Cycle World tests the Aprilia RSV4 Factory, BMW M 1000 RR, and Ducati Panigale V4 SP2 head-to-head in a racetrack shootout, naming the best superbike of 2022.
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The only things required in the modern-day superbike are the essential go-fast elements of mass horsepower, wicked handling, and a heck of a lot of technology developed at the highest levels of racing. Anything else? Scrap it. Extra interferes with the ultimate goal of the ideal lap time. This is the category that has revolutionized outright road-going motorcycle performance as we know it.
It’s what has made superbikes so super. And every so often, one of these machines comes along and defies the perception of what is possible on two wheels, completely changing our expectations for a high-performance race-bred streetbike. To put things in perspective, a former Cycle World staffer purchased a late-’70s Suzuki GS1000, leaving it in the crate, convinced that performance of such an astonishing level would not be outdone. Boy, was he wrong.
Era-defining motorcycles like the legendary 1986 GSX-R750 followed with its remarkably low weight, high rpm, and unflinching sporting focus for the period. Other milestone machines include the wicked 1998 Yamaha YZF-R1, then the fabled 2005 Suzuki GSX-R1000 otherwise known as the K5, and more recently the technologically sophisticated 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1. Each represents a new realm in conceivable performance relative to its period and was built with the rules of production-based Superbike racing in mind, in order to win on Sunday and sell on Monday. Because if you want a great racebike, you have to start with a great streetbike.
What’s different in this test is that two bikes arrive here flouting any racing rules while one aims to perform within superbike regulations to deliver the best possible racetrack experience. None of these motorcycles are cheap, but considering their relative performance and their high-level industrial art, you could argue there’s a ton of value here. There is nothing better available on two wheels for total sportbike performance-these bikes are it.
The Ducati Panigale V4 SP2 is the best example of no-holds-barred performance, packed with the oversized 1,103cc Stradale 90-degree V-4 and a whole lot of carbon fiber. Think of it as Ducati building upon the performance of the super-exotic Superleggera V4, Cycle World Ten Best Superbike 2021 champion, and delivering it in a package that’s 60 percent cheaper and more readily available to the customer. It feels as if it was hand built on the workbench alongside Bologna’s World Superbikes.
Aprilia’s RSV4 Factory has a similar story. The winner of Cycle World’s last superbike shootout has a lot on the line. Since that time, Aprilia has bumped displacement of its unrestricted 65-degree V-4 to 1,099cc, fitted top-shelf semi-active Öhlins suspension, and an updated swingarm, among other changes. Aprilia may not be actively competing in superbike racing, but recent MotoGP results are proof of its ongoing expertise.
In this group, BMW’s M 1000 RR is an outlier by being a homologation-special racing model. It has to be 1,000cc, but it’s the finest, fastest machine Motorrad has to offer. That means it’s the competition-minded descendant of the capable S 1000 RR with every bit of the design focused on finding advantages within the scope of the World Superbike rules package. Yes, there is street-spec equipment, but BMW is just squeaking through DOT and EPA requirements to qualify the M as a for-sale streetbike so it can go racing at one of the highest levels.
Evaluating the true performance of these open-class machines is a serious task, and for the 2022 Cycle World Superbike Shootout, that meant two full days of highly focused testing on Thunderhill’s 3.0-mile road course. It is a lot of fun and also very intense, particularly with ambient temperatures around 100 degrees. This track is demanding. Packed with dramatic elevation changes, a variety of tight and fast sweeping corners, heavy braking zones, and fifth-gear straightaways, it puts every aspect of these superbikes under the magnifying glass of our handpicked testers. Legendary CW road test editor Don Canet returned to deliver objective evaluations and do the timed hot laps, while in-market editor and experienced professional roadracer Bradley Adams and motorcyclistonline.com senior editor Adam Waheed also handled testing duties.
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