Ducati Multistrada 1260S (2018) - Long term review
By Steve Rose
BikeSocial Publisher since January 2017.
06.04.2018
Part 1 - Running in the bike, wondering why I don't like it and a light-bulb moment.
Mileage: 624 | Economy: 44mpg | Power: 156bhp | Torque: 77lb-ft | Weight: 235kg | Price: from £17,149
I must have been absent when we did Italian at my 1970s Yorkshire comprehensive school. But I’m guessing Multistrada means ‘many roads’…probably
First impressions of BikeSocial’s long term Ducati 1260cc Multi’ suggest there should be an asterisk saying ‘except for wet ones, bumpy ones, twisty ones and twisty, wet, bumpy ones’.
Bear with me here, because this is a tale of two halves, but on the basis of the first three trips, each of around 50 miles me and Multi looked like having a very short long-term relationship. Thankfully, from the fourth one it got better – there’s an interesting lesson here somewhere.
Trip one. Wet roads, but no longer raining. Busy traffic, late home from work, looking to make progress. The keyless ignition fob is huge – much bigger than the one on my car that also opens four doors, the boot and controls the alarm. Without instructions it only takes four minutes to work out how to switch on the ignition but I’d forgotten about Ducati’s wheezing starter motors that sound like someone replaced the proper battery with one from small flashlight. It always sounds like it won’t fire, but somehow, always does as a few strong sparks manage to turn two enormous alloy slugs in an oily, sealed chamber.
Clunk into gear, release clutch, ride. The ergonomics are very different to the Honda Crosstourer I’ve been riding. The rider’s seat is low, but needs a flexible leg to get your foot over the tall pillion perch. Footpegs are high and rear-set, handlebars wide and just the right height for comfort. So my top half is fine, but my legs are cramped and wet boots keep slipping off the short, rubber-topped footpegs.
Also, the seat slopes forward so every few minutes I have to push myself backwards. The seat height is adjustable, but I haven’t worked it out yet.
First impressions are that the engine is strong. There’s a lot less transmission clatter from the variable valve timed engine (shared with the X-Diavel) at low revs than the older motor, the heated grips are far better than the Honda and the indicators stay on for a proper length of time before self-cancelling.
Those are the good bits. Unfortunately, the gear-change is sticky, the hydraulic clutch is heavy and lacks finesse and the steering is clumsy, needing too much effort to turn, like the forks are too long and rear shock too short. The suspension is bouncy in ‘touring’ mode and jarring in ‘sport’, the brakes don’t feel powerful enough and when I stop for fuel I need the key to open the filler cap. Why have keyless ignition so you can leave the key in your handbag if you then have to fish it out to fill up every 150 miles? At the end of the first trip I was all set to send it back. Where Honda’s Crosstourer is composed and easy to ride, BMW’s GS feels beautifully built and has that sense of mischief that no one else can replicate, the Multistrada felt harsh, clumsy and like it was designed by a committee… of people that disliked each other intensely.
Trips two and three are the same as above but on wet roads where the steering is even harder, the suspension even less helpful and the imprecise gearchange even more annoying. Half way in on journey three I decide that the impossibility of finding neutral at a standstill is designed-in by Ducati’s marketing team to give riders something to distract themselves with at traffic lights in downtown Lagos to avoid making eye contact with the locals. Gearboxes are hardly new technology and Ducati know how to make a good one, so the explanation above is the only one that can be true. There’s a quickshifter fitted, but it only really works when you’re hard on the throttle or slowing down from high engine speeds. When I get to work tomorrow I’m calling Ducati and asking if they know anyone else who wants it.
Trip four and, weirdly, I got 30 miles into this one before realising that I wasn’t moaning about the Multistrada. Today feels different. Maybe it’s the additional mileage – the Multi is now getting closer to run-in at 510 miles, maybe I’m getting used to it, maybe I’ve found the right combination of settings that cover up the issues and the answer to the heavy steering turns out to be ‘use more effort and stop whinging’ and even though it feels like it’s going to lose the front, it never does. A colleague once responded to my lavish praise of a Harley I’d just done 2000 miles on by saying ‘If all you eat is gravel, at some point you’ll develop a taste for gravel.’ That might be what’s happening here, but there’s a spark of something positive and so, like the puppy that continually piddles on your drum kit but then, just once, actually goes outside, I’m going to stick with it for now.
