I hired one at the Ducati trackday for the afternoon in May, completely agree with the above comments, I thought I'd be riding it like an old woman as it wasn't my bike, but within a few corners I felt so at home on it, so much easier than my old 1299, I had a ZX10 track bike last year, the 25 Panigale is so much better on every level IMO, apart from price!
I am thinking of hiring one for the September event...if they still offer the bikes to hire. What year was your ZX10R? Yeah price is a not tempting that is for sure. I also don't get the massive difference between the V4 and V4S Panigale. Compared to the Streetfighter V4/S. The Streetfighter V4 and V4S models have about a 2k difference while the Panigale V4/S have a 5.5k difference between the V4 and V4S.
It cost £200 for a half day, so 3 sessions, they fuel it, I thought it was great value to ride something so good on track. One slight word of warning, if you bin it, you pay for the repair, just don't crash! ZX was a gen4 2015.
That is actually pretty good value! Hmm if you bin it can you buy it off them at a reduced rate? haha. Mine is a Gen 6, way too many nanny aids in the braking department.
If I can share some words of wisdom that I have learned over the years, you should always give in to temptation
May need to have a proper look then but sure there are things the Panigale gets that the SF doesn’t which adds to the price difference ( justified or not……)
@DRR117 will laugh at me for this, however by way of indicating how great a bike the 2025 is, at Brno on Wednesday on a 2min lap I was only 2.5secs off his laptime (usually around 5-7secs off him) and I got my first ever elbow down (twice, on the last 2 laps I did). The brakes are a level above the previous generations, and considering I am running standard rearsets the lean angle you can get is unbelievable (I think they have narrowed them by 5mm?). The thing is just a weapon.
Last year I had the previous (2022) V4S, for 4 years before that a gen4/k67 BMW S1000RR fully track prepared with KTech suspension etc, then before that was a chain of 959’s, 1299, and an 848.
I was at Ducati Cambridge yesterday and saw this bike for the firs time, in fact they had 2 shiny new Pani V4S lined up side by side. Looked like one was a base model, the other was spec'd with every bit of carbon possible and the underseat exhaust option. Have to say, its better looking in person than expected from a side profile and good to see where 10k+ of options can be spent! They also had not 1, but 2 tricolore's in stock, suggesting that special model didnt sell out like the previous ones
Absolutely with you on it looking better in person. The odd thing about the Tricolore not selling out is it is probably one of the better special editions they have done. For a start I think it is the best paint job , although I accept that is subjective. However the Tricolore is cheaper (I think) than the race reps that did sell out, and it has some nice little touches they didn't have such as the £4,000 larger/finned/t-drive front brake discs. Of all the special editions it is the one I would love to own the most. The one at Ducati Aylesbury was only in a week before they sold it.
