Review: 42107 Ducati Panigale V4 R
Posted by Huw,
42107 Ducati Panigale V4 R is latest in a line of large-scale Technic motorcycles and the second to be licensed from a manufacturer.
The design of Technic sets generally has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years, but there hasn't been a lot of innovation evident in Technic motorcycles. However, this one features new forks, new disc brakes and a 2-speed gearbox, which has not been seen before in a bike, so let's take it for a spin and see if it surpasses my favourite Technic bike, 8051.
Parts
The set contains 646 parts, which thus makes it the largest Technic motorcycle, in terms of number of pieces. Among them are a number of re-colours and some new elements.
This translucent flexible plastic piece is used for the fairing.
A new shock absorber, 65151 Shock Absorber, No. 1, is used for the front forks. The spring is internal so it has a more refined appearance than existing shocks. It will no doubt find its way into other sets in the future.
This piece, 65416 Design Element W/ Cross Hole, No. 1, is used for the front brake discs. The rear wheel disc brake utilises the piece first used in the Bugatti Chiron, 35189 Design Element, W/ 4.85 Hole, but in light grey this time.
As is usual for Technic sets, an extensive sticker sheet is a necessary evil.
Construction
The set's USP is the two-speed gearbox whose sole effect is to marginally change the frequency at which the cylinder heads move up and down for a given speed of the wheels.
Once it's built there's not much to see and I regret not taking a photo of it before the second side is attached. So, here's a picture from the instructions which shows that it uses the same principles and pieces as found in the gearboxes in recent Technic super cars.
Here's the chassis before it's clad with bodywork and fairings
I'll discuss the gubbins on both sides of the engine later.
Rather than being equipped with a kick-stand, the bike comes with a 'paddock stand'. The axle sticking out the top mates with a hole near the rear axle of the bike to hold it upright.
The completed model
It's about 33cm long and 18cm high. The new shocks, brake discs and fairing pieces are very prominent at the front and vastly add to the authenticity. The stickers certainly add to that, too, but you could leave them off and it would look perfectly acceptable as a generic red bike.
The bike has just one rear-wheel swing arm which is correctly modelled here but the shock absorber and mudguard above the wheel have not been replicated accurately at all: the shock is incorrectly placed, and offset to the left, and the mudguard only covers the right-hand-side of the wheel.
The cockpit area looks pretty good, though, with a sticker representing the screen displaying the dials.
The flexible fairing piece has two holes on each side and is ingeniously held in place with two Ninjago swords, which themselves are flexible. It takes a bit of fiddling to get it all aligned but once done, I think it looks pretty good.
The gearbox is operated by a lever on the left, where it is on the real bike. Down selects first gear, horizontal is neutral, and up selects second gear.
A sprung loaded mechanism on the right holds it in one of the three positions.
Incredibly, this white elastic band is all that connects the gearbox to the engine!
Verdict
I asked our resident motorcycle expert Duq to give us his verdict:
"The designers have done a reasonable job in making a bike that looks like the Ducati Panigale Corse. If you look at the photos of the prototype and the Technic model side by side at the back of the instruction book you'll see a pretty good likeness. The headlight likeness is not as impressive as the Lamborghini, as they sit too high. The front mudguard is missing, and the body is too wide, but the overall shape is there. Stickers for vents and the logo on the tank help, but are not essential.
"Technically the big innovation is a working gearbox. Like on a real motorbike pushing the left foot lever down gives you first gear, pulling up is second. Unlike a real bike the lever stays up or down and there are only 2 gears but given the available space that's still impressive. What's less impressive is that the connection between crankshaft and gearbox is a rubber band, not gears or a chain."
My take is that it looks pretty good, and it is indeed impressive that a gearbox has been fitted into such a tight space. But, practically, it causes so much friction that it's hard to actually push the bike along, particularly when it's in first gear, so you can't really appreciate it or see its effect. I suspect the elastic band Duq mentions doesn't help...