Trip five. Ok, I was wrong. Probably. Today I just rode it and liked it. And the revelation is that Like Harleys and Guzzis and maybe even Kawasakis too, you have to take the time to get used to a Ducati. Because the dynamics are different, the personality is different, the way the bike likes to be ridden is different.
Where the Honda floats along on a whiff of throttle, slicing anonymously through traffic, the Multistrada likes to point and squirt. Ducati throttles work better either hard-on or shut-off. Ducati chassis’ prefer positive input and aggression to gentle nudges, Ducati suspension settings are designed to respond to aggressive, sporty riding. If you want an adventure bike that is actually a tourer in disguise, then buy a Honda, or a Kawasaki, or a Suzuki, or a BMW. But if you want an adventure bike that’s really a sports bike, buy yourself a Multistrada
The Multistrada is what happens when a ‘can’t-help-ourselves’ sports bike builder makes its adventure bike under the same roof as the fastest, most challenging race bike in the history of MotoGP. If you buy one expecting it to be a puffed-up Honda Transalp, you’ll be disappointed. It’s a Ducati and it rides like you’d secretly hope a Ducati will. But first you have to ride it like a Ducati.
I get that now and we’ve started to click. It’s a long way from my natural, comfortable riding style, but I’m curious to see how this pans out. It’s going to be an interesting summer.
Three things I’m loving about the Ducati Multistrada S 1260
• Easy to adjust the tech, controls and screen
• Heated grips much warmer than Honda’s
• Challenging to get to love
Three things that aren’t so good…
• Not sure if I’m a Ducati rider any more
• Time and effort required to find neutral
• I don’t trust it will start (even though it always does)
By Simon Hancocks
I like Ducatis, no, I love Ducatis. There’s something about the sight and sound of the red-bikes that ignites a childish fire inside me. And after riding the Multistrada 1260S for the first time, that still applies to big Volcano Grey ones.
Okay so BikeSocial boss Steve Rose wasn’t completely won over by Ducati’s new flagship tourer, and that surprised me. I was lucky enough to be the first member of the team to swing a leg over our new long-term test bike while everyone else was looking the other way. It took me about 10 minutes to draw my conclusions about it; I loved it. And here’s why.
Engine
The 1262cc Testastretta engine is a peach, with a Jekyll & Hyde character depending on the mode selected. In ‘Sport’ you get the full fat 156bhp with a peaky top end and less torque down low. The Ducati Quick Shift (DQS), which Steve hated, changes gear like a battering ram with virtually no electronic attempt to smooth the up-shifts or down-shifts. The DQS in Sport mode doesn’t change smoothly unless you are higher up the rev-range which is a little strange I guess. So I just adapted the way I rode. If I was bimbling round town I’d use the clutch and if I had the hammer down and needed to make progress, I’d use the DQS. In Sport mode the engine also doesn’t come alive until you hit about 3-3.5k rpm. In higher gears lower down the rev-range it stutters and struggles. It’s a Ducati and Sport mode means Sport mode! On other tourers the sporty engine mode might give you a lot more bark and a bit more bite but the Multistrada is all about the bite. If you want to get the most out of this mode you have to be riding quickly, that’s what it is designed for and that’s what I think the engineers who built it would want.
Touring mode is a completely different experience delivering the same power in a much more measured way - it’s less like an Italian waiter with his hair on fire and much more comfortable for distance work. The bike no longer struggles at low rpm and pulls more freely from the bottom of the rev-range. The urgency under acceleration is still there but in a much more progressive manner, it still feels like a mightily quick bike, just more refined and composed.
