It’s gorgeous. It’s vivacious. It’s unassuming and I am amused by the Ducati Panigale V2.❤️
The 2022 Ducati Panigale V2 Bayliss Edition is an elegant, compact motorcycle that is so easy to ride on the street than the older smaller Panigales and its always-angry elder sibling, the Panigale V4.
The current gen Panigale V2 has come a long-way in terms of ride-ability, handling, smoothness and reliability (hopefully 🤞🏻😬) than its 1st version in 2013.
Why Ducati built a Troy Bayliss Livery ?
In 2001, Australian WSBK racer Troy Bayliss rode his factory Ducati 996 R to his first of three World Superbike titles, all with Ducati. To commemorate the anniversary of that accomplishment, Ducati built the Panigale V2 Bayliss 1st Championship 20th Anniversary Edition.
Standard Panigale V2 vs the Bayliss Editon:
Other than paint and graphics, what really separates the Bayliss edition from the standard V2 is the suspension:
- Fully adjustable Öhlins NIX 30 inverted front fork with 4.7 inches of travel.
- Offset-mounted, fully adjustable Öhlins TTX 36 rear shock with 5.1 inches of rear-wheel travel.
- An Öhlins steering damper
- Other Trinklets include: lithium-ion battery, a signed fuel tank, and a numbered, billet aluminium triple-clamp.
Looks:
Inheriting the looks from the V4, to my eyes, the V2 is the most beautiful-looking sport bike on the planet. 🔥❤️
Those headlamps recessed within dual air-intakes, the mean LED-running lamps, the svelte bodywork along the side and that delicious tail section – it’ll make you stop and stare for ages.
All this gorgeousness is complimented with great handling.
Handling:
Counter to the perception of Ducati’s that need to be wrestled around corners – the Panigale V2 is a surprisingly easy motorcycle to hunt-down the corners. The monocoque chassis with the engine as the ‘stressed-member’, top-notch Ohlins suspension and the aluminium swing-arm deliver an agile, fun handling motorcycle.
Engine:
The 155bhp superquadro, L-twin cylinder engine oozes torque across the rev-range delivering a smooth, creamy low-mid range and a knock-out punch beyond 9000 rpm.
Longer Desmo Service Interval: Compared to the older Panigales, the Panigale V2 has a 24,000 kms Desmo service interval.
Suspension:
Being a rider-only motorcycle, The fully adjustable Ohlins front and rear kit along with the Ohlins steering damper do a fantastic job of keeping the motorcycle planted around the corners, but slightly stiff on our great pothole laden roads.
Nevertheless, the option to fully-adjust is a fair promise to take-on different terrains.
Brakes:
Equipped with twin Brembo M4 320mm dics at the front and a single Brembo 245mm at the rear – the braking is precise and progressive.
Electronics and Technology:
The Panigale V2 is shod with first-class suite of sophisticated electronics and tech which helps us mere mortals to enjoy this beautiful beast.
- 6-axis IMU
- ABS Bosch Cornering EVO: 3 levels of cornering ABS to aid the rider in poor grip conditions [Level 3 is the highest intervention all the way to Level 1 for least intervention]
- Ducati Traction Control EVO 2: 8 levels of Traction Control [Level 8 is the highest intervention all the way to Level 1 for least intervention]
- Ducati Wheelie Control EVO: 4 levels of wheelie control [Level 4 is the highest intervention all the way to Level 1 for least intervention]
- Ducati Quick Shift-up/down EVO 2
- Engine Braking Control EVO: 3 levels of engine braking [Level 3 is the highest intervention all the way to Level 1 for least intervention]
- Ducati Data Analyser+ with GPS module (DDA+)
Riding Modes:
The Panigale V2 has three riding modes – Street, Sport, and Race.
Each mode includes presets for the engine’s power output, eight levels of DTC EVO 2 (Ducati Traction Control), four levels of DWC (Ducati Wheelie Control), three levels of EBC EVO (Engine Braking Control), and three levels of ABS Bosch Cornering EVO.
All of these presets can also be overridden to fit rider preferences; it’s always possible to revert back to the defaults.