I also don't really like the paddock stand, the bike keeps falling over if the front wheel is not straight. I'm not sure whether it was by design, but there's an unused axle end protruding from the bottom left-hand side, which can be used to fit a more practical kick-stand. It doesn't kick up, but it's perfect for display.
It's a worthy addition to the Technic motorcycle stable but a flawed one. It's nice to know it has a gearbox inside but it's practically useless.
In my opinion, 8051 Motorbike from 2010 is still the one to beat...
42107 Ducati Panigale V4 R is currently available in the UK and Europe and will be launched on 1st August in the USA and Canada.
Thanks to LEGO for providing the set for review, and to Duq for his assistance. All expressed opinions are mine and his.
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22 comments on this article
I very much appreciate the candor of this review. It reinforces my belief that all Brickset reviewers do their best to be objective. Earlier on I was interested in this set, but less so now after seeing the pictures from various angles. Thanks!
Thanks for the great review! I think this is one I do still want... to see with a nice discount :-)
>It's nice to know it has a gearbox inside but it's practically useless.
This is my view on all the big car gearboxes too tbh
Looks great and fairly priced, I like it.
I bought this for a friend and build it. It is an utter disaster. Tons of stickers that will peel in no time since this is a display piece and will sit in the open. The "stand" is a joke, it looks terrible - is this REALLY the best solution they came up with? The red is, well, red in some parts and another red in others. The windshield/cockpit is not translucent (as I imagine it should be) and feels flimsy and super cheap. Sorry, but no. Looks like I am really done with Lego "Technic".
@Mickitat said:
"I bought this for a friend and build it. It is an utter disaster. Tons of stickers that will peel in no time since this is a display piece and will sit in the open. The "stand" is a joke, it looks terrible - is this REALLY the best solution they came up with? The red is, well, red in some parts and another red in others. The windshield/cockpit is not translucent (as I imagine it should be) and feels flimsy and super cheap. Sorry, but no. Looks like I am really done with Lego "Technic"."
Recent LEGO stickers are far higher in quality than those from the early 2000s. I’ve found they’re far less prone to peeling.
Thanks for the honest review!
I detest stickers at the best of times (they really spoil the meditative 'flow' of a LEGO build and are infuriating when not aligned) but what's the point of covering all the red panels with red stickers...?
Surely the details could be added with smaller stickers if they have at least one edge to guide them.
It would be virtually impossible to align them correctly if they didn't fill the whole panel, IMO.
I learned a new word from this review, Gubbins. Also I had to look up USP, as I was unfamiliar with this abbreviation. Thanks for the review and vocabulary lesson.
"it is indeed impressive that a gearbox has been fitted into such a tight space. But, practically, it causes so much friction that it's hard to actually push the bike along, particularly when it's in first gear,"
First gear doesn't happen to be using the Tan 20t gear, does it? If yes, try replacing the 20t gear with an older version of the same cog (at least 3 years old, but the older, the better), and you should find a huge reduction in friction.
The Tan 20t gear works well in most situations, but it tends to jam when paired with the black 12t gear (as in the gearbox of this set). The teeth are so close together, that when you turn the gears they sort of snap into each position (almost like the click hinges) rather than spinning freely. When I dug out an old version of the cog from a 2001 set, it moved much more smoothly. I can't see much difference between the old (2001) and new (2020) gears, except that the rectangular block on each tooth has a trapezoidal profile in the 2001 version vs a squared-off profile in the 2020 version. I don't have a ready supply of thew gears so I can't tell when exactly this change in the mould happened, but it seems to be the last 2-3 years.
Hopefully the real life version of this motorcycle has a clutch lever and front brake lever, otherwise it'd be a real challenge to ride! Surprised Lego couldn't figure out a way to add those details.
I really like the Technic bikes but enough with the racers already. Why can't we get a custom chopper looking hellishly beautiful?
@Mr__Thrawn said:
"Recent LEGO stickers are far higher in quality than those from the early 2000s. I’ve found they’re far less prone to peeling."
