2011 Ducati Multistrada 1200S Touring - A Practical Review, One Year On.

17 September 2012

So what exactly is a “practical review”? Well, the Internet is awash with reviews of this bike which talk about the power, weight, torque, engine performance, and other mechan-o-nerd stuff. But after having owned a 2011 Ducati Multistrada 1200S Touring for about a year now, I thought it might be useful to share some practical experiences and feelings about the bike which aren’t apparent from a test ride or a stat sheet. Over the last 12 months I’ve managed to clock up around 4800 miles on the bike - a respectable tally when you consider the dealer told me last week that the average mileage for Multistradas of the same age is about 1500.

Ducati’s marketing tells us that the Multistrada is “four bikes in one”, but I’d have to say my mileage has really only been clocked up on two of those ‘bikes’ - the Urban and the Touring. Sure, I’ve had it in Sports mode a few times, but that dials in settings which aren’t practical for day-to-day riding in London. As for Enduro mode, aside from unexpectedly finding myself on a badly resealed road recently, it hasn’t had much use. There’s just too much expensive plastic to break to risk off-road riding on a Multistrada! The Urban ‘bike’ has dealt with daily commuting and a weekly 40 mile round trip to a work location outside of London. For the Touring ‘bike’, it’s been a couple of day trips to Wales and a 3,000 mile week in France/Spain. Hopefully that’s enough to form some decent opinions.

My main reason for looking at the adventure bike segment was to add something to the stable which was primarily a good tourer, could deal with a gravel road, but could also be used in the city. So for comparison, prior to buying the Ducati I also test-rode a few of the competitors: BMW’s GS 1200, KTM’s 990SMT, and Moto Guzzi’s Stelvio NX. From those rides, the decision ultimately came down to Multistrada vs GS. The KTM felt like a toy and the Stelvio, like a brick on wheels (which was a let-down as I am a total Guzzi fan, having owned a California since 2004). The Multistrada won the day because it was considerably lighter than the GS, but more importantly, was £2000 cheaper once you’d kitted up the Beemer to match the Ducati‘s standard spec. The MTS was also extremely fun during the test ride.

So 12 months on? Well, the upshot is, I’ve swapped it out for a Triumph Tiger Explorer instead. Don’t get me wrong, the Multistrada is a fun bike with some amazing tech, but I think Ducati is really stretching it to call this “four bikes in one”. More like two and a half. I think first and foremost, the Multistrada is an upright sports bike, or at least a sports tourer. This isn’t surprising given the engine is an adapted version of that found in the Ducati superbikes. As an urban runabout it also works pretty well, although the wide hand guards require a bit of deft handlebar work when filtering in London traffic. That’s the two bikes. As for an ‘Enduro”, forget about it unless you are pretty sure you are never going to drop it. And I mean never. The absence of engine or fairing guards means even the lightest of spills will enrich your Ducati dealer beyond belief. And that leaves us with Touring... the capability for which I award the Multistrada its ‘half a bike’ score.

As I mentioned, touring was one of the primary reasons I bought this bike, but this is the area where I feel when Ducati’s marketing is a little ahead of the reality. This probably isn’t a complete surprise given Ducati’s pedigree in the sports and street bike arenas but relative inexperience in other sectors. The 2011 MTS did get stellar reviews from the motorcycle press, but I guess there’s a whole world of difference between taking it for a whirl ahead of your copy deadline and chalking up a 400 mile day.

So why did I sell?

My first and biggest complaint about the Multistrada is the amount of heat it throws onto the rider. Of course the laws of physics mean a bike will always generate heat, but with the engine position on the MTS you ‘re basically sitting right on top of the manifold. In cold climates this might be welcome, but if you want to use the bike in any mild or warmer places (highly likely given its supposed touring credentials), then be prepared to have your legs and arse cooked. On the recent trip to Spain, the mercury was nudging 40C and the heat produced by the Multistrada was almost unbearable, particularly when wearing leathers. And once it heats up, there is no safe or comfortable riding position you can use to keep your legs cool - even when moving at speed! It’s probably worth mentioning I’m no stranger to hot weather riding. I grew up in Australia and in 2010, I rode through Death Valley in July when the day time temperature was hovering near 56C. I was much cooler during that ride than on the Multistrada in Spain! This for me shows that Ducati still has a lot to learn when it comes to designing touring bikes.

