THE ULTIMATE MIDDLEWEIGHT?

Here at Fast Bikes magazine, we absolutely love a middleweight. And in reality, the baby Panigale has always been the ‘middleweight’ puppy in the Ducati sports bike family; a bit softer, a bit easier, and nowhere near as savage in terms of power, price and general riding experience compared to the brutality of riding any of their full-blooded litre weapons anyways. Yet even so, the outgoing 959 was a little lethargic, and not the most exciting tool in the shed, nor was it entirely comfy and completely user-friendly. Mercifully, Ducati have been back to the drawing board. Against tradition, they’ve dropped the numbers from the name, so following on from the 749, 848, 899 and 959, comes the V2. Oh and thankfully, it’s not just the name that’s been given some consideration.

Let’s forget the stunningly gorgeous overhaul on its appearance for a mo (including the glorious single-sided swinger’ and stubby pipe) and check out what Ducati have been up to below the fairings. On paper, the juiciest bit of news is that even though the new V2 is Euro5 compliant, the power and torque figures have both been hiked up slightly without adding any extra weight: five horsepower and