2016 Ducati 959 Panigale
Ignition
2016 DUCATI 959 PANIGALE
BABY HUEY: Displacement creep in the pursuit of engine performance has transformed the pint-size Panigale into a super-size Due. At least on the inside!
BY THE NUMBERS
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15
THOUSAND MILES: Service interval between clearance inspection of the desmodromic valve train.
Ducking class displacement limits
Don Canet
Digging through the mental database for the bike that broke the rules-of-capacity convention made me recall the Ninja 636 supersport back in late 2002. It was a bold move at the time, what with “normal” race-derived 600s selling in huge numbers. But rules be damned, Kawi’s supersized 600 delivered street riders the tangible benefits of increased torque without weight penalty or diminished agility.
The middleweight world has gone mad since, to the point that we rewrote our Best Middleweight category rules in 2012 to accept bikes up to 899CC, which at the time meant the 848 Streetfighter could win the prize that year.
The new Big Mids era has resulted in great bikes like the Yamaha FZ-09 and family of MV Agusta 800 triples, Kawasaki Z800, and more.
But Ducati just took a step too far with its new-for-2016 959 Panigale, a stroked version of the 899 it replaces that is now officially—for us anyway—no longer considered a middleweight, big or otherwise.
The 90-degree V-twin Superquadro engine of the 959 Panigale shares the same 60.8mm stroke as its i,299cc big brother to bring displacement to 955CC. The new crankshaft is lighter than the 1299’s and is equipped with all-new connecting rods and a revised piston crown that retains the same 12.5:1 compression ratio of the 899. Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) coating applied to the piston pins and desmodromic rocker arms is said to offer reduced friction and increased fatigue strength. The same 62mm-equivalent oval throttle bodies of its predecessor now employ a showerhead primary injector while the secondary injector located downstream of the throttle butterfly comes online above 6,500 rpm.
Other changes? The clutch is now a slipper/assist design yielding lighter effort at the lever and providing a much smoother feeling when closing the throttle or during aggressive downshifting. Add to this three-level Engine Brake Control that cracks the ride-by-wire throttles on deceleration to smooth and tune corner-entry feel even more.
The 899’s electronic rider-aid suite has been carried over, but parameters have been recalibrated for the 959. Ride mode presets labeled Race, Sport, and Rain offer factory-de fault settings for the eight-level traction control, three-level Bosch ABS, and EBC. The modes can be toggled on the fly and offer customization of individual parameter levels buried in an options menu only accessible when the bike is stationary.
On track, bigger does equate to better in the case of the 959 Panigale, which I learned firsthand riding the Arctic White version ($15,295) at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia, Spain. The first order of business was to inquire about the thinking behind the displacement creep that sees Ducati’s “middleweight” supersport well in excess of Bologna superbikes of the past. “We combined performance with usability,” Marketing Product Manager Paul Ventura offered.
FIRST RIDE
“It started with the 899 and we’ve continued it with the 959. The objective was to make a pure sportbike that someone could use every day and have just as much fun on the street as they do on the track.
In short, to achieve what we say is the perfect balance, and in our eyes that’s really what this bike represents—the perfect blend of excitement and control.”
Riding on sticky Pirelli Supercorsa SC2 race tires (Rosso Corsa is stock fitment) allowed deeper exploration of the chassis capability. The solitary change here from its 899 predecessor is a 4mm-lower swingarm pivot location (accounting for a 0.2-inch increase in wheelbase) and further optimized rear grip and weight distribution. “Riding on rails” best describes handling at speed. The only hint of headshake I encountered was brought on when hopping the exit curbing leading onto the back straight to take advantage of the generous expanse of extended tarmac. Even then, the nonadjustable, transverse-mount steering damper kept drama in check.
Valencia lacks a truly quick sideto-side transition but does include one right-left combo following its infield hairpin that offered a taste of the 959’s reflex potential. Carrying third gear, the Panigale threaded the ess with relative ease and steadfast aplomb. With a claimed dry weight of 377 pounds and 157 hp (a 6-percent increase in output) on tap, snicking shifts at the 11,300-rpm rev limit up the main straight netted an indicated 163 mph on the all-digital LCD dash with 1,000 rpm in reserve. Braking for turn one (a personal favorite at Valencia) and dropping down to third gear required no rev-matching throttle blips as the slipper clutch/ EBC kept the rear wheel tracking true as I dived down to the apex.
As Ventura so aptly states, “It’s not so much a problem as it once was to have a larger-displacement bike because in fact in the end it’s very manageable and controllable.” I wholeheartedly must agree: The definition of the middleweight sportbike has evolved, and we are the better for it. We’re just not sure when displacement creep is going to stop, and we’re not sure we care.
2016 DUCATI 959 PANIGALE
DOHC 90° V-twin
DISPLACEMENT 955cc
SEAT HEIGHT 32.5 in.
FUEL CAPACITY 4.5 gal.
CLAIMED WEIGHT 377 lb.
$14,995