My experience has been mixed; for one, my 60150 stickers started peeling just 1 year after I built it in mid-2018 :( Haven't seen any issues with the other recent sets I've built and stickered — my 60197 is holding up well for example (though, then again, I've heard that clear-backed stickers tend to last longer and white-backed ones are notorious for peeling, but *all* of my Pizza Van stickers have peeled).
I've seen some of my early 2000s stickers becoming misaligned as the adhesive loses potency, such as the logos in 3409 and just one of the flags in 6575 (the rest are pristine), but nothing in the way of peeling yet; knock on wood.
I've never had a pure Technic set before 42079, so I'll have to see how well its stickers hold up in the next few years...
No b-model, again, as a lot of recent technic sets...
I like it, but I still feel that rear shock absorber should have been gold as well.
can't wait for it arrive and display next to my Porsche and Bugatti ...... Although working gear boxes etc etc are great addition in these models I'm not really spending anytime pushing them around the floor ....... so this is not an issue or me
BMW GS 1200 looks better to me. But I'm a car guy. The only bike I had was 8810. Which hat working springs in the back and was aweseom enough for young me. I even build a side car once.
I like the front suspension, wheels and disc brakes, which will no doubt make it into future bike mocs including the above mentioned Harley Davidson, which was the B model for 8051. The paneling helps to provide the superbike feel when displayed, and the two gear engine should appeal to those wanting a bit more Technic in their Technic. The timing of the review also coincides with the Lego Ideas competition for the ultimate tour with a Ducati coming to a close.
I have no idea if the stickers are better then the old ones since I never apply them. It does not matter, the problems of the model themselves are bad enough, the stickers are just the cherry on the different shades of red bike.
Snuck a pair of 3900s into the headlights for that light strip look. Pretty satisfied with the outcome.
"In my opinion, 8051 Motorbike from 2010 is still the one to beat..."
Not a fair comparrison.
8051 has no real-life counterpart it needs to mimic, it is free of such constraints, unlike the 42107, which has no kick-, but a padlock stand, has a v4 motor and succeded to cram a gearbox in there, just like the real thing. And in Lego scale elements.
8051 is now a ten years old set that brought nothing new to the Technic bikes line in terms of functions: steering, suspensions and a 2-piston mock engine driven by the back wheel, just like predecessors. And Technic is primarily about functions. Otherwise, TLG could've gone the Creator Expert path here, like with 10269 Fat Boy.
Wrong rear suspension angle? Has anyone seen the real thing? The shock absorber od a V4 Panigale is so short, it's barely visible between the motor and the wheel. No lego SA that small exists. How do you propose to accomplish that w/o introducing more new parts (in a €60 set)?
I'll agree on the rubber bands, but, as the modders on the eurobricks forum deduced a month ago, the gears replacement mechanism that fits barely runs the engine pistons.
Should've been pointed out a gearbox is useless on all the models, aside of an intricacy of a build.
The windwhield: The best one for a bike so far. It is not made in a clear plastic? Damn, what a mistake! The previous bike, the BMW, has a smudged technic panel...
I used to love Technic sets, and as for Technic bikes, 8051 can indeed be considered one of the best.
This new one doesn't hold a candle to it.
Every bad development over the last few years in terms of Technic is exemplified here. Terrible quality of materials (many different shades of red, milky fairing), functions that don't work properly and are hidden from view anyway, no B-Model, plus unnecessarily expensive because of licence fees when a generic bike would have sufficed. I mean this set doesn't look very much like the real thing to begin with, and even less so if you leave the stickers off.
I know why I decided to not buy any Technic sets anymore. This set is the perfect example for all the reasons.
@Schmopiesdad said:
"I very much appreciate the candor of this review. It reinforces my belief that all Brickset reviewers do their best to be objective. Earlier on I was interested in this set, but less so now after seeing the pictures from various angles. Thanks!"
Same