DUCATI SUPERLEGGERA V4 (2020 - on) Review

Additional words by Adam 'Chad' Child

The 2020 Ducati Superleggera V4 certainly gets all the bells and whistles… and then some. But then you’d expect a superbike costing £86k to be somewhat on the special side.

It is, for starters, the world's only homologated bike with a carbon chassis. Its dry weight is just 159kg, a mighty 15kg weight saving over the Panigale V4S, itself a relative lightweight in the superbike class.

• Related: Ducati Panigale V4R review
• Related: 2022 Ducati Panigale V4 S review

Those biplane wings create more downforce than Ducati’s GP20 MotoGP bike, while its quoted power with its Akrapovic race exhaust installed is 234bhp – just 10bhp less than Scott Redding’s WSB V4. And, yet, with the road-legal exhaust that’s supplied alongside the race system fitted, you can ride it to the shops without the law so much as batting an eyelid.

Forgetting about the price and availability (sadly, only 500 Superleggeras will be sold) for a second, this is a machine capable of lapping within a few seconds of a top-flight factory race bike and being ridden on the road, both legally and easily.

On top of that, it looks stunning and has a soul and character of its own. This is the poster bike for the next generation. Of course, the £86k asking price is ridiculous and the 221bhp in standard trim is way too much for the road, but who cares? This machine is an exercise in extremism and one-upmanship and Ducati have shown us what they’ve got.

Watch: Ducati Superleggera V4 takes on Desmosedici RR on track

Michael Neeves has the enviable task of deciding a winner between two of the most exotic Ducatis ever built - the Superleggera V4 and the Desmosedici RR - on track at Knockhill in Scotland.

We knew this first V4 Superleggera was going to be fast. The figures speak for themselves, but I didn’t expect the handling and braking to be quite so far ahead of the game.

The ease and efficiency of the way the Superleggera slows, turns and rolls into corners, and changes direction between them is a whole new level. Brake late, accelerate early, miss your apex or mess up a line – and the Superleggera is there to pick up the pieces. Mid-corner there is simply endless grip and feedback.

Then there’s the stability at speed to consider. At 168mph the Superleggera’s extraordinary biplane wings produce 50kg of downforce - 20kg more than the Panigale V4 with its single wing set-up.

At 186mph that’s up to 61kg – enough to markedly improve stability and reduce wheelies, thus allowing harder acceleration and braking as well as a faster corner entry. Towards the end of Mugello’s home straight there’s a notorious crest that MotoGP bikes hit at 220mph, which makes even the best chassis flighty and susceptible to a terrifying weave as their suspension extends. But the winged Superleggera is rock-solid.

The liquid-smooth Stradale motor loves to rev. Peak power is at 15,250rpm and peak torque at 11,750rpm but the V4 will carry on going to 16,000rpm, with a rev limiter in sixth gear at a giddy 16,500rpm.

Listen to the @DucatiUK Superleggera V4 in action at @MugelloCircuit Get everything we know about the bike so far here: https://t.co/nc7z92HLQk pic.twitter.com/Kg5yXIaG5O

— Motor Cycle News (@MCNnews) June 25, 2020

Upshifts are seamless and instant and each flick of the left foot unleashes another tidal wave of power. Mugello is runway-wide and over five kilometres long but has never felt so short or so fast, with the Superleggera shrinking it to the size of Oulton Park.

But while this Ducati might (almost) have the power of the factory’s V4 WSB contender, it remains usable and smooth. It’s genuinely easy to ride.

Finished in a deep red and draped with gorgeous satin-black carbon wherever you look, the fit and finish of the Superleggera is exceptional.

There’s also no reason to suspect it would be unreliable, either, with long service intervals (see below) and a two-year warranty from the factory.

We don't currently have any Ducati Superleggera V4 owners' reviews, but you can leave one here.

We're at @MugelloCircuit for the launch of the @DucatiUK Superleggera V4. Producing 234hp with the race kit installed, just 500 of the €100,000 bikes will be produced. Expect a full launch report soon and get everything we know already here: https://t.co/nc7z92HLQk pic.twitter.com/NrDgW1dKe8

— Motor Cycle News (@MCNnews) June 25, 2020

With a Ducati Superleggera V4 price of £86,000 out of the showroom, and it's likely to be worth just as much – if not more – on the used market, it will be forever unobtainable for the vast majority of riders.

For those lucky enough to own such exotica though, the World Superbike-spec performance doesn’t mean ridiculously short service intervals – remaining the same as the comparatively cheaper Ducati Panigale V4R. There’s a smaller service at around 7500 miles and a larger Desmo service for valve clearances at around 15,000 miles.

If you’re riding hard on track, take plenty of fuel, as the rev-tastic V4 will drink like a fish. With so much power being pumped through the back wheel, don’t expect your tyres to last more than a day, either.

The vast majority of hobby riders will scarcely scratch the surface of the V4 Superleggera's performance potential and a Ducati Panigale V4 would likely be just as good to ride on track.

But if you want a superbike that'll flatter you on the track and be useable on the road, the BMW M1000RR may be a better option. At £31,000, it's not exactly cheap but compared to the Superleggera it's bargain basement!

Or, if you're a well-heeled collector looking for ultra-rare Italian exotica, then perhaps an Aprilia RSV4 X-trenta would fit the bill.

The beautiful carbon chassis saves 1.2kg over the standard 175kg Ducati Panigale V4. Carbon wheels account for another 3.4kg saving while a new carbon swingarm shaves off a further 0.9kg.

The subframe is 1.2kg lighter, carbon bodywork knocks off another 1.1kg, while new Öhlins suspension is 0.6kg lighter; courtesy of a titanium rear spring and machined aluminium fork bottoms… Ducati’s weight-saving engineers have removed 2.8kg from the Stradale V4 motor, while the road-legal Akrapovic exhaust is 2.5kg lighter than the standard V4’s item.

Even the rear sprocket nuts are titanium. The list goes on, but the result is a quoted 159kg in road spec and 152.2kg with its race face on – lighter than a Yamaha MT-03 as well as Ducati’s own factory V4s!

As well as shedding timber, there’s also a full electronics suite to help keep the 221 rampant horses under control. Simply transferring the electronics from the current Panigale R to the lighter, more powerful, extra-downforce Superleggera wouldn’t work though, so this set-up is something all new.

As you’d expect, it gets the full raft of goodies: cornering ABS, slide control, traction control, anti-wheelie, launch control, an up and down quick-shifter, and changeable engine braking strategies.

Rider aids can be trimmed and changed to meet personal demands while Ducati has also added three additional new rider modes, simply A, B, and Sport – two are track specific, the third for the road. There’s also a new RaceGP dash mode, for track use only, which shows lap times, splits, and riders aids. Some tracks like Mugello are already pre-programmed so you can simply work on improving your lap time and splits.

Ultimate racing experience

To help soften the blow of an £86,000 bill, every Superleggera V4 owner will also gain access to a World Superbike experience, which will see riders take to Mugello aboard a Ducati Panigale V4R, Superleggera and then a fully-fledged World Superbike for a number of laps.

For an additional €20,000 (approximately £17,000), Ducati will also sell you the MotoGP experience; granting 30 riders the chance to sample a GP20 MotoGP machine at Mugello.