The Ducati Panigale V4 might be the pinnacle of superbike design, but today mark’s the machine’s fifth recall in its inaugural year of production.
This particular recall affects the Panigale V4’s cam chain tensioner, which may loosen over time, and possibly cause oil to leak from the bottom of the tensioner adjustment bolt.
Obviously, an oil leak could lead to a loss of traction for the motorcycle, and may cause the bike to crash, hence the need for a recall.
Episode 2 of the Brap Talk podcast is out, and in this show our big topic of conversation centers around the dealership experience.
As such, we rely heavily on Shahin’s decade-long career of working in motorcycle dealerships, and discuss what can be done better – by both the dealers, and the customers. We also wander into speculation about our future with robot overlords.
Before we get to that in-depth conversation in the podcast though, we cover a few newsie items.
The future of Ducati seems to be always up in the air, especially with Volkswagen AG’s constant back-and-forth when it comes to selling the motorcycle brand.
The German’s latest attempt to sell Ducati may have faltered in the boardroom, but there is new reason to believe that acquisition talks could be started for Ducati, as KTM CEO Stefan Pierer has expressed interest in owning the Italian motorcycle company.
Talking to German-language publication Speedweek, Pierer expressed his interest in adding Ducati to his stable of motorcycle marques, and floated some ideas on how Ducati could fit into KTM’s overall two-wheeled strategy.
His thoughts are…interesting, to say the least.
We are very excited today to introduce to you our newest audio production, the Brap Talk Podcast.
Hosted by yours truly Jensen Beeler and Shahin Alvandi, the Brap Talk Podcast picks up where the Two Enthusiasts Podcast leaves off, as that show will not be continuing.
As such, the concept is simple and straight-forward: two friends sitting on a couch, talking about motorcycles.
In addition to the Ducati Panigale V4 recall that we saw earlier this week, we have another safety issue from the Bologna brand.
This time it concerns the Monster 821, Monster 1200, and Supersport models from Ducati, which may suffer from the shift lever having been incorrectly assembled, which could possibly result in the shift knob detaching from the lever.
If the knob falls off the shifter, a bike could get stuck in gear, which poses a safety issue to the rider, so a recall has been created with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
In total, 2,705 units from the 2017, 2018, and 2018 model years are affected by this recall.
Arguably the biggest superbike announcement for the 2019 model year, the Ducati Panigale V4 R is getting no shortage of press, and it is easy to see why.
With 217hp (162 kW) on tap, removable winglets, a WorldSBK title to win, dry clutch, and a $40,000 price tag, there are no shortage of things to talk about when it comes to the Panigale V4 R.
The Ducati looks great in race trim, and it doesn’t take much to boost the machine’s peak horsepower figure to 231 hp (172 kW).
In its racing trim, the Ducati Panigale V4 RS19 will climb to over 17,000 rpm – that is, at least until the WorldSBK performance-balancing rules get ahold of it.
Another recall for the day, Ducati North America is recalling certain 2018-2019 Ducati Panigale V4, V4 S, and V4 S Speciale motorcycles. The recall stems from the Panigale V4’s oil cooler, which may leak oil from the output port.
According to the recall documents, the oil cooler output port may crack during extreme usage, like when the 1,103cc superbike is being used on a race track. The recall affects 1,663 units of the Panigale V4 lineup,
In our inbox today was an interesting email from Ducati, telling us that an updated press kit for the Panigale V4 R superbike was now available on the press site.
Why was there a need to modify the available information? Well, it seems a key technical component on the 998cc machine was changed…more specifically, the 2019 Ducati Panigale V4 R now comes with a dry clutch from the factory.
We have drooled over Walt Siegl’s work before. First, it was the forged carbon Bol d’Or made in collaboration with David Yurman, which was followed by the Leggero model.
Our love affair ramped up with Walt’s Dakar-inspired Hypermotard, which was then followed by an even more adventure-ready machine built off the same platform, aptly named L’Avventura.
These bikes have helped to solidify Walt Siegl as one of the great motorcycle builders in the United States, and today’s addition only further bolsters that notion. As such, we bring you the simply named SBK models from Walt Siegl Motorcycles.
The Ducati 1299 Panigale R Final Edition was made to be the very last example of the Superquadro-powered motorcycles from Borgo Panigale, and it is one of the finest examples of v-twin superbikes that the Italian company has ever made.
Giving way to the four-cylindered Ducati Panigale V4, the Final Edition was supposed to be a special edition machine that Ducati would make for as long as there was demand for it. That day has come though, with Ducati saying that only 1,299 units of the motorcycle will be produced, with production now coming to an end.
The end of an era, we will be sad to see the Ducati 1299 Panigale R Final Edition go…in all likelihood, it is the very last v-twin superbike from Ducati Motor Holding.
We teased the news a little bit in our A&R Pro coverage of the EICMA show, but the one missing element in Ducati’s Milan presentation was its sales figures from the 2018 model year.
There is good reason for their absence though, as Ducati’s successive record years of sales are about to be no longer.
With Audi releasing its quarterly report, we can now see why, as the Italian motorcycle brand sees its deliveries to customers down 3% for the third quarter of this year – down 6.3% so far for 2018.