I also found in Touring mode the DQS was much more inclined to shift when I asked it to, rather than when it wanted to. The gear change no longer engages in the same brutal manner as Sport mode did, and the ECU and fly-by-wire throttle now work together to soften the shifts. There’s a slight ‘blip’ of the throttle on down changes which, combined with the slipper clutch, makes for a silky smooth ride.
Comfort
I find the 1260S to be supremely comfortable. I’m not the tallest chap in the office – I’m not the shortest either – and can safely get a foot down on either side (looked more like a couple of toes to me – Steve). Most adventure bikes make me slide off one side at the lights to stabilise the bike which isn’t ideal. Ducati have pulled a master stoke with the 1260 by making it easy for shorties like me to get on board. The waist of the bike is contoured and thin at the front of the seat but then tapers out to create a large, flat and comfortable seat that gives a commanding view of the road ahead.
Riding position
The bars are perfectly positioned for me and mean you are sat in a neutral position, not bolt-upright but leant ever-so-slightly forwards. This helps to keep some of your body weight on your arms and off your lower back - perfect if you are going to be riding all day. The pegs on the 1260S are placed fairly high, to help ground clearance, which does detract from comfort a little. I haven’t spent more than three hours in the saddle yet though, so will report back on this later.
Screen
The manually adjustable screen on the Ducati is simple to operate with one hand while on the fly and provides a decent level of protection. If I sit in my normal riding position on the bike, the top of my lid is just inside the bubble making cruising at motorway speeds a quiet, comfortable affair. If I sit up slightly my helmet starts to get buffeted by the wind though. I could imagine for taller riders this might become tiresome and an aftermarket wind deflector might be needed.
Heated grips
The three-stage heated grips and standard fit hand-guards are excellent, heating up quickly and holding their temperature consistently. Some grips I’ve used heat up fast, but then dull down after a while. The Ducati’s don’t do this and even on a chilly 3°C ride to work, I found the medium setting to be plenty warm enough.
There are a mind boggling array of settings to alter but it's easier than cracking out the C-spanner!
The riding experience
This is the most confusing thing about Steve’s and my own experience of the big Ducati. Where Steve found the bike frustrating and hard work, I find it simple and easy to ride. I don’t know whether it’s my self-confessed love of Ducati that’s overriding the pitfalls of the bike or the fact that I have less of a history of riding big tourers, that means I don’t have as much to benchmark the 1260S against. Or maybe Steve just rides like, er, Steve. It’s not like I’m a complete ‘newb’ to this world of big capacity, big bikes, I had a KTM 1290S Super Adventure for a few weeks last year and spent about 1000 miles at the helm of the Honda Crosstourer. And I still find the Ducati to be better than both of them, in every way; more refined than the KTM and more exciting than the Crosstourer.
I guess we’ll put this down to personal preference and it goes to show that what works for one may not work for another, even comparing bikes that, on paper at least, are very closely matched. One thing I can say is that I’m loving my time with the Multistrada, whether it’s a trip to the shops, a commute to work or blasting along the B672 for fun. I can’t wait to start putting some big miles on my big grey mate throughout the summer.
Sorry darling. It’s not you, it’s me. I read the spec-sheet, read the reviews, listened to the conversations when Michael came back from the press launch and I wanted to be part of it.
But here’s the thing. As I get older I become more in love with motorcycling…not motorcycles. The bike has become less important – it’s the experience, the ride, the feeling of middle-class, middle-aged lawlessness that I get that makes me choose a motorcycle every time I need to be at B… often via F, J, M or Zed.
What I want more than anything is a bike that goes as fast as I want and is absolutely as easy to ride as possible. That’s easy as in a power delivery you don’t think about, handling you don’t think about, comfort and ergonomics you don’t think about and instruments/controls that you don’t think about.
On the odd occasions I might want a bike to challenge me, I have a tuned Yamaha TDR250 in the shed – probably the craziest and most pointless motorcycle ever - that is as tricky to ride well as any great two stroke supermoto should be. The fact that I’ve done less than 3000 miles in the 14 years I’ve owned it says everything about the hooligan fantasy/reality balance in my biking life right now.
