Multistrada 2015

I read a post from an MTS owner who said he would never trust Ducati to get things right first time. The MTS has suffered many rear brake issues but seems that at last, from early reports, its sorted. The new variable valve timing also promises to sort low speed roughness. LED cornering lights and at last (Im a big fan), cruise control.
Ride reviews are still very thin so here's a movie with good scenery for starters and I await a good critical review
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/94JJGPl_Df8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Ducatis always looked class to me, but i always thought it would be a 3rd bike rather than the only 1 in the shed. So until the lotto win.........

Videos do nowt to sell bikes to me.

My mate has a four year old Multistrada and it looks dreadful.The build quality is even worse than BMW !!
The front brake reservoir cap is totally furred up as are many other fittings and nuts and bolts.

i do second the quality …one of our group has a 2012 one and the exhaust looks around 20 years old , the paint has faded into different shades of red . he would have another he says …but not yet !! in comparison one of the groups GS12 next to it looks brand new , same miles , etc

Does anyone actually have a 2015 model yet. My mate stopped in today and he "may"get his by the end of this month. His was one of the first orders at the dealers and the arrival date keeps getting pushed back

DC said:

i do second the quality …one of our group has a 2012 one and the exhaust looks around 20 years old , the paint has faded into different shades of red . he would have another he says …but not yet !! in comparison one of the groups GS12 next to it looks brand new , same miles , etc

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I had one for almost three years and around 30,000 miles. It looked immaculate when it went. My LCRT has done 3,500 and is already showing its age...

richardbd said:

I had one for almost three years and around 30,000 miles. It looked immaculate when it went. My LCRT has done 3,500 and is already showing its age...

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Seems there's Good n bad mutley's as well, but they are a thing of beauty, I noticed one today in my mirrors, as it past i wound down my window just to listen to the growl from the full termi

A rainy track day ride, (embedding forbidden) Youtube here

I'd love one, but build quality, reliability and residuals put me off.

The Nutty GSER said:

I'd love one, but build quality, reliability and residuals put me off.

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In my limited experience (one MTS, one GS) there's not much to choose between them. There are good and bad examples of both, as Ding-Dong says. On balance, on my two bikes I'd say that the GS seemed more solidly built but it probably aged worse than the MTS. The MTS was more plasticy but looked the same after three years/30k miles as when new.

You pays your money and takes your choice...

richardbd said:

In my limited experience (one MTS, one GS) there's not much to choose between them. There are good and bad examples of both, as Ding-Dong says. On balance, on my two bikes I'd say that the GS seemed more solidly built but it probably aged worse than the MTS. The MTS was more plasticy but looked the same after three years/30k miles as when new.

You pays your money and takes your choice...

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The residuals worry me more, as I get bored easily. I can't bring myself to lose over £5k in less than 6 months on a bike.

On another note, why can't BMW or Ducati launch a 160bhp bike with the following, as Ive done a lot of research, and neither have one bike with all the following, AND 160+ bhp.

Cruise control
Led headlights
Gear shift assist

I've got used to these features, and if I'm dropping £17k on a new bike, don't want to step backwards.

It's hardly difficult.

The Sachs 'skyhook suspension' is very sophisticated with lean angle sensors etc and similar to the HP4 , perhaps even the same albeit different in name. The rainy vid poster earlier has a similar YouTube showing his camera attached to standard versus skyhook and the latter has a noticeably improved ride., which he remarked about.
(2012 versions also had grey Sachs skyhook, earlier MTS were gold Ohlins)

The Nutty GSER said:

The residuals worry me more, as I get bored easily. I can't bring myself to lose over £5k in less than 6 months on a bike.



It's hardly difficult.

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I think you might find you've already done that

The Nutty GSER said:

I'd love one, but build quality, reliability and residuals put me off.

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That's for sensible things like cars.

What about your heart, surely your heart wants to go with something a bit different/fun/individual blah, blah, blah......................

