Went to the V4 presentation today

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Phl

Phl

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And was offered to ride it tomorrow, but i'm busy, so it's gonna be next week.

So for now i can only judge looks, feels, sounds and smells.

Looks: good. It's sharp. BUT the small ugly things and the lack of evolvement...

Feels: seat and ergos appear to be good for me (5'10"), the tank is a tad wide for what i am used to but should be ok, switches and controls are spot on

Sounds: stock exhaust, surprisingly similar to the twin at idle and medium revs without load. Can't wait to hear full song

Smells: new :D


My buddy rode it today and said he was chuckling under his helmet. Warp acceleration. Tip-in is childs play, handles really easy.



I might get one in 1-2 years ;)
 
Yeah I saw it and the Speciale and I thought they looked great but the tank is still growing on me. Will probably have to test ride it for sure. But because of the price point I can see myself building a new RSV4 race bike next year instead of buying one of these as I can't justify the additional $$$.
 
I sat on it last nite (4S) and love the dash and the seat (soft compare to 1299S), but not too fond with over all body panels. will still keep my L twin for sure.
i was going to demo it and decide that i have more important thing to do so i cancelled it so someone else can have my spot
 
The 4S intro was cancelled here in the Mid Atlantic region due to the big storm. I saw it last week at the bike show and sat on it. Can feel the tank is wider for sure than my 17S. I got it (17S) in November for almost 4.5K off the MSRP price, so I'm still quite happy with it.
 
Had a spin on my dealer's demo S today. Feels very much a Panigale, albeit one a bit thicker through the middle. Not problematically so though, as Phil noted. Ergos seemed a bit more aggressive, but I haven't been on a stocker in a while and mine's been tweaked to suit me so maybe not the greatest comparison. You do notice the pegs are higher.

Didn't really get a chance to get much feel for the handling, as the twisty bits I got on had too much car traffic, so I just focused on the motor and fooling with the modes.

That motor is a Peach. Very twinny down low, though a bit smoother, and it has this neat change of character as the revs climb. It smooths out and starts feeling downright zingy; like it'd be happy to rev right to the moon. Cool combination of characteristics. Didn't run it really hard, (brand new, demo, not mine, etc.) but gave it a bit of stick and it's obviously super-fast, but a lot more linear in the way the power builds than the twins. Should be way easier to ride, with a much more useable spread of power.

We like... :cool:
 
Steve B said:
Had a spin on my dealer's demo S today. Feels very much a Panigale, albeit one a bit thicker through the middle. Not problematically so though, as Phil noted. Ergos seemed a bit more aggressive, but I haven't been on a stocker in a while and mine's been tweaked to suit me so maybe not the greatest comparison. You do notice the pegs are higher.

Didn't really get a chance to get much feel for the handling, as the twisty bits I got on had too much car traffic, so I just focused on the motor and fooling with the modes.

That motor is a Peach. Very twinny down low, though a bit smoother, and it has this neat change of character as the revs climb. It smooths out and starts feeling downright zingy; like it'd be happy to rev right to the moon. Cool combination of characteristics. Didn't run it really hard, (brand new, demo, not mine, etc.) but gave it a bit of stick and it's obviously super-fast, but a lot more linear in the way the power builds than the twins. Should be way easier to ride, with a much more useable spread of power.

We like... :cool:
Click to expand...


Smooth and easy to ride....Just what we didn't want in the twin!!
Takes away some of the fun and enjoyment!!
 
Rest assured, it's most definitely not like some silky I-4. Lower in the revs you could be fooled into thinking it's a twin, just maybe one with some balancing gizmos inside. Love twins myself; the last three bikes I've bought (and all the ones I own now) are twins. This motor has a lot of the same characteristics, it just smoothes out and happily spins a few thousand revs higher. By easy to ride I meant the spread of power is broader and more linear; shouldn't have to shift near as much.

Very neat motor.
 
I went to see the Panigale presentation today too. They weren't doing test rides because of the bombogenesis that came through the Northeast Thursday afternoon into Friday night. They have one base and one sold S model. I sat on the base and it is wider and feels eerily similar to my RC51 which is good for me. I then sat on the 1299 and immediately noticed the lack of the tank touching my thighs. I prefer the V4's wider tank. The lights are very cool with your choice of a fainter led daytime running light option; a much brighter led drl option or simultaneous led drl with headlights option. The dash is awesome! All necessary information looked to be available at a glance.

Of course, looks are subjective but it sure looked good to me. It pays homage to the original Panigale and the 1299 but with an updated and angrier front fascia and short yet edgy tail. I plan on taking it out for a longer test ride with my salesperson when the weather warms up a bit. I shall report back about the power, torque and ergos at a later date.
 

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