Review Summary:
- The Ducati Streetfighter V2 offers a substantial amount of power in a beautiful package.
- The seat height may be slightly tall for some riders, and the lack of a constant fuel readout on the display seems like a minor oversight—but the riding modes, quick shifter, and other amenities give this bike a lot of versatility and plenty of ways to customize your ride.
- The Streetfighter V2 handles fine in suburban traffic, but really shines out on the open road. If you’re looking for a stylish sport-naked that can overtake nearly anything on the road, this is worth a look.
Would I like to have the 2022 Ducati V2 Streetfighter on loan for a week? That’s the question I was asked by my local Ducati dealer, On Yer Bike. I can tell you it took me all of a nanosecond to say yes!
There has been a lot of talk about the V2 which is described by Ducati as a sports naked bike with a one-of-a-kind character, so I was eager to find out for myself what it was like and more importantly, if I was going to like it.
Ducati V2 Streetfighter Key Specs & Options
Key Specs
- 955cc Superquadro engine
- 153 bhp
- 6 speed gearbox with Ducati quick shift up and down
- Adjustable Showa front forks
- Fully adjustable Sachs rear suspension
- Pirelli Diablo Rosso IV tyres
- Digital TFT 4’3” screen
- Full led lighting with daytime running light
- Riding modes: rain, road, sport
Colour Options
The V2 comes in two colours:
- Ducati red with black wheels: $17,868 USD / $24,803 CAD / £15,995
- Storm green with black wheels and red tags: $18,203 USD / $25,268 CAD / £16,295
The new Streetfighter V2 is, according to Ducati, a sports naked with a one-of-a-kind character. It is intended to accommodate the needs of those looking for a bike that can combine the sporty DNA of the Panigale V2 with both the attitude and style of the much-admired Streetfighter.
See Also: The Best Naked Motorcycles of 2022
Let’s take a closer look and see if I agree with Ducati.
Ducati V2 Streetfighter Styling
The V2 has a monocoque frame, which basically means it is one continuous piece of structure, which is fixed to the engine.
See Also: Monocoque Frame Concepts
The single sided swingarm (who doesn’t love a bike with this feature!) is 16mm longer compared to that of the Panigale V2—which, Ducati says, contributes to ensure the stability of the whole bike.
Ducati V2 Streetfighter Engine
The V2 is powered by a 955cc Ducati Superquadro engine, which is a 90° V-twin four-stroke motorcycle engine. This engine has been made by Ducati since 2011 and is Euro 5 approved (for those countries where this is a requirement).
This engine has the Ducati’s desmodromic valve system, with four valves per cylinder and gear/chain driven double overhead camshafts. The desmodromic refers to the way that a poppet valve inside of an engine is controlled (don’t worry, I haven’t suddenly gone all techy on you; I only know this because I asked).
Ducati V2 Streetfighter Weight
Weighing just 178kg, the V2 pushes out 153 bhp at 10,750 rpm and 101.4 Nm of maximum torque at 9000 rpm. In other words, when you open it up, it’s rapid.
For such a powerful bike it is light at just 178kg. However, the V2 has a seat height of 845 mm which for me, at 5’6”, is a little on the tall side, so only the balls of my feet were on the ground. This is absolutely no problem when riding, and in fact, it makes for a really comfortable riding position.
However, when maneuvering the bike, say, in and out of the garage, I did struggle a little. I personally find when moving a bike about, it is best for me to be sitting on the bike as I find it more stable and I push the bike back with my feet.
With only the balls of my feet on the ground, this makes it difficult to do—and invariably, I ended up getting off the bike and pushing it backwards. Not the end of the world and certainly by no means a problem—just an observation. Obviously if you were taller, you would probably not find this to be a struggle at all.
Ducati V2 Streetfighter Wheels & Tires
The V2 has 5 spoke wheels that come with Pirelli Diablo Rosso IV tires: 120/70 ZR17 at the front and 180/60 ZR17 at the rear. Pirelli describe these tires as being ‘The state of the art of sport tire for road use with brilliant performance also on wet’.
I didn’t have any rain during the time I had the V2, so cannot comment on what they would be like in the wet—although I would be interested to find out. I had temperatures of mid to late teens during the time I had the bike and did not experience any issues with the tires and was happy with the grip they offered me.
I ride all year round, except in ice and snow! I would like to experience these tires in lower temperatures to see if they still perform the same.
My personal tire of choice is the Michelin Road tire. I have been running these tires for several years now and am confident that they perform for me in the way that they should in all weathers, they are particularly good in wet weather (I know this from personal experience having ridden in the wet many times including encountering biblical rain coming through Belgium to catch our train crossing).