I genuinley don't get this residual thang. You've, by all appearances, got a fair bit more 'disposable' than me yet I would not think twice about buying a bike that made my heart beat a bit faster. Residuals and all the rest of the practicle stuff don't get a look in. It's a bike. Bikes are about sex, girls and pain not fecking residuals; except possibly WBM's?

Life's too short

GrinningGSer said:

The Sachs 'skyhook suspension' is very sophisticated with lean angle sensors etc

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Same as the 1290 KTM then and I can atest to the effectivenss of lean sensitive traction control/ABS as used on the 1190's. You can do very silly things indeed, especially in the dirt

Andres

wrinkleyowlie said:

I think you might find you've already done that

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I think you'll find I haven't.

Outtomunch said:

That's for sensible things like cars.

What about your heart, surely your heart wants to go with something a bit different/fun/individual blah, blah, blah......................

I genuinley don't get this residual thang. You've, by all appearances, got a fair bit more 'disposable' than me yet I would not think twice about buying a bike that made my heart beat a bit faster. Residuals and all the rest of the practicle stuff don't get a look in. It's a bike. Bikes are about sex, girls and pain not fecking residuals; except possibly WBM's?

Life's too short

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Agreed. If a bike came along with all the things above, I'd definitely be interested. Residuals are at the bottom of my preferences, but working with money, it does feature in my thoughts. In the meantime, my S1000 ticks all the boxes you've mentioned.

The Nutty GSER said:

.................In the meantime, my S1000 ticks all the boxes you've mentioned.

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............I don't doubt that for a moment

Andres

Bikes to me are about passion. Residuals are for boring accountants. If I worried about residuals, there's many bikes I've owned that I would never have bought, and that includes my 12GS (thank you Hurts Motorrad ).

I have an order in for a 2015 Multistrada DVT, delivery "soon". I did a quick write up on a Ducati forum of my 2nd test ride...

I went back to P&H today for another test ride of their standard 1200 DVT. I wanted to have a good look at the bike, try all the modes, fiddle about with it and do more miles. I had 2 hours on it this time so did some slab down to Brighton then twisties on the way back.

The bike is now run in at 600+ miles, rather than the 30 miles it had on my first test ride, so I felt comfortable nailing it a bit more aggressively. Holy mother of god it's amazing! From 6k rpm it goes ballistic. In sport mode it is very very fast indeed. You will not be disappointed.

I tried the heated grips which were nice and toasty with an even heat.

At 6'2" there is noise & buffeting from the screen - as per usual I'm about 2" too tall as it's calmer if I slouched down a bit. I might investigate a short screen or that carbon thingy.

The front seat didn't seam to be attached properly at the rear. Very curious. I couldn't work out how it was meant to fit on, and couldn't see how height adjustment would work. I didn't have a manual handy either.

Cruise control is excellent. Coming off cruise control is a bit surprising as suddenly you're in a world of heavy engine braking which throws you forwards. Once you've done it for the first time you can be prepared next time.

Throttle response isn't quite linear and it'll take a while to figure out how the bikes going to react to a given input. Most noticeable in Sport mode.

Handling is excellent - just chuck it on its side with no drama. I didn't have the guts to try the "crack it open while leant over" traction control on a demo bike with a £750 insurance excess. But it is beautifully nimble in the twisties, flipping from side to side easily. It will destroy everything up in the Alps I think.

Sitting on the motorway was fine - no issues other than being a bit noisier (wind) and buffetier than I'd like. It felt very relaxed at 80mph like it would just go and go all day. And EVERYONE got out of my way - brilliant! The seat feels tipped forward a bit, resulting in me sliding forward and my trousers rucking up and trapping my nadgers - this would get uncomfortable on a long trip but it may just be how the seat was (not) attached. I prefer a flatter seat.

Around town it was all very light and easy to ride. One important aspect of a bike for me is how well it does slowly, as well as quickly. It was occasionally (twice) slightly reluctant to slot into neutral at a standstill - a gentle release of the clutch and nudge of the gear lever worked. I'll put this down to a new gearbox. Plenty of steering lock, able to dribble through traffic, not overly noisy and flashy. Light clutch, light throttle, easy steering. Lots of people gawking at it.