The Multistrada is a bike that demands your attention. If you enjoy making a bike as perfect as it can possibly be, then you’ll love it. If you think that having your suspension just-so for every corner will increase your riding enjoyment, then buy one. If you like the idea of taking a wholly unsuitable engine for touring and then controlling it with complex, programmable electronics till it does what you want and you are clever enough and well-understanding enough of motorcycle dynamics to make a decent job of said decision-making, then…good luck, you’re smarter than I am.
Some people love noisy, hairy Harleys, others love the purity of Honda engineering or the Maverick craziness of a great Yamaha. Some love challenging Ducatis, others are happiest hugging a 1961 Lambretta. We can’t all love everything and that doesn’t make something a bad bike, just not right for us.
As an interesting footnote, yesterday I collected a BMW R1200R for an upcoming road test. It’s another 1200cc twin-cylinder, 200+kg motorcycle with advanced electronics, multiple riding modes, clever electronic suspension, blah-de-blah-de-blah. It took less than half a mile to forget all that and just enjoy the sensation that great motorcycling gives because all those systems are completely unobtrusive on the BMW. I was halfway home before I even checked what mode it was in. So, it’s not the tech, as such that’s the problem (I also rode KTM’s 790 Duke last week, which has all the tech, but still manages to feel completely out of control half the time…in a good way), if a bike is right for you, then that’s what counts.
Part 3 - Touring on the 2018 Ducati Multistrada 1260s.
I’ve never done proper touring on a bike before. I’ve been places, sure but never had to carry everything I need on the bike and move from place to place. Normally there’s a comfy hotel with clean sheets, soft towels and a cold beer at the other end.
So when the chance came to join a group of Bennetts insurance customers on a coastal tour of Devon and Cornwall I jumped at the chance, loaded up the Multistrada and hit the M5.
Touring Comfort
So I knew the Ducati was comfy for three hours in the saddle but hadn’t done a full 12 hour stint on the bike so day one of the Cream Tea and Coastal adventure was the perfect test. Leaving the house at 6am, I took the scenic(ish) route to the M5 through Stratford and Evesham, eventually hitting the motorway at Tewksbury.
At around 8:30am (or an hour and half early) I reached the pretty village of North Curry with nothing to do but wait for the others to arrive. Having completed about 160 miles I felt fresh and ready for the 140 miles we still had to ride that afternoon. Now, 300 miles a day doesn’t seem much but the pace of the ride to our first night camp was relaxed, meaning when we pulled onto the campsite at Tintagel it was 6pm. 12 hours in the saddle was not only the longest I’d ridden the Multistrada for; it’s the longest day of continuous riding I’ve done. And I felt surprisingly good. My right knee was aching but that tends to happen regardless. I think that’s down to lack of use – I don’t use the back brake much when on the open road. My wrists felt tired although weren’t aching. Given the amount of switchback hairpins we’d ridden that day, I was pretty impressed.
The one thing that was aching slightly was my back. I’d been riding wearing my rucksack and while it wasn’t heavy it have put some strain on my shoulders. The next day before leaving the rucksack was strapped tight to the pillion seat with some spare tie-downs I had and the backache was alleviated instantly.
Riding Modes
My primary job on the tour was to sweep up at the back of the 11 bike group, making sure nobody got left behind. For this I kept the suspension and engine in Touring mode and enjoyed the compliant, comfortable ride and smooth changes of the Ducati fitted quickshifter.
Given that my job was to stop people getting lost, you can imagine my embarrassment at losing the group after a photo stop! With the rest of the gang looping round Newquay, I (mistakenly) headed straight through the surf capital of the UK and came out the other side. With no answer from Nathan – the group leader – I headed off to Land’s End which was the groups next stop.
