Thierry Delon

<hr>&nbsp;A 157 BHP motorcycle&nbsp;is no joke, especially not&nbsp;when it weighs just 200 kg&nbsp;and looks like that area of&nbsp;the Internet the government&nbsp;doesn’t want you to see.&nbsp;Motorcycles like these fall&nbsp;into an extremely serious&nbsp;bracket of performance, and&nbsp;to have that kind of power&nbsp;and aggression is not a&nbsp;luxury —&nbsp;it’s a sin. Sinners&nbsp;we are, then, since we found&nbsp;it impossible to turn down&nbsp;an invitation to let loose the&nbsp;Ducati 959 Panigale at the&nbsp;Chang International Circuit in&nbsp;Thailand.&nbsp;The CIC is fast, very&nbsp;exciting and deceptively&nbsp;technical. Thankfully,&nbsp;Ducati paired up the 959&nbsp;Panigale test ride with its&nbsp;Ducati Riding Experience&nbsp;programme, which meant we&nbsp;could actually put the 959’s&nbsp;engineering through the kind&nbsp;of riding it deserves. The 959,&nbsp;for those who came in late, is&nbsp;the successor to the already-fantastic&nbsp;899 Panigale, which&nbsp;was one of the most loved&nbsp;middleweight motorcycles in&nbsp;the world. Compact, visually&nbsp;identical to the flagship&nbsp;Panigale and packing&nbsp;performance that was mind&nbsp;boggling, the 899 shook the&nbsp;foundations of lightweight,&nbsp;angry, faired motorcycles.&nbsp;The 959, however, is an even&nbsp;more serious machine — it’s&nbsp;nearly a litre-class bike, to&nbsp;begin with, and every little&nbsp;niggle in its predecessor&nbsp;has been thrown right out&nbsp;of the window. The result is,&nbsp;as you might have guessed,&nbsp;a motorcycle that’s nearly&nbsp;perfect.&nbsp;The 959 is powered by a&nbsp;955cc Desmodromic L-twin —&nbsp;the traditional Ducati engine&nbsp;layout — with four valves per&nbsp;cylinder, and it’s this layout&nbsp;that helps the dimensions in&nbsp;being so slim and compact. If&nbsp;you’re wondering why Ducati&nbsp;didn’t call it the ‘955’ instead,&nbsp;it’s because it sold a model&nbsp;by that name 20 years ago. It&nbsp;was a race-replica called the&nbsp;955 Corsa and yes, the 959&nbsp;will beat the living daylights&nbsp;out of it, regardless of the&nbsp;rider or conditions — that’s&nbsp;how much of a merciless&nbsp;evolution it really is. With 157&nbsp;bhp barging right through&nbsp;the door at a dizzying 10,500&nbsp;rpm, the 959 is plain scary&nbsp;– or it would have been,&nbsp;were it not for its incredible&nbsp;electronics.&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;What we like &nbsp;Looks; power; handling&nbsp;What we don’t &nbsp;Not a whole lot&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;The 959 has electronic&nbsp;rider assists for acceleration,&nbsp;traction, braking, gearshifts,&nbsp;power delivery —&nbsp;pause&nbsp;for breath — and to make&nbsp;it not wheelie or stoppie.&nbsp;Three insightfully designed&nbsp;riding modes — Rain, Sport&nbsp;and Race — decide what&nbsp;assistance and power output&nbsp;you really need, and this&nbsp;results in a riding experience&nbsp;that beggars belief. The&nbsp;racetrack-only review&nbsp;experience suddenly makes a&nbsp;lot of sense. It’s time to head&nbsp;out, then.&nbsp;At close to 270 kph down&nbsp;the main straight, you raise&nbsp;your head above the 959’s&nbsp;windscreen to brake for the&nbsp;first corner, and thus begins&nbsp;your baptism into the world&nbsp;of extreme motorcycles. The&nbsp;959 does nothing untoward,&nbsp;except for shaving speeds&nbsp;with incredible precision,&nbsp;and with a slight shift in&nbsp;body weight, it leans over&nbsp;onto its side with electric&nbsp;agility. Knee-sliders get the&nbsp;scrubbing of a lifetime and&nbsp;within your helmet, it’s a&nbsp;heady cocktail of adrenaline,&nbsp;fear and prayer.&nbsp;It’s so fast, so clinical&nbsp;and yet so soulful — that’s&nbsp;the beauty of how Ducati&nbsp;has designed its flagship&nbsp;middleweight. Every&nbsp;component on it looks like&nbsp;a work of art, and every&nbsp;aspect of its performance&nbsp;opens your eyes to a world of&nbsp;highly-evolved yet easilyadaptable&nbsp;motorcycling&nbsp;(all of this for Rs 14.3 lakh,&nbsp;ex-showroom, Mumbai).&nbsp;Performance like this&nbsp;definitely doesn’t belong&nbsp;on the roads — unless the&nbsp;Autobahn is your backyard —&nbsp;but because there is so much&nbsp;technology backing it, you&nbsp;will be certain to arrive home&nbsp;with more or less the same&nbsp;anatomical properties as you&nbsp;left home with.&nbsp;The 959 Panigale is every&nbsp;bit an Italian, in form and&nbsp;function, and despite the&nbsp;overdose of technology&nbsp;crammed within its anorexic&nbsp;frame, it has retained the&nbsp;raw, mental character&nbsp;that has made Ducatis the&nbsp;legendary motorcycles&nbsp;they are.

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The 959 Panigale has retained the raw, mental character that has made Ducatis the legendary motorcycles they are.