worth it and you can feel the "grabby" nature of the dry clutch on the V4R. That is not to say it doesn't work perfectly as a dry clutch but just that it cannot be slipped very much and has a on/off or wooden kinf of feel kinda like the stock brake pads on a R1 (if you know you know).
The second thing I noticed was the lack of low-end grunt. Leaving from a stop the V4R doesn't have the grunt off the line or the mid-range pull of the V4 and this is not really a surprise. What is a surprise is how long that motor continues to build power and the power is smooth and linear and I could see how a little less torque could benefit a rider at lean on track. It seems to rev forever and I am not sure how a motor this peaky can be enjoyed around town or in the canyons but it is a really cool experience when you get the rev up! By comparison I recently rode the new Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory and THAT bike has almost too much grunt off closed throttle in around town riding but the Aprilia RSV4 has always had the best throttle to rear tire connection in the business and both the V4 and V4R are much better than the last generation but still not as good as the Aprilia.
I thought to myself after riding each bike 2 times back to back on the same canyon roads, that the V4R is no better than the V4 and in fact I liked the torque of my V4 better but the V4R DID handle better! It was a small difference but for me that difference is significant!
The V4R has better front end support under braking into a corner and once leaned over going towards the apex the bike had a more confidence-inspiring chassis. I could feel the flex of the newer frame on the V4R communicate to me in a way that surprised me. It turned VERY well.
I did the setup on BOTH bikes and I rode both of them back-to-back and I am now considering buying a V4R. The only other bike I have ridden that turned this well is the 2016 Aprilia RSV4 RF. Ducati provides some guiidance on setup and some changes in shock length IF the full Akrapovic is installed. I followed this guidance and chassis stability was excellent, turn in was awesome and Ducati has really knocked it out of the park with this bike!
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