Freed from the shackles of being ‘tail gun Charlie’ and not wanting to miss the group at Land’s End, I flicked the bike into sport mode and gunned the Volcanic Grey missile south. After the boring dual-carrigeway part of the A30, the road thins and becomes a sinuous ribbon of gloriously fast tarmac that fires you through wooded valleys and quaint villages that makes it all feel like you’re at the TT.
I arrived at Land’s End sweaty, delirious and babbling to myself about how amazing that road was. Oh, and three hours before the others are due to arrive.
Luggage
With about 55 litres of pannier space on either side of the bike and my 30-litre Dainese rucksack and tent strapped to the luggage rack; I had all the room one person would need. The panniers are slightly tricky to get stuff in as they’re styled in an aerodynamic fashion and look cool but it does mean you have to pack cleverly. And sometimes re-pack, a couple of times! Boxy panniers from someone like Touratech would carry more stuff but they’d ruin the lines, the fuel economy and the ability to filter.
Enduro Mode
Yes I even managed to stick the bike in Enduro mode as we trundled down the dusty, rock strewn track towards our final night’s camp. Okay, so it may have only been for a mile or so but it does make a genuine difference to the bikes handling. The suspension becomes extremely soft with the power now limited to 100bhp and the ABS to the rear wheel deactivated.
It’s genuinely surprising how stable the bike remains. This terrain is totally out of this intercontinental ballistic missile’s natural habitat but even big daft grabs of the throttle, that send rooster tails of dirt into air do nothing to upset the bike. Even the ergonomics of this fast, comfy, sports tourer work when you stand on the pegs!
And yes I know you’re laughing at my one mile of off-road riding. But that’s more than most GS owners do in a lifetime!
Is the Multistrada the perfect all-rounder?
There are some that will disagree (Bikesocial’s Steve Rose wasn’t won over) but I think it is. The roads covered on the Cream tea and Coastal adventure tick every box, from dirt track to dual-carriageway, hairpin bend to 1:8 climb. It handled it all and never felt like it was struggling. Sure some of the lighter adventure touring bikes would be less tiring to ride on the tight and twisty un-named roads that criss-cross Devon. But you’d soon get fed up of sitting on the rev-limiter at 75mph on the motorway heading home.
In truth; this trip was a warmup for a bigger ride I have planned in July when I’m taking the Multistrada to its spiritual home: World Ducati Week 2018. Now I’m happy that twelve hours in the saddle is do-able, I can’t wait to start hitting the Autoroutes next month!
Part 4 - Taking the Multistrada 1260 to World Ducati Week.
Earlier this year it struck me that our fantastically capable and comfy long-distance tourer hadn’t done any continental touring! A few long journeys and 800 miles around Devon and Cornwall showed the bike to be excellent in pretty much every situation. But still, it seemed like a bit of a waste given that this machine is a designed to shrink continents.
So with the loosest of plans, cross the channel and head south east a bit till you hit Rimini, World Ducati Week (WDW) tickets were booked, hotel stays sorted, a channel tunnel crossing bought and a bag full of shorts and flip flops was slung on the pillion seat.
Long term comfort
As with any monster bike ride the first couple of days are always the easiest and the WDW trip was no different. Opting to ride from Coventry to Folkstone on the Monday evening and stay in a hotel ready for the first channel tunnel crossing the next morning, day one was a comfortable yet boring slog down the M40 and over the Dartford crossing. But day two was where the real work began.
Leaving the train at about 10:00, myself and GQ bike journo, Rich Taylor picked up the Autoroute at Calais and headed on for our first B&B just outside the town of Dijon. With about 360 miles to cover and my riding buddy on a Panigale 959 Corse, we chose to stop about every hour for a leg-stretch and drink at the many rest areas along the way. In all, this probably added an hour and a half to our journey time but I’m certain it helped keep the aches, pains and numb bum at bay. It also meant we were drinking regularly, essential in 35°C heat, eating and taking time to cool off in the shade.