I know from speaking to other bikers that tire choice is very personal, and I find most people tend to find a tire that suits them and their riding and stick with it.
See Also: Motorcycle Tire & Accessory Reviews on wBW
Ducati V2 Streetfighter Braking & Suspension
The whole braking system on the V2 is taken from that of the Panigale V2 featuring Brembo M4-32 monobloc radial calipers with 320 mm diameter discs on the front.
The rear system is also Brembo and consists of a calliper with two opposing pistons that acts on a 245 mm diameter disc. The brake pads have a less aggressive bite than on the Panigale V2 to favour their effectiveness in road use.
The front suspension is equipped with 43mm Showa adjustable front forks and fully adjustable Sachs rear suspension, which features a dedicated calibration to make the bike more comfortable on the road and track.
To keep the pipes the same length, the rear pipe loops round under the seat, which is a great feature of the bike. The result of this means that the heat given off from the pipe nicely warms the seat up in turn keeping your bottom and top of your legs toasty.
In the cooler weather that I experienced when riding the bike, this feature was absolutely welcoming and was a real plus point. I am not so sure that in warmer weather I would be saying the same thing!
Ducati V2 Streetfighter Exhaust
The exhaust is a two-into-one system with 2 cats and 2 lambda probes, and is the same system with that of the Panigale V2, which is developed entirely beneath the engine. The silencer emerges from the right side.
Ducati V2 Streetfighter Lights & Indicators
The V2 is equipped with full LED lighting with a daytime running light. The headlight is not in any way traditional in style, which adds to the character of the bike. You can just imagine what the front of the bike looks like in a cars’ rear view mirror with the bike bearing down on you with just the daytime running light on. Imagine if the headlights were on too!
With the lights being LED, they do provide great visibility in the dark. I was also really impressed with the main beam when coming back from bike night late into the evening—very powerful and it lit up the road nicely.
If we move to the back of the bike and look at the rear brake, here you will see what makes the rear end of this bike beautiful. You can see a lot of thought has gone into the styling with the rear light following the curved shape of the rear seat.
So looking at the pic here you can see above the lights where the rear seat is, and looking down you can see through two holes on either side. How cool is that?
The rear end is crying out for a tail tidy, though—and this would be my first purchase for the bike as it would neaten up the rear end nicely.
Auto-off function, which is now appearing on more and more new bikes, is my absolute favourite bit of tech. This function stops the indicators from flashing for too long if left on.
Why is this feature not standard on all bikes! I am terrible at leaving my indicators on and would very much welcome this on my bikes.
Ducati V2 Streetfighter Display & Rider Aides
Colour TFT Instrumentation
When I picked the bike up, I was given a tutorial on the instruments. Yes, this was necessary! The screen is a 4’3” colour tft screen, which is clear and easy to read. It displays:
- Speed
- Revs
- Current gear
- Temperature (for both the air and the bike)
- The time
- Mileage
What was missing was a fuel gauge. Personally, I prefer to have a fuel gauge on my bike, and it is a significant negative point for me if a bike doesn’t have one. When the fuel gets to a certain level on the V2, the fuel light appears on the screen and you then have approximately 25 miles to find a fuel station. I believe you can go into the controls to see how much fuel you have, but this does not stay on the screen.
If the side stand is down, then a red box with ‘side stand’ will appear on the screen.
The Ducati Multimedia System (DMS) is available as an accessory. You can connect your smartphone to the bike via Bluetooth with the display showing music player commands, headset connection status icons as well as incoming call and message received alert icons.
Riding Modes
The V2 has modes: rain, road and sport. This is where the tutorial was necessary. Within those modes you have additional options: bosch cornering, traction control, wheelie control, and engine brake control.
You can set the levels of these modes to suit your riding style—which means you can really tailor the bike to your own needs. For example, I had the wheelie control set to 4 out of 5 as I am really not a fan of wheelies!
Navigating around the modes and inner modes, to be fair, is really easy and straightforward. The navigation toggle and up-and-down button is easy to use, and once you have fiddled around with this a couple of times, it kinda makes sense and is relatively easy to set up.
Now if you ask me if I’m a fan of modes on bikes, then I would have to say no. For the kind of riding that certainly I do, and I am sure many others like me, modes are not necessary. A lot of the loan bikes I have come with modes, and I do try them out as part of my review—but more often than not, I then put the bike into sport mode and leave it there.
I can see modes might be useful if you are doing a track day, for example, but for normal road riding I do not think they’re necessary. I often get asked how I ride a bike without modes—simple, I control the bike myself and decide how much power I want/need taking into consideration the road conditions, weather etc. I started riding on bikes without gizmos, so I guess it is what you are used to.
