BIKETEST DUCATI MULTISTRADA 1100S:IF YOU'RE a midget with double-jointed wrists and your spine has been replaced by a Slinky, Ducati has the perfect bike for you.
For the rest of you – especially those over six feet – a Ducati is a bike on which you have the best fun you can have in life without a wardrobe, a feather duster and a Spiderman outfit.
Then you get off, phone the chiropracter and spend the next two days in a hot bath.
Now for the good news: there is a way to ride the sexiest, best sounding bikes on the planet without 24/7 private healthcare.
It’s called the Multistrada, and it’s the best Ducati yet – as quick as the 1198S, as light and sensitive as the Streetfighter and the Monster, but with a seating position so comfortable that even BMW-riding bank managers will feel instantly at home.
Mind you, when the Multistrada first came out as a one-litre in 2007, it was slagged mercilessly, especially by Italian journalists, as Ducati’s ugly duckling.
In truth, it doesn’t have the svelte, sinuous curves of the 1098 or the 1198, but with its lustrous red finish and exposed frame, it is a thing of beauty.
In any case, those journalists changed their tune at the Sardinia launch – here was a bike that may only have had 84 horses, but had such a good spread of torque that it packed a punch from low down to the redline, allied to Brembo brakes, high-spec Showa forks and shock, and wheels and frame set at sports bike stiffness levels, offering superb stability and a tautness that allowed it to be flung through curve after curve without easing off on the throttle.
Fast forward to now, and they’ve made it even better, opening out the engine to 1,100cc and allying it to a suspension package of adjustable upside-down Showa forks and Sachs rear monoshock.
The clutch is wet for lighter, faster action and brakes are top-notch Brembos: two 320mm semi-floating discs at the front wheel with two four-piston calipers, a single 245mm disc with rear two-piston caliper. With a dry weight of only 196kg, that means serious stopping power.
On the S model I rode, things get even better, with several bits derived from Ducati’s superbikes, including fully-adjustable Öhlins suspension and carbon fibre components in a chassis that gives lightning-quick cornering and incredible riding precision.
But the engine is the real star, with up to 95hp of power at 7,750rpm and 76lb ft of torque at just 4,750rpm.
What that means is that it pulls sweetly and cleanly from 3,000rpm to where the needle runs out of space at 11,000rpm – astonishing for an L-twin.
At that stage your neck muscles are struggling to keep your head on – and you’ll never have any great need for it, since at 60mph in sixth gear, the engine is barely ticking over and at 100mph, it sits at 5,000rpm. Not that I’d know, of course.
For hour after happy hour I rode, marvelling at how quickly this machine got around corners and shot down straights.
I even ended up stopping and going back around the same twisty sections of road again because I couldn’t believe how quick it was. (I know, I’m very sad, but I’m happy with it.)
Best of all, not only for bikers but for Ducatis sales figures, this is a motorcycle that will be loved by experienced riders for what they can get up to with it but will also appeal to anyone looking for their first big bike.
Heavens, I even managed a U-turn at full lock, for probably the first time since my test.
The upright riding position and clever mirrors give excellent visibility so it’s as at home pottering through traffic as it is blasting around A and B roads.
If you want touring, extras include panniers and top box, and you may consider the higher screen – the standard one leaves taller riders slightly windblown.
Multistrada, as those of you fluent in Italian will know, means many roads, and that’s exactly what you’ll enjoy on this.
I’ll tell you how good it is: as good as the brochure, in this case the press release, which says: “Riding a Multistrada makes every road a thrill.”
Couldn’t have put it better myself. Even in Italian.
Factfile Ducati Multistrada 1100S
Engine: 1,078cc air-cooled in-line four-stroke fuel-injected twin, two valves per cylinder, SOHC; 95bhp/70kw @ 7,750rpm; 102.9Nm/10.5kgm @ 4750rpm; six-speed, chain final drive
Frame: tubular steel trellis
Rake: 24 degrees
Suspension: front – Ohlins 43mm fully adjustable upside-down fork, rear – progressive linkage with fully adjustable Ohlins monoshock; hydraulic remote pre-load control, aluminium single-sided swingarm
Brakes: front – two 320mm semi-floating discs, four-piston, two-pad caliper, rear – 245mm disc, two-piston caliper
Wheels: front – six-spoke light alloy 3.50 x 17; tyre – 120/70 ZR 17, rear – five-spoke light alloy 5.50 x 17; tyre – 180/55 ZR 17
Dimensions: dry weight – 196kg/432 lbs; seat height – 85mm/33.5ins; wheelbase – 1462mm
Fuel capacity: 20 litres including 6.5 reserve/5.3 US gallons including 1.7 reserve
Colours: red, black, pearl white
Price: €12,000 for standard, €13,700 for Multistrada S.
Contact Ducati Dublin; motopoint.ie.