With the relaxed riding plan working well up until Wednesday afternoon, when we hit the Italian Autostrada, the comfort breaks pretty much disappeared and the only rest we had was waiting at the petrol station counter to pay for our fuel. This was when I noticed the discomfort the most. My right knee was beginning to ache, meaning any opportunity to stand on the pegs to provide some respite was welcome. If I’m being completely honest the pegs are set fairly high, definitely more sports than tourer, and this does mean the bend in your knee is quite acute. The small of my back was also beginning to complain, not helped by my luggage, strapped to the pillion seat, slipping forwards slightly. The luggage malfunction meaning I couldn’t get sat on the fat part of the saddle, and instead had slid forward with knees firmly either side of the wide tank. Lesson learned, double check your straps at every fuel stop!!
Wrists and hands were fine, thankfully there is almost no vibration through the bars and the upper body ergonomics are for me, spot on.
Fuel economy
Pegging the simple-to-use cruise-control at 75mph meant daily MPG readings remained pretty static. Well, until we hit the Alpine passes, then all thoughts of economy went out the window and enjoyment was the goal.
After three days, of which 85% was easy cruising and 15% blasting out of hairpins, the Ducati had recorded an average 57mpg. And I think that’s pretty good. I’d tried to pack smart, opting for luggage strapped behind me as opposed to taking panniers, and tend to keep a pretty compact shape when riding, but was still surprised by how well the bike had done.
For this trip, I was the pace-setter and I never ran the tank to anywhere near empty but still, a 250 mile potential was enough for me. The morning of our channel tunnel crossing we were chatting to a guy riding to Switzerland on a 2015 BMW R1200GS Adventure. He was scoffing at my 21-litre tank and laughing at my 250 miles between fill-ups. ‘I can ride from London to Troyes (350 miles) before I need to fill up!’ The thing is; unless you’re trail riding across Mongolia with no support, or majorly mess up with your route closer to home, 250 miles per tank is more than enough to tour Europe and beyond. Extra capacity is just more in reserve, more weight and more chance of dropping the bike should you have to stray off-road.
When totting up my receipts at the end of the journey I’d spent about £150 on fuel to get to Rimini and about £200 on toll roads.
Tyres
As standard, the Multistrada is fitted with dual-purpose Pirelli Scorpion Trail II tyres, which boast dual-compounds: softer on the edge for cornering and harder in the middle for improved durability. Considering this is a tyre that’s designed for light trials and touring they provide an incredible amount of grip. They heat up quickly too, and mean you can jump straight on the bike and get up to speed without the worry that the tyres won’t be ready for it.
Riding back from Misano to Geneva for the flight back to the UK, I rode through a storm that was on a par to anything you’d see in a Hollywood disaster movie. With sideways rain and hurricane force winds wreaking havoc along the Adriatic Coast. Even in these conditions I found the wet grip to be just as good as the dry. Some of the roads round Rimini town are almost polished, and are even treacherous to walk on. But, the Pirelli rubber dealt with it superbly, never once giving an inkling that they were about to give up grip.
With my sat-nav tuned to the route over the Alps on the way back I was able to scratch pegs on the hairpins bends, accelerate hard on sketchy road surfaces all in complete confidence – which is good when you have a 2500 foot drop to your immediate right.
Another massive thumbs up goes to Pirelli for the durability of their tyre. These boots are 6100 miles old and haven’t squared in the slightest. They are getting near to the wear markers but I’d guess they still have at least 600 to 1000 more miles left in them. That’s pretty good going for a tyre that’s lived most of its life in the outside lane at 75mph.
Luggage
As mentioned earlier, I tried to pack most of my luggage behind me to help economy. This meant hooking ratchet straps to the passenger grab rail and small rack. It’s not the easiest bit of kit to work with as the places that seem like natural points to hook onto are quite thick and won’t easily hold a hook in place securely. I found the best way to tie stuff on was to loop the strap round the luggage and hook the ends together. On the underside of the seat there are small plastic hooks that you can feed the straps through to keep everything in place.
