The Ducati Streetfighter V2 could be the ultimate road bike
If over 1,000PS-per-tonne and four cylinders in your Ducati Streetfighter V4 sounds a bit much for you, we really don’t blame you. Thankfully, Ducati is diversifying. Already serving diligently in the Panigale and Multistrada models, the V-twin engine is now making its way into its sports naked. Meet the V2, the first sub-1,000cc Streetfighter for ten years.
On offer, a comparatively modest 850PS-per-tonne, or thereabouts – much more civilised. Don’t worry, more civilised doesn’t translate to slow. You’ll still be quite alright dispatching almost any car you meet on the road with 155PS (114kW) on tap from its 955cc twin-cylinder, shifting just 178kg. It’ll also rev higher too. Unless you meet a Gordon Murray T.50 at the lights, your 11,500rpm limiter will make most cars sound like a steam loco’.
The Streetfighter V2 is to the Panigale V2, what the 911 GT3 Touring is to the GT3 RS. Underneath the fundamentals are the same for the respective models, in terms of the chassis, Brembo brakes, Sachs suspension and engine, but the former is much more subtle and biased for pleasant use on the road. The fairings are gone, the design is calmer and there’s a wider handlebar, informing a calmer attitude, which the Superquadro motor should suit beautifully.
Also borrowed from the Panigale is the electronics suite. That includes the selection of riding modes and six-axis IMU for lean-sensitive systems, with wheelie control, traction control, engine braking control and cornering ABS.
The V2 is more subtle on price, too, though it’s not been explicitly stated yet. The £28,495 Streetfighter V4 SP with its carbon wheels and bleeding-edge Ohlins suspension, also revealed this week, will pretty well double it.
So what do you think of the Streetfighter V2? Are we at the point where the super-powerful stuff is too much and middling machinery is the sweet spot? The V2 could be the best case yet for that argument.
Ducati
Streetfighter
