2025 Ducati Streetfighter V4 S | Photo Credit: Kaizad Adil Darukhanawala

The first thing I noticed about the 2025 Ducati Streetfighter V4 S wasn’t its sound, its stance or even the numbers attached to it. It was how little it asked of me at first. The bike stood there on the side of the road, red and sharp against a fading evening sky, looking less like something eager to be ridden and more like something perfectly comfortable waiting.

The Streetfighter’s LED DRLs stared ahead, fixed and unreadable. I stopped a few steps short. Normally, a motorcycle like this triggers a grin. This one didn’t. Instead, there was a pause I hadn’t planned. Nothing had happened yet. And yet, my body reacted as if it had.

This is the closest the Streetfighter has ever been to the Panigale superbike it’s derived from. At its core sits the same 1103cc Desmosedici Stradale V4, producing 211 bhp and 12.26 kg-m. Ducati hasn’t softened or detuned the engine for the road. What it has done is strip away the fairings, the wind protection and any buffer between rider and machine. The only difference in power comes from the smaller air intake.

dark horse

I rolled out into the city in Road mode with the power reduced and throttle response dulled just enough to take the edge off. Traction control was set conservatively and the wheelie control stood alert. Ducati’s six-axis IMU monitored everything quietly in the background. At low speeds, the Streetfighter was almost ordinary. The engine was smooth, the fuelling was clean and the clutch felt light. It filtered through traffic without any protest.

That normalcy was unsettling in its own way. After all, this was the flagship naked motorcycle from the storied Italian marque. As the city opened up and the road began to flow, the bike revealed more of itself. The Pirelli Diablo Rosso IV Corsa tyres warmed quickly, gripping the road with a confidence that felt slightly unnerving and inspiring at the same time. Even with measured inputs, the traction control light flickered more often than I expected. Not because the bike was misbehaving, but because it was always closer to its limits than my senses suggested.

The electronics weren’t cutting in sharply, they were smoothing things out, just enough to keep everything composed. It felt less like intervention and more like feedback for me to adapt to our roads. The earlier Streetfighter had a reputation for being overwhelming — brutal acceleration, relentless pace and too little patience. This one felt different; it wasn’t calmer or slower, but clearer. Ducati hasn’t reduced the numbers, in fact they have gone up. Yet, the bike felt more controlled than before.

The S-spec plays a big role in that. Semi-active Öhlins Smart EC 2.0 suspension constantly adjusts its damping based on speed, throttle position, brake pressure and lean angle. At 189 kg, the bike feels improbably light once moving. Over uneven city roads and expansion joints on the highway, it stayed composed without feeling detached.

After an hour of riding, I pulled over to the edge of the highway and turned off the engine. I realised I’d been riding defensively out of habit, not necessity. Back on the move, the road stretched out, empty enough to stop pretending. The engine sat at around 7,000 rpm, smooth and unbothered. No vibration or urgency. A glance at the speedometer showed numbers that felt higher than they should have. That’s when I switched to Race mode.

smooth transition

The change was immediate — throttle response sharpened, electronic assistance stepped back and the suspension firmed up, controlling pitch and squat with precision. Full power was now available, delivered cleanly and without delay. Past 7,000 rpm, the Streetfighter changed character. The V4 surged forward with a force that compressed space and time. Acceleration didn’t arrive in a rush; it built steadily, relentlessly. I laughed inside my helmet, caught off guard by how natural it felt.

The front wheel lifted in first gear. Then again in second. And again in third. Ducati claims the biplane wings generate 45 kg of downforce at 270 kph, but what mattered more at sensible speeds was stability. The chassis never felt unsettled, the throttle stayed precise and wheelie control didn’t interrupt the moment but shaped it.

This wasn’t technology correcting mistakes. It was technology allowing better decisions to happen sooner. Soon enough, speed stopped feeling dramatic and started feeling manageable. Yet again, that was the unsettling part. The Streetfighter didn’t overwhelm me or demand courage. It made everything feel logical, repeatable and easy to return to.

The Brembo Hypure calipers erased speed with effortless authority. Each pull of the lever was firm and consistent. The quickshifter snapped through gears cleanly, keeping the engine in the thick of its power. Numbers faded into the background and inputs became instinctive. At some point, the ride stopped being about discovering the motorcycle and turned into a quiet negotiation with myself. The Streetfighter felt capable of sustaining this pace indefinitely. I was the variable.

When I finally turned it off, what lingered wasn’t excitement or relief, but composure. I was fully aware that this bike’s absolute limits have no place on public roads. However, that awareness didn’t reduce the Streetfighter’s appeal. If anything, it enhanced it. After all, there is nowhere to hide on a motorcycle like this. No fairing, no insulation, no softening of sensations.

I stood where I had begun, the Streetfighter still parked in the quiet, unchanged. I lingered longer than necessary, helmet in hand, replaying that laugh in my head. The bike hadn’t demanded anything. It had simply shown me how much was available. Some machines leave you satisfied, others leave you thinking. This one left me aware of how easily restraint can give way and how calmly it makes that choice feel reasonable. At ₹32.38 lakh (ex-showroom) the Ducati Streetfighter V4 S is obviously out of reach for most of us. However, for those who can afford it, it’s squarely placed in the realm of choice rather than justification.

© Motoring World

Published on January 16, 2026