Overall, small niggles in what is a truly weaponised motorcycle. Ludicrously quick, handles brilliantly, comfy riding position, and 42 mpg average with a mix of motorway, slow town, twisties - your typical normal ride in crowded southern England.

And earlier I did a write up of the S1000R (nearest I could get to the S1000XR at the moment), the KTM 1290 Super Adventure, and the Multistrada:

I had a fun time last weekend test riding a BMW S1000R, KTM Super Adventure and Ducati Multistrada DVT.

I'm in the market for a replacement for my excellent Yamaha Super Tenere - I no longer need to commute by bike so the sensible, reliable S10 can go and I can get something more fun. I'm after the spiritual successor to my KTM 950 Supermoto which was more fun than the most fun thing, but a bit of a pain for distance work (!). I want lots of power, a comfortable riding position, mile munching, and a serious dose of madness.

Obviously I can't ride the BMW S1000XR yet as nobody has any, but with it having the same engine as the S1000R naked streetbike, I rode that instead. I like the torque of twins and haven't had a 4 cylinder for a while, so I wanted to see if I'd like the engine. The S1000XR is going to be pretty much the same power unit.

P&H in Crawley had the KTM Super Adventure in, and just registered a 1200 DVT (non-S base model) on Friday evening so I was able to take it out on Saturday morning. Thoughts on all 3:

BMW S1000R

Vines in Guildford leant me theirs. After an hour I found I just wasn't getting on with the engine. It's all a bit too revvy and frantic for me, and doesn't feel relaxed. It is super smooth and turbine like, but it felt a bit lacking in torque so you just need to keep revving it. It's a bit "shouty".

Electric suspension & other bits worked fine. I tend to just set my suspension up and leave it alone so personally I don't see a huge value in electric adjustment. The seat was hard as anything, though I imagine the S1000XR will be a much more plush affair.

The quickshifter is a laugh and the bike is crazily fast when you use it. Short geared for motorway speeds, I wonder if they'll change the gearing on the S1000XR as it's really not relaxed at all. If they do change it, they'll need to give it just a taller 6th gear rather than changing the rear sprocket and ruining the acceleration.

KTM 1290 Super Adventure

Ludicrous! Riding it is like being on meth - it's intensely addictive. Much more torque than the S1000R. Totally ballistic engine - amazing. Light controls, lovely gear change. Electronic bits were all very interesting, and seemed to work fine, with intuitive dash and controls. Handling was good, but not as good as I'd have thought. It ran wide a few times - maybe just something that you can get used to and sling it in harder. But what a bike - amazing! Gob-smackingly good, very very fast, loads of torque, and quite hilarious. Big, purposeful, epic.

Ducati Multistrada 1200 DVT non-S

I rode the base model without the Skyhook fancy suspension. It was brand new - just registered at 5pm the previous day. It had keyless ignition, centre stand, cruise, heated grips. It is much more compact than the KTM Super Adv. More like the KTM 950SM actually. Feels very nice to sit in/on, everything in the right places. Some items on the dash are so small as to be nearly invisible unless you look really close at them.

And riding it - if the KTM was like being a meth addict, the Ducati is full-on crack cocaine. Unbelievable. Torque everywhere, especially crazy mental midrange, with ballistic pace. Being somewhat mechanically sympathetic, I didn't rev the nuts off it as it was brand new, so top end is an unknown at the moment. I didn't notice any lumpiness at low revs, though I've never ridden another Ducati apart from this one so I don't have anything to compare it to.

And it handled so much like the KTM 950SM - just think it and it goes there - much much more agile than the Super Adv. Amazing - so nimble. Coming out of twisty corners it just erupts in an orgasmic wave of joy. Bonkers! And when not riding like an idiot, it was refined and smooth. Very very nice. Better than nice - bloody gobsmackingly brilliant. It's like a KTM 950SM with double the power, same sort of handling, and a comfy riding position. Yes!