Voted most helpful review
Reviewed on August 10, 2010
I spent several days riding motorcycles in Italy this summer and the new Multistrada was one of the bikes I spent a day on. It was an S model without the panniers attached and I rode 2-up the entire time on primarily country back roads with a few miles of highway riding. The most informative...
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I spent several days riding motorcycles in Italy this summer and the new Multistrada was one of the bikes I spent a day on. It was an S model without the panniers attached and I rode 2-up the entire time on primarily country back roads with a few miles of highway riding. The most informative thing I believe I could say about it is that it totally lives up to every aspect of riding that Ducati depicts on their various videos on the website. I am 6-1 and the bike fit me perfectly. I am a sportbike guy (1098S) but this bike felt tall to me even taking that into consideration. The handling of the bike is absolutely superb and the suspension is perfect. Even with a passenger I was almost able to keep up with some very good riders on a 1198, 848, 999 and a 996. I wonder what I might have been able to do without a passenger but I didn't get to try that. The stump pulling torque of the engine is absolutely a rush. On the twisty roads I found no use whatsoever for anything but sport mode, but I did try the touring mode and urban mode. It was interesting how much more grunt and growl the engine has in sport mode compared to the others. I was flat out amazed that the same engine could take on such different character from mode to mode. I did get to cycle the DTC - it is truly amazing. Went blasting into a roundabout on a wet road and unexpectedly came across a plate of steel in the road that was laying across a hole that had been dug. The rear tire slipped and the power peeled off smoothly and immediately like nothing was wrong. I also cycled it a few times on some wet mountain roads in the corners. It works exactly like Ducati says it works. Beautiful. This is defintely a bike you can ride all day. The seating position is very, very straight up and the hand grips are spaced further apart than I am used to, but I got over that pretty quickly. Everything about the motorcycle just exudes quality, from fit to finish to sound - everything. AND - it looks better in person than any picture I have seen. I do have a few negatives about it. It is a very tall bike that handles like a sportbike in so many ways. That isn't exactly my taste, but a bike that performs this well, I guess that is an acceptable compromise for the comfort. I also did not care for the note of the stock exhaust - it was a bit neutered. Termigs would be a must. Also, the height of the windscreen was such that it created quite a bit of noisy buffer when it interacted with my helmet. It didn't shake my helmet at all, just noise. The screen is adjustable, however, and I did not try it in any setting other than the lowest because I do not like to look though a windshield when I ride. All said, I give it 5 stars all the way and 5 stars to Ducati for completely delivering a motorcycle that is exactly what they said it would be.
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