My 2010 Ducati Multistrada 1200 ST

[TT]

Yes, after years of second hand bikes, the time had come for me to invest in a new two wheeler and finally I have a white bike! ;-)

I never really looked into such kind of "touring" bikes honestly, as I always thought they were the kind of 40 to 50 yo dudes.

Well, a couple of months ago I was at the Ducati dealer to have my Monster serviced and they had this new Multistrada 1200 S up for testing.

I got the bike for half a day and was totally blown away!

It sure has the touring bike look (BMW GS and the such I mean), but holy shit it has some serious punch! Afterall the engine is derived from the 1198 superbike machine! And with a dry weight of less than 200 kg, 150 hp are a lot!

I never thought it could be so easy to get used to such a big bike, but hell, after a couple of corners I was dragging the feet supports on the ground! And it really goes like crazy: if you dare to open wide in any gear it's another planed even compared to my 120 hp strong S4 R!

I ended up signing before our honeymoon and when I got back three weeks after the order, the bike was arrived and was waiting for me:


I got the top of the line full optional 1200 S Touring version, which comes with luggage space, central stand, heated grips, ABS and fully electrically adjustable Ohlins suspensions.

There is lot of thecno gimnick in this bike. With the touch of a button you can select from 4 riding modes (Sport, Touring, City, Enduro). each of those has different suspensions, traction control and engine settings.

Of course I'm most of the time in Sport mode, which has stiff suspensions, 150 hp with very crisp reactions, but Touring isn't bad has it still has 150 hp, softer handling and softer engine response aswell.
You can also tell the bike if you're riding with a passenger, so it can adapt the suspensions.
And for every setting you can basically manually change and save anything (bound, rebound, height, traction control, engine power, engine response...): crazy!

I only did 1'000 km so far, but holy shit I'm happy! I only did one trip to the Alps to test it on a mountain pass and although I can't go beyond 5'000 rpm till the 2'500 km mark, it sure is brilland and damn quick! Love the terrific brakes aswell.

For the riders out there, try to get a testdrive of this machine as it's really a surprise.

Let's not waste any more time as anyway you guys don't like bikes :-P

BTW, love the new design of the board!

[gucom]

wow, great bike! When I read "touring bike" I expected something boring looking, but this1 looks pretty darn cool! and 150hp with 200kg is just ridiculous

[llastarri]

 

[yg60m]

Nice ride Matteo  I read a very good review on this bike some month ago, it seems like a good choice 

[wackary]

    (That is two 2 drooling emoticons because one just was not enough)
Yet another fine choice Matteo! I swear we must have been separated at birth because only brothers could have such identical taste in machinery!!!! Double plus well done old boy! I see you got the moto-infection proper! Enjoy it!

[TopGearNL]

Very nice bike maTTeo!

Are you going to use it everyday or just occasionally 

[danidmas]

Nice bike Matteo! I love this kind of "tourer" bikes although I will always prefer the car  Looks hot in white! I love it!

Did you sell the Monster BTW?

[TT]

Just in case somebody is interested in the owner's experience (I know most of you guys are definitely no bikers inside), here is a little update:

The Multistrada now has around 8'500 km under its belt and I am on the second set of Pirelli Scorpion Trail. Very nice tires, perfect for the bike, and allowing some amazing lean angles (I keep scratching the side stand as well as the feet holders).

No major problems so far, but:

. at around 3'000 km or so, a little thing transmitting the clucth input from the lever to the clutch itself, broke down and was changed under warrant. Luckily I was stranded 10 minutes from the dealer, so they picked me up quite quickly!
. 1'000 or so km ago, I brought the bike back for a factory recall: improved software and minor bugs fix, aswell as some mods to the side bags;
. Yesterday I got an error message, saying the electronic suspensions were basically busted. No easy fix, the dealer has to order a new ECU that will be installed next week. Right now the suspensions are stuck at the standard setting and it's impossible to change a thing.

As everybody knows, running an italian bike means troubles ;-)

Here is the bike I got yesterday while they were investigating my suspensions problem


And despite the problem, today we did a tour in the Alps: 300 km of mountain passes, always cool!
Gotthard, Susten, Grimsel, Furka, Oberalp et Lucomagno.

Only 3 bikes, good number to keep decent pace without loosing ppl because of overtakings and such


A lighthouse up in the Alps? LOL!


Thank you Google Latitude for tracking us!

[yeckmohr]

nice tour maTTeo and a beautyful bike for sure. congrats.

[pzgren]

as an active Buell rider i am interested
 
a workmate of mine owns a Multistrada too and is very happy with it. he's been on track a few times and never had problems with it so far. and he rides his bike like hell...
 
but as you said, you know that owning an italian bike means visit your mechanic from time to time..
 
the mentionned Pirelli Scorpion Trails, are the recommended from Ducati or was it your choice to use them?

[TT]

The Scorpion Trail is the standard tire. When I bought the bike I was considering a sportier tire, but when I discovered how good they are in every conditions, I sticked to them also when the first set was busted.

You can reach stunning lean angles (quite easy to scratch on the ground the feet holders and side stand, even when riding solo) and they seem to have the same grip in august on hot tarmac or in January with 0° C!