And, that would have been unquestionable the highlight of my weekend if my friend Tommy Naples, aka "Black Ice" hadn't let me ride his new Ducati Panigale 1299 around New York City.

Some friends and I had spent a cloudy morning up around White Plains and Bedford, on Jon's tricked out Ducati Monster 1200S,

The Panigale is unquestionably a beautiful bike though.





Riding around on my Ducati Streetfighter this weekend was a blast, filled with that sickly sweet mixture of power and fear that makes your skin tingle and your throat tighten up, wondering about your mortality in the back of your mind (cue Song of the Sausage Creature ...)And Jerry's Ducati 899 Panigale.We met up with a couple other cats for brunch back on the Upper West Side, then rode around the city for a while.Tommy generously swapping bikes with me to test out his brand new superbike.The 1299 is an easy bike to ride, and far more comfortable than either of any 899 or 1199 Panigale I've ever ridden.Nor did the bike really get hot, even riding around the city for half an hour in eighty-five degree heat. The bike obviously has much higher top end speed, and a lot more grunt at 205hp, but I swear my Streetfighter seems a little bit torquier, especially at the very low end.© 2016 Tigh Loughhead