2023 Ducati Streetfighter gets Panigale superbike updates

Ducati hasn't made vast changes to the new Streetfighter V4S for 2023, mainly because the planet's most ferocious naked didn't really require any!

-  Adam 'Chad' Child

Power from the immense V4 Desmosedici Stradale remains at a claimed 205bhp (or 208hp in the Ducati brochure). So hardly an issue there. Peak torque also remains capped at 90.4lb-ft (123Nm), and we can't see any sane human being complaining about that either. Top-spec Brembo Stylema brakes remain, as does the main chassis and its superbike-inspired geometry.

Ducati has, however, tweaked the ergonomics and electronics, a similar trick as performed last year to the Panigale V4, to make the Streetfighter V4 faster, madder and, believe it or not, easier than ever.

To test the new 2023 updates, we headed to the tricky and challenging Circuito de Andalucía in Spain, to see if we could feel the differences and experience one of the most demanding naked bikes on the market. Normally when we attend a world press launch and arrive to find the new model is ostensibly like the old, we'd be a tiny bit disappointed. But in this case, I for one was not complaining. In fact, the Streetfighter V4S could even have been tamed a little - had a few horses shaved from its brutally potent motor - and I'd have still been happy, because every time you ride one on track you know you are in for a serious full-body-and-brain workout. It's a beast like no other.

Before we get to the relative subtlety of the 2023 updates, it's worth refamiliarising with the sledgehammer itself. I spent the early sessions of this test using the Sport mode: short-shifting on the new super-smooth up-and-down quickshifter, trying to relearn the race track. But despite not pushing for a fast lap and barely bothering the business end of the rev range in each gear, the V4 felt utterly up for the fight. Like barely-contained fury.

Fast and focused