Ducati V4R Budget Suspension?

[Drapeschem]

Is the new Ducati V4R suspension a budget suspension? Not hating, but hear me out…

WSB rules dictate that a superbike must fall under a certain price in order to qualify. This bike seems to have a load of electronic goodies like its older V4S sibling, but where’s the elctronic suspension? Did they leave it out to keep the cost down?

Well, further reading about specs in today’s CycleWorld article say that, yes it is Ohlins, but this is where things get a little interesting in my mind. I’m particularly interested in the front fork. Its a 43mm fork tube, which seems a little narrow by today’s high-end superbike forks, comparatively. And while the forks are fully adjustable, one fork is dedicated to compression damping, while the other is dedicated to rebound.

In my experience, these are characteristics of a lower cost inverted cartridge fork. I can speak first hand, however, and say that the internals do make all the difference, and I’m sure that Ohlins came through there. But, what is also interesting is that Ducati have added winglets to the front fairing, claiming that the design generates additional downforce meant to help keep the front end planted at speed. Again, this sounds like a way to keep a budget suspension loaded so that it performs better than it otherwise would. A clever design, I might add, but nonetheless, something that would otherwise be mitigated by a semi-active electronic suspension. Am I right or no?

I’m going to be interested to see how this one performs on the track and stacks up against the other superbike chassis. For $40k, I’m amazed at what seems to be missing, especially with the power that is claimed.

• This topic was modified 6 years, 1 month ago by Drapeschem.

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