Four Ducatis, four feelings: A day at the Roadshow in Ingolstadt

Today was the start of the season. Not just any start – the Ducati Roadshow at Audi Forum Ingolstadt, and I had secured no fewer than four slots: 11 am Hypermotard 698 Mono RVE, 12 pm Panigale V4 S, 1 pm Streetfighter V4 S, 2 pm Diavel V4. Four completely different machines in one afternoon – and, as it would turn out, four completely different feelings.

First things first: I was more excited than I had been in a long time. The first time in the saddle this year, and straight onto loan bikes where you do not want to make any mistakes. The tension before the first slot was real. All the nicer that the first bike of the day gently eased me back into it.

11:00 am – Hypermotard 698 Mono RVE: The battle at the throttle

As a Hypermotard rider, you sit on the Mono and immediately feel at home. Same geometry, same character, just everything one size smaller. And that is precisely its greatest strength: the Mono is really light. Playfully light. You move it with your thoughts, not your body.

What surprised me: I cannot confirm that big “but” against single-cylinders at all – that supposed chugging, that spluttering. The Superquadro Mono runs remarkably smoothly, putters along as it should, and then there is this quickshifter that works up and down as if it were electric. You can simply shift, shift, shift – and it does not hurt, it is actually fun.

The problem comes later. And it comes with force: it lacks punch. There are 77 bhp on the paperwork, but you reach them somewhere in a rev range that you would not want to maintain permanently on country roads. You do not ride this bike – you battle it. Let it rev, rev, rev. After a while, I feel like an eighteen-year-old constantly hanging onto the throttle. That was work. Good work, but work. I get off, warmed up and somewhat stressed – and that may be the perfect preparation for what comes next.

[[gallery]]

12:00 pm – Panigale V4 S: Too sharp for country roads

An insane bike. That has to be said first. 216 bhp, Öhlins semi-active suspension, this V4 that already sounds at a standstill as if it wants to laugh at you for being too slow.

And that is exactly the problem today: I was too slow.

I have not ridden a proper supersport bike in ages, and you notice that after one kilometre. The pressure on the wrists, the forward-leaning position, this uncompromising ergonomics that knows only one direction – fast. On country roads, at 80 km/h in third gear, the bike is uncomfortable. Not a little, but fundamentally. It was not built for this speed. It does not want to be there at all.

I like riding fast. But the race track? I do not need it. And that is exactly where the Panigale belongs. On the race track. Nowhere else. There are better motorcycles for country roads – and one of them, as will soon become clear, is virtually the same bike with different handlebars.

1:00 pm – Streetfighter V4 S: Coming home

Technically, the Streetfighter V4 S is almost identical to the Panigale. Same engine, same electronics, same chassis. And yet: a completely different world. Wider handlebars, a more upright seating position, ten centimetres more room to breathe – and suddenly I feel like I am coming home.

Anyone familiar with classic Japanese four-cylinders knows the silky smoothness these engines can deliver – that is exactly the feeling you find here, just with 208 bhp and the character of a V4 underneath. This smoothness is what blew me away the most. No vibrations, no stress – instead, acceleration that I would almost compare with an electric bike. So linear. So clean. So much punch in every situation.

And that is the point many people do not see coming: you do not have to race on the Streetfighter V4 S. You can cruise along country roads at 80 or 100 and it still feels right. When you feel like it, it is there – at precisely the moment the thought crosses your mind. Sharp as a knife into corners, forgiving when accelerating out of them, and with a balance that makes riding itself the reward.

Of course, it is a little tempting. Anyone who opens the throttle, opens it, and then you are faster than you had planned. But for the countryside around Ingolstadt, for the Altmühltal, for everything between corner-carving and cruising – this is the right bike. If I had been allowed to take one motorcycle home today, it would have been this one.

2:00 pm – Diavel V4: King of the Street

And then came the shock. Not while riding – when getting on.

Forward footpegs. I sit down and instinctively look for the pegs where they belong. They are not there. They are half a metre further forward. I have never ridden a chopper before, and Diavel or not, the seating position is a chopper: legs stretched out, upper body upright, wide handlebars, bum low. King of the Street, and I do not know that at all.

Out of the car park, first traffic lights, pull away. And then: simply brilliant.

Comfortable. So comfortable that in the first ten seconds, I wondered whether it was even a motorcycle or a sofa on wheels. But then the burst of throttle: an engine similar to that of the Streetfighter, linear power delivery, perhaps a touch less nervous in its throttle response – and still power without end. I start in Touring mode. Relaxed, confident, far beyond any sensible measure. Later, I switch to Sport. And think: Wait, this is a racing motorcycle. You would not believe the cornering ability this lump of muscle delivers. 236 kilos ready to ride, 240 rear tyre – and it leans in as if it weighed half as much.

The new thing for me: you do not sit above the front wheel, but far behind it. Leaning back, relaxed, looking out over the long tank. I can imagine cruising through the countryside on it for hours. Not just slowly – briskly too. But slow is the new fast, as I learned today.

When I parked the Diavel, I had to admit it to myself: yes, I probably already belong to the target group. I would not have thought so. Not right now, but as a third bike? A fourth bike? For the days when I do not want to race, but simply enjoy myself? And a pillion would be less afraid here than on everything else in my garage. Funnily enough, the Diavel was the only bike today with a serious pillion option anyway – the Hypermotard formally has a second seat, but you would not want to put anyone on the back of it. That is an argument.

The only fly in the ointment, and it is purely emotional: the V4 is too smooth. Too quiet. On a bike that looks like this, I had the sound of a burbling, growling, muscular engine in mind. What I get is a technically brilliant, smooth V4. Great – but not the image I had brought with me.

Conclusion: The winner of the day

Four bikes, four feelings, four worlds. The Mono challenged me, the Panigale taught me a lesson, the Diavel surprised me – but the Streetfighter V4 S won. Because it can do both: sport when you want sport. Cruising when you want to cruise. It forces you into nothing, and denies you nothing. If you were only allowed to take one Ducati away from today – it would be this one.

And for the rest? All I can do is say thank you: to Ducati and Ducati Ingolstadt for an all-round successful event. Organisation, support, selection of machines – everything had been considered, down to the last detail. That is exactly how you imagine the start of a season.