Which leads me to the next gripe – the seat. Knowing that touring as a definite part of the future, I opted to have the Touring Seat accessory added to the bike. The brochure deftly describes this as “even more comfortable” than the by subtraction already comfortable stock seat. Sadly this is just not true. The touring seat is indeed slightly softer than the stock seat, but it still employs what I would call a ‘sports bike angle’. Presumably this helps the rider stay on the bike when you wrap the throttle in sports mode, but on a long ride it has the effect of forcing your body to slide forward, thereby jamming the wedding tackle right into the tank. Not the most comfortable position after hour number six on the road. It also means most of the pressure of sitting on the seat is placed on a relative small area of each arse cheek. Again, not great for a long ride. I guess it might be possible to find a better aftermarket seat, but it’s a shame to have to rely on that.

Next, the screen. Although adjustable, for someone of my height (a fairly average 5’11”) there seems to be no position in the screen’s range which doesn’t result in the wind being directed to the face or forehead. The resulting wind noise is much worse than even on my unfaired Moto Guzzi California. And the gap between the screen and the front fairing offers the perfect wind-tunnel to capture splattered bugs, necessitating complete removal of the screen to clean it. I believe Ducati offers an alternative screen as an optional accessory, but again, for a bike which is being sold as a tourer, you shouldn’t have to fork out for something like that.

One of the things that attracted me to the MTS over the GS was the weight difference. The standard version of the BMW clocks in around 229kg wet whereas the Ducati is a nimble 217kg. However, this does pose a problem for motorway riding. At speed, the bike is vulnerable to being thrown around in the wash of any reasonably high vehicle you happen to be riding behind. And this results in a disconcerting wobble where the frame feels like it’s flexing. This is annoying at best, but potentially dangerous if it catches you unawares. Again, the fact this even happens at all is odd, given that one of the things that Ducati should be good at is designing bikes that can go fast.

The 1200S Touring variant of the Multistrada comes with heated grips, a main stand, and side panniers as standard. With three temperature levels, the grips function well. The main stand is useful, but does get in the way of your left heel if you’re someone who likes riding with their toes on the pegs. As for the luggage... well, I’d read that Ducati had improved it considerably since the new Multistrada’s debut in 2010, but it still feels a bit cheap and flimsy. It’s also ridiculously easy to scratch, which is a problem given the frequency hard luggage is attached and removed from a touring bike. A lot of space is also lost in the right pannier due to the need to leave room for the optional silencer (which at another £1000 on top of a £14000 bike is probably not a common upgrade). Just poor product design in my opinion.

The chain. The Multistrada is the only bike in its class which uses a chain as the final drive. All of the other competitors are shaft-driven. Obviously this helps give the Ducati its weight advantage, but for any serious touring, this chain is just a pain. Why? Well, the tightening procedure is a bit of a faff at the best of times (more so on the road) and you’d better be carrying a torque wrench to tighten up adjustment bolts safely - they appear to be made of butter and are extremely prone to breaking with even the smallest amount of excess force. A broken bolt is an extremely annoying problem to have when you are hundreds of miles from home.

Keyless ignition. The Multistrada makes use of a near-field radio communications technology to allow keyless operation of the bike. The rider carries a small transmitter key in their pocket, and so long as the device is within a certain range, the bike can be operated. Not having to fumble for keys is certainly a welcome innovation, but the technology just doesn’t seem ready for prime time. Aside from some occasionally flaky communication between the key and bike, you’d better make sure you NEVER let the device get near a magnet of any kind. A few hours in my pocket next to my work security card (!) was enough to cause the bike to no longer recognise the key (and therefore refuse to unlock/start). The result of that was an hour and a half round trip Tube journey to retrieve the backup key and get the bike home, plus a visit to the local Ducati dealer to get the key ‘reset’. I can’t begin to imagine the hassle if that had have happened in Spain rather than London. So for any journey of significant distance from home, you’d better be carrying both keys, just in case.

Tank and range. More of a missed opportunity than a specific problem, the 20 litre tank feels a little stingy for a bike which is sold on its touring potential. Given the weight advantage the Multistrada has, you would have thought squeezing a couple more litres into the tank capacity would be simple and be a great differentiator. It’s never going to have the range of a GS Adventure - riding very sensibly will get you about 200 miles from a tank - but you don’t have to push it too much harder to watch the range fall off a cliff. For example, ride at the speed limit on a French motorway (130kph) and you’ll probably see more like 160-170 miles from a full tank.

So there you have it. The Ducati Multistrada 1200S Touring is just not really an adventure tourer. I do like the bike’s looks and it is unquestionably the most powerful and fastest bike in it’s class. The technology in the S range is also impressive. But if you’re buying this bike, you are buying a sports tourer at best, with only a slight lean towards the touring aspect of that. The bike is absolutely great for day trips and general use in cool climates and will certainly turn heads with its sound and looks, but the “four bikes in one” is sadly little more than a marketeer’s fantasy.

(And I’m loving the Triumph so far!)