Ducati Quick Shift (Up & Down)
The V2 has a 6 speed gearbox with Ducati quick shift (DQS), both up and down. More and more of the loan bikes I have now have a quick shifter, and I find I now swap between bikes that have or have not got this feature easily and start using the quick shifter straightaway.
The Ducati quick shift (DQS).
I can see why this is a popular feature, the DQS does make for a smooth, neat gear change, and I now find I just automatically use this. I use the clutch when pulling away in first going into second or going down from second into first, but not in the other gears.
When you’re focused on the ride, it is easy to just flick your gear shift with your foot.
Steering Damper
There is a steering damper on the V2, which is designed to reduce handlebar vibration and improve the stability of the bike—in other words, to take any shimmy out of the front end at high speed.
I didn’t experience any shimmy on the V2, and the damper obviously adds to the look of the bike. It is very nicely done.
The bike felt stable to me in the corners, I liked the way the V2 exudes confidence. It seems happy to be ridden on long twisty roads and, for me personally, it enabled me to relax into the bike and be taken along with it while flowing through the corners. It is one of those bikes on which you come to the end of a lovely long sweeping bendy road and you just want to turn around and ride it again.
When I was in the Black Forest in Germany one time, we found a road about 35-ish miles long with a café at one end and an ice cream parlour at the other end, with long sweeping bends pretty much all the way along. One day, we did this road three times back and forth. I would love to be able to take the V2 there and experience this bike on those roads, as I think it would be just perfect. Of course, the coffees and ice creams at either end would just be a bonus.
Riding the Ducati V2 Streetfighter
Suburban Riding
When you first start the bike up, you should be able to feel the grin spread across your face. It’s a Ducati, to start with—what’s not to like? They have a distinctive sound. There is just this general thrum the whole time of a mix of the engine and exhaust note.
See Also: The 2022 Ducati Lineup
To begin with, when you are still on suburban roads, riding the V2 can be a bit of a ball ache because it is just telling you it wants to get going; it wants you to unleash its power.
I found riding around town I had to keep in a lower gear and sometimes ride the clutch, especially when slow riding. The bike is yearning to go faster. Doing this for a period of time makes your hand ache.
Riding on Open Roads
When you get out onto an open road, though, well that’s a whole other story. The V2 literally comes alive. You can feel it is happier on these roads at a higher speed. I could feel the grin under my helmet as I opened it up.
Overtaking is effortless; you really don’t need to change down a gear, just wind on the throttle. The acceleration is phenomenal and you are out, past the car, and in so quickly (hence my earlier statement that it’s rapid).
Some people would probably argue that you just don’t need that sort of power in a road bike. No, you probably don’t—but boy, oh boy, is it fun!
Check out a video of me riding the 2022 Ducati V2 Streetfighter below:
Do I Agree with Ducati? Final Verdict on the Streetfighter V2
Oh yes! The V2 is definitely a one of a kind in its characteristics. The bike is just beautiful from whichever angle you look at it.
I parked the bike at a café one Sunday morning and was sitting having a coffee looking at the bike (as you do, or perhaps that’s just me). People flocked to the V2 like bees to a honey pot. There was just a continuous stream of admirers. Of course, the distinctive Ducati red helps to set the bike off, but there is definitely something about the V2.
The grin I had each time I got off the bike was addictive; I just wanted to keep riding the bike. I love the way the bike felt, the confidence it gave me in the corners, and the mischievous attitude it clearly has.
I am undecided as to whether I could tour on this bike, as although the bike is fantastic on an open road, around town it is tiring on the hands. I think a longer road test is needed to find this out.
Ducati is a premium brand bike, and although it is priced on the expensive side, you are getting a quality bit of kit. A lot of thought has gone into the design and styling of the bike, and the electronic aids, which you can adjust to suit your riding, help the bike deliver performance in a controlled-but-fun way.
If you are in the market for a bike in this sector, then do take one for a test ride. You will be as surprised (in a nice way) as I was at just what a machine this bike is. I think you will be as reluctant as I was to give this bike back.
Thank you On Yer Bike for the loan of the Ducati V2 Streetfighter; it was an amazing experience.
– BikerKaz
Pros:
- Fast and powerful
- A beautiful looking bike
- Adjustable suspension
- Modes within the modes let you customize your riding experience
Cons:
- No option available to lower the stock seat height
- With an MSRP of $17,868 USD / $24,803 CAD, this bike is expensive
2022 Ducati V2 Streetfighter Gallery
