That Ducati would make a “Superleggera” version of its popular Panigale V4 superbike is a clear given, as the Italian brand has made a run of these “super light” machines for each of its previous two superbikes.
While there was chatter that we would see the Ducati Superleggera V4 at EICMA this year, that rumor was clearly misguided, as the folks at Borgo Panigale prefer to use its Superleggera models as a sort of farewell, before its makes a model update.
This leaves next year though as a likely candidate as to when we will see the Ducati Superleggera V4, and documents found in the United Kingdom by the esteemed BikeSocial are giving us our first glimpse into what we can expect.
First up, its is reported that the new Ducati Superleggera V4 will be based around the 998cc V4 engine found in the Ducati Panigale V4 R, which makes 217hp (162 kWh) in its stock form.
Information out of England though says that the Ducati Superleggera V4 will make a cool 221hp (165 kW), thanks perhaps to the titanium exhaust it will come with.
We would expect though that the new exhaust has more to do with noise restrictions from the Euro5 standard (the current Panigale V4 R is only rated for Euro4), and that more changes abound underneath the engine cases of the superbike.
The British documents lists a weight of 381 lbs (173 kg), but that is for a bike ready to ride, sans fuel (the way bikes should be weighed, we might add).
This should give us a curb weight of around 406 lbs for the Ducati Superleggera V4, which is 19 lbs lighter than what Ducati lists for the Panigale V4 R.
That weight reduction will surely come from the use of exotic materials, like carbon fiber, titanium, magnesium, and aluminum.
While it is possible that the Ducati Superleggera V4 could feature a carbon fiber “front frame” chassis design (like on the 1199 Superleggera), it is more likely that we will see carbon fiber wheels from BST on the machine to help us get to that 19 lbs weight reduction.
A carbon fiber single-person rear subframe has also been spotted in spy photos. We expect to see manual Öhlins suspension pieces (as on the V4 R) as well as Stylema calipers from Brembo.
Though the rumormill is pegging an imminent release of the Ducati Superleggera V4, we would be surprised if the model was released within the next 6 months.
A launch for next year is more likely, and we would pin our hopes on the World Ducati Week event in July 2020.
Source: BikeSocial
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