Ducati has revealed a special edition of the Panigale V2 in honour of one of their most successful racers, Troy Bayliss. The Australian has three WSBK (Superbike World Championship) titles to his name, the third highest tally of WSBK wins in history (52) and holds the unique claim to being the only racer in history to have won a WSBK and MotoGP race in the same season.
Named the Panigale V2 Bayliss first Championship 20th Anniversary edition, the bike is clearly in honour of the 20th year anniversary since Bayliss picked up his first world championship in 2001 on the 996 R.
Visually, the V2 has the same body work, but gets special livery, with the number 21 proudly plastered on the front and side, with splashes of red and white. However, things do not stop with cosmetic changes as Ducati has also having given the bike some mechanical updates.
The 935cc L-twin engine remains unchanged and continues to put out 155hp and 104Nm of torque. However, Ducati has ditched the existing bike’s Showa and Sachs front/rear suspension set-up in favour of highe- end units from Ohlins — an NIX 30 fork and a TTX36 shock. The bike also gets a lithium-ion battery which helps reduce kerb weight by 3kg.
Ducati tends to bring a small number of its special edition Panigales to India, so we may see the Bayliss edition Panigale launched in India as well, based on customer demand.
