Ducati Multistrada 1200S Sport (2010-current)

Just come back from taking my Multi 1200S Sport on Eurotunnel then riding down the middle of France, through Andorra and along the north coast of Spain. Had the bike fully loaded with panniers, topbox and my lovely wife and did nearly 2300 miles. The Mutley was faultless - very comfortable, carried the load beautifully and drew heads wherever we went. Done similar long journeys of a 1300 Pan, a Blackbird and a BMW K1200S but never had so much fun. The Mutley rocks!

Bought my Multistrada 1200s earlier this year,used,from Ducati Manchester.I've been riding for over 35yrs on the road,am a retired Motorcycle patrol officer and have competed in many forms of motor sport so consider myself quite experienced rider. I fancied the Multistrada 1200 when i heard about it's development,so when it came out,went for a test ride.I certainly wasn't disappointed,but couldn't justify the price and there were a couple of pre-production items I wanted to see sorted.Plus,I wasn't too happy with the overall service at Coventry. However,after totally falling out with every BMW owner/dealer locally I p/x'ed my GS and Buell and got a very clean 2010 1200S.I've done 2000 miles in a month,it is more than I would ever want.It's comfy,flexible,fast as you want,in fact it does as they say,four bikes in one.I can't see any advantage of owning a GS about from that may have better off road,but how many GS owners go there,and if you want that,buy a KTM.The Multistrada is superb,certainly I can see it or another one being with me for many years and Ducati Manchester are in my opinion the best Ducati dealers in the country

I bought the 2011 touring addition recently and the bike really is phenomenal overall and I would highly recommend checking it out. Beware the test ride, you will buy it. When I went to the Ducati dealership I was just killing some time on a Saturday to check out the Diavel. My local dealer allows test rides so they let me take the Diavel out; incredibly fast. I’m 6’ tall and the fixed seat crunches you up against the tank and man does it throw some serious heat off the right side, so much for the Diavel. Before leaving the dealer I was checking out this wild looking bike with an upright seating position that looked more like a Enduro than anything else – the Multistrada. Again, they let me take it out. I hadn’t gone ½ a mile before thinking to myself “this thing rocks”, and it was in “Urban” mode. A quick question to the guy from the dealership that was with me and I was in “Sport” mode. Hold on because too hard a snap on the throttle and the front wheel is coming off the ground! I’s got to get me one of these! So after some serious thought I decided to sell my 2004 Honda ST 1300 to a friend (he really wanted it) and buy the MS. I still am comparing the differences between the two. Not quite the smooth ride as the Honda, but WOW is it fast and super light (420 lbs)! I'm older, plenty of sports injuries, so the upright riding position really is the first thing you notice when you mount up, and did I mention light? Handling couldn't be better, the bike is really agile and a hard charger, more like a rocket actually. The brakes are a little too "grabby" for lack of a better word and next service I need t see if something can be done on that front. The Honda had linked ABS system and just a light squeeze with 2 fingers and it would come to a smooth, level stop, no matter how fast you were going. The MS tends to grab the front disks putting the front suspension into a noticeable dive compared with the Honda (I realize more travel in the suspension but still too much). The back brakes are soft and lack noticeable stopping power and the front and back are not linked like the Honda, so I am negative on the brake system. Also I had the bike for a grand total of 3 days and the sub-menu LED screen on the instrument panel has crapped out. Text is all scrambled and illegible. Considering my local dealer is an hour away makes for a pain in the ass. Hopefully it is a minor issue and it stays a reliable problem free bike, like the Honda. Other than that you really can’t describe this bike in words. You to go see it, sit on it, feel how incredibly light it is and then to take it for a ride. Put the spurs to it on some long sweepers. The bike just flies! Ducati really did get it right. A lot of money to be sure, but can you put a price on happiness? Ducati did.

Took one of these out for just over an hour on a test route planned to cover all types of road. As the bike journos have raved over it I just had to try one but found it just wasn't for me. The main issue was the engine didn't like being below 4000 rpm - the V-twin lumpyness the magazines call it - so riding on side roads at up to 60 mph called for 2nd, 3rd and 4th gears. If you put it in 5th it protested. To get into 6th you needed to be doing 70 mph. I can see why Ride magazine is only getting 35 mpg out of their long-term test bike. Then there is the ride comfort. I was expecting something special but regardless of whether you use Urban or Touring on side roads it's not what you'd call smooth, certainly not as good as an R1200GS. The ride other than on smooth road surfaces just seems nervous regardless of setting. Then there's the riding position - I'm 6 feet 2 inches, inside leg measurement 33 inches. I had trouble getting my feet down on the ground properly because your legs are splayed apart. Also you are tipped forward by the seat into a bit of a sportsbike position and surprisingly this puts some weight on your wrists as well. I probably wasn't riding it how you are supposed to in order to appreciate it, i.e. really fast with handfuls of throttle. To conclude I was expecting a lot but for me it didn't deliver. I'm probably looking for too much in all-round ability from a bike.

Review Still early days

Wow!, claps... what a bike! Just one thing, Please do not put this bike in the same group as the rest of the adventure maxi-trail bikes. This bike has nothing to do with them so trying to compare it with a BMW or a Super Tenere is a total waste of time. I had the oportunity to proper test this bike. BMW and Super Tenere are just different and superior.

just need hazard lights