- Race Mode: Race riding mode gets full engine power with the most aggressive throttle response, and DTC, EBC, ABS, and DWC all set for minimal intervention.
- Sport Mode: Sport is the same in terms of engine power and delivery, but uses more conservative intervention settings.
- Street Mode: Street, naturally, has even more cautious settings; it still delivers full power, but with a more progressive throttle response
Pillion Comfort:
The Bayliss edition Panigale V2 comes with the beautiful Ducati racing livery rear cowl and the regular pillion seat – the rear pillion seat is small and not very comfortable to take a pillion.
City Commute:
Apart from insane heat, the combination of a light slipper hydraulic clutch, oodles of torque, wide clip-on and compact dimensions of the motorcycle make it a fun and easy motorcycle to weave in-and-out of traffic gaps.
The Panigale V2 thrives above 60kmph and with cool air flowing into the radiator. In the bumper-to-bumper traffic, the Panigale V2 sizzles up like crazy and radiates lot of heat to the inner thigh of the rider (from the cyclinder-head) and seat (by the exhaust pipe underneath).
Don’t get startled by the running of radiator fans even after switching off the main ignition.
Touring:
Quite surprisingly, the Panigale V2 is a comfortable motorcycle to tour (among the supersports).
Limited only by aggressive riding ergonomics and luggage mounting options – the combination of great suspension, wide handlebars, good wind protection, usuable mirrors, decent tank range makes the Panigale a reasonable motorcycle to tour.
Mileage and Full tank range:
The absence of a fuel-gauge means a constant game of fuel light paranoia.
- City Mileage: 13-15 kmpl
- Highway Mileage: 19-21 kmpl
- Full Tank capacity: 17 litres
- Real world full tank range: 225- 250 kms
What I love about the 2022 Ducati Panigale V2 Bayliss Edition
- Fit and Finish of the motorcycle: Seamless integration of panels, quality of the paint, feel of the switchgear, handlebar triple clamp, suede leather stitch on the riding seat, routing of the cables and heck even the smallest screw or rivet are a beauty to behold and so neatly put together – an absolute masterclass by the factory 🙌🏻
- Handling: This was an absolute revelation, contrary to the perception that Ducati’s are difficult motorcycles to corner – the Panigale V2 Bayliss Edition steers, corners and handles impeccably
- Suspension: The Ohlins wizardry kit elevates the riding experience of the Panigale V2 – love it
- Dashboard: clean, informative, easy to navigate and set the parameters
- Looks: Drop dead gorgeous looks, the Ducati Panigale V2 is a showstopper that melts hearts every time the covers are taken off 🥰
What I dislike:
- Engine-Sound: Every beautiful thing has a mole, the inherent sound of this L-Twin engine isn’t pleasant to the ears – sounds very crude and unfinished ☹️
- No Fuel Gauge: While the Instrument Cluster is top-notch, the lack of a fuel-gauge seems like an oversight which I cannot understand
- Snatchy throttle at low revs: The Panigale loves to revved freely, in our chock-a-block traffic and low revs (below 3000 rpm) the on-off throttle transitions are very snatchy, intermittent and not smooth (keep the revs above 4000 rpm and all this goes away)
- Side stand: Pulling out the side stand with a riding boot is tricky, there isn’t a notch/protrusion on the side stand to pull it down
- Access to Basic Maintenance: While the outer design of the body panels are simple and elegant – basic functionality to remove panels, accessing the battery, fuse-box etc are extremely complicated and laborious – making it a DIY rider’s nightmare. ☹️
- Limited space for tall riders: While trying to tuck in to go faster
Conclusion:
The Ducati Panigale was always a ‘ visual orgasm’, but perceived as a difficult motorcycle to ride, corner and live-with – after having spent time with the Panigale V2, there is a whole lot more than what meets the eye – it is super nimble to ride, corners like an ace, has a riot of torque across, brakes well, quality of components, switch-gear, panels are top-class 😍 – my only gripe, the rugged, unpolished sounding engine.
Special thanks to Anant for trusting me his beloved Ducati Panigale V2 Bayliss Edition 🤗
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