| Hi Ben, I can't give you a direct comparison but I have ridden a Panigale-on Monday! What can I say-what a bike. The fueling is sublime, turns really easily, engine is so so smooth. I cannot comment about the top end shove since the bike was still running in-but it certainly doesn't have the manic torque of the 1198-which is a good thing as far as I am concerned-unless you really like huge wheelies. Having said that it is certainly not weak at the low end-if you tweak the throttle it takes off-just smoothly. Only down side I could see is that at slow speeds you get your backside slowly roasted-huge amount of heat comes off the pipes. The exhaust valve thing is amazing-on standard pipes it sounds like it already has full race Termi's on it-then the valve shuts and the bike becomes whisper quiet-until it opens again to the full Ducati rumble.
The only real downside I can see-apart from the £20k asking-is that unless you are doing the topside of 80mph there is too much weight on my (modified at Brands 12 years ago) wrists. Brilliant bike for Sunny Sunday blasts and/or trackdays-I'll stick to my 1200Multistrada.
I also rode an 848 StreetFighter-now that really is a fun little road bike.
John
Growing old-disgracefully! | 
Monty
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