850km/528 mile day on a Panigale.
Wow, what a day. First and foremost no, it was not nearly as bad as you'd think. Its been years since I've done a day like this and it is my longest day ride on my 959. To give you an idea its more than the driving distance from Toronto to NYC. People make it seem like such a big deal doing long distances on a sport bike. I think wearing proper gear really helps support your body like a brace and the comfort seat definitely makes a difference. Its probably one of the best mods I did on this bike.
It was mostly twisty back roads, a range of long sweepers to tighter small ones. Some highway as well. The Panigale performed flawlessly, I was wearing leather riding pants and never felt the heat at all, I think its only an issue when in jeans, It was proper HOT hitting 30 degrees celsius or 86 farenheit. It was my first ride on brand new Diablo Rosso 4's and they are great tires.
The only thing I would change if I could is the handlebar thickness/grips. They're a lot thinner than my Vstrom so you have to clench you fist more and the stock grips themselves are thin and hard, a softer spongier one would be nice. All in all though I was surprised at the comfort. There were times I was wishing I was on my Vstrom but every time ai cracked open the throttle I was glad I took out the Ducati.
It was a long weekend and I missed all the weekend traffic because I went out on Monday so overall it was a very enjoyable 12 hr day of being on the road!
For those of you wondering I was averaging about 250km between tanks with 3-4 litres or about a gallon remaining when filling up. If pushed I think the bike can hit 300km which is pretty good range for sport bike.