Ducati’s Panigale V4 is one of the most advanced superbikes on the market with a 210 horsepower MotoGP-developed four-cylinder engine. It is built almost exclusively for the race track, meant more for turning quick lap times than being comfortable on your daily commute, and definitely not built for any kind of rough terrain. So naturally the best thing to do is buy a wrecked bike, put dirt bike forks and knobby tires on it and give it the full-send treatment. That’s exactly what YouTube maniac Matt Spears did.
It’s absurd projects like this that keep YouTube alive. Obviously there is no practical reason to turn a Panigale into a wheelie-ripping dirt bike, but there’s also no reason not to. You can just do things. If you want to take a Ducati to the top of a nearby mountain, why not build it into something somewhat fit for the purpose? Nobody can stop you but you.
And if you want to later take that same Ducati and put a paddle tire on the back and hit the sand dunes in the snow, you’re welcome to do that, too.
This bike was built for going fast, and the original owner slammed it into something hard at what looks like a pretty high rate of speed. Looking at the condition of this bike as it was delivered to Matt on a pallet, it seems likely that this machine would have never run again if it weren’t for his Doctor Frankenstein-like ability to imbue life in the lifeless. This was a box of scraps before it was turned into something altogether different, and I just think that’s beautiful.
