It’s crazy to think how advanced today’s technology is, and it’s bloody exciting to look ahead and imagine what’ll be coming our way next. I’m writing this having just got back from Ducati’s Panigale V4 launch where my eyes were well and truly opened to the virtues of a ‘next generation’ sportsbike. Sounds cheesy, doesn’t it, but the truth is the V4’s raised the goalposts and that means others will soon have to follow. Good news, right? Surely, it has to be. We all want the latest and greatest, even though we might not quite know what that is yet.
Ten years ago I was racing Superstock on a ZX-10R. It was about as fast as fast could get, with all of 180bhp at the rear wheel. Okay, so it was about as good at handling as politicians are with finances, but the thing did shift in a straight line. Well, at least when compared to the bikes kicking around back then. But a decade on and those kind of figures, at least in BSB Superstock trim, are to be sniggered at. In the past few years alone we’ve seen loads of bikes breach the magic 200bhp once they’ve had a bit of dyno work and a race pipe shoved down their gobs. But Ducati’s V4 offers you a Euro 4 street legal package with over 200bhp at the rear wheel, genuinely, as proven by Moto Rapido who spoke to us about the new model for this issue’s V4 report.
Just give me a second to get my head around that. Of course, it’s not all about power. The V4’s brimming with the most sophisticated tech on the market, which can allow you to take that 200+ animal and mould it into whatever you want it to be. Well, within reason. Again, ten years ago such advanced features were exclusively for the likes of GP gods, but nowadays they’re everywhere, including on street nakeds like the new MT-09 SP Boothy’s just put through its paces. But of course, there is a downside to everything, and in this instance it’s cost. With both the aforementioned bikes I’d say you get what you pay for, including the MotoGP soundtrack in the V4’s case, but I’d probably need to sell a kidney for the Ducati. But hey, we all need something to aspire to, and in the meantime there are loads of awesome used bikes on the market, including the seven great nakeds we’ve clocked this month. If you’re after an affordable weapon to make 2018 a corker, check these out. Summer can’t come soon enough.