I’d have to give the straps a tweak every hundred miles to remain confident I wasn’t going to lose my socks but it wasn’t really a chore, we were stopping fairly often anyway. If you were serious about touring and wanted to carry much more luggage than I did, a flat, touring rack like the Ducati aluminium one might be a better option.
Ducati Performance Tank-lock bag
One of the saviours of the trip was the tank-bag Ducati’s PR team sent me prior to the trip. It’s made by Givi and uses the clever smart-lock system that fixes it to the filler cap. There is a large central compartment that’s big enough to hold spare gloves, travel docs, a drink and a disklock. There is a clear plastic compartment on the top that good for sticking your phone in but be warned: mine over heated after about 10 minutes in the heat and turned itself off!
There’s a really handy zipped pocket on the front which is great for carrying change for the tolls and two slightly larger ones on either side for stuffing with receipts.
You can even pass a charger cable from the bikes 12v plug through the to the inside of the bag – although you will need to use a razor blade to cut through the material.
The bag is priced at £210 and available direct from Ducati. If you are planning a tour it’s a great bit of kit that will save you from the pain of rooting through rucksacks at every fuel stop!
Weather protection
With the adjustable screen on its highest setting the top of my helmet sits just within the area of turbulent air, meaning nine hours on the bike was tiring on my ears even with earplugs in. I’m 5’7” so anyone taller than this will have most of their head outside of the protective bubble of the screen and fairing. I could stoop slightly and get fully within the protection of the screen, where the air is still enough to ride at motorway speeds with my visor up, but doing this for anything more than a few minutes would be uncomfortable. I’m thinking that a taller screen like the Gran Turismo from Ducati might be needed.
The factory fitted hand-guards with LED indicators fitted into them are not what I’d call substantial. If you came off they’d offer little protection but are excellent at keeping your hands dry in the rain.
Manual handling
At 235kg wet and with wide handlebars that sit at chest height, It’s no secret the 1260 is a physically big bike. Yes the seat is low but high bars, that aid comfort when on the move, make manually shifting the bike for a shorty like me tricky. Add to that 30kgs of luggage and a full fuel load and I had to be extra careful, especially on uneven ground. It’s more noticeable at the end of the day for obvious reasons but just means that your tired and frazzled brain has to maintain a level of concentration for a little bit longer at the end of the ride!
Verdict
Yes there will be more comfortable tourers out there, R1200RT, Goldwing and so on. And yes there will be faster, more exciting bikes like the new Kawasaki H2-SX. But the Multistrada 1260S, for me at least, is the perfect blend of both.
I think it looks awesome and has a great riding position that gives you a great view of the road. It’s got more power then I’ll ever need and can keep up with most things this side of the £25k hyperbikes. The luggage carrying capability while not amazing, is adequate and could easily be improved for a couple of hundred quid with the addition of a luggage rack. If you were dead-set on touring the world there are a number of packs you can buy from Ducati to suit. You can even add the aluminium panniers from the Multistrada Enduro if you wanted.
I’ve taken the other half out on it a few times now and she thinks the pillion perch and grab rails are the best of any bike she’s been on the back of, she wasn’t so keen on Sports Mode and 150bhp mind...
Some would say it’s a Jack of all trades, but to me it’s not. It’s much better than that. It might not be the perfect tourer but I don’t think there is a ‘perfect’ tourer. All bikes are compromised in some way, either by committee, regulation or the accounts dept.
Personally I think the Ducati team have got the recipe pretty much spot on with this bike, I can’t wait to get on some more tours with the big grey missile.
Three things I loved about the Ducati Multistrada 1260S…
• B-road ability
• Smooth fuelling
• Suspension that does, sporty, comfy and compliant
Three things that I didn’t…
• Lack of luggage hook points
• Screen could be 30mm higher
• High-set pegs
2018 Ducati 1260 Multistrada - Accessory kits
Touring (Panniers, heated grips, centre stand) - £960.85
Sport (road legal exhaust, carbon fibre front mudguard, CNC machined billet aluminium brake and clutch reservoir caps) - £907.48
Urban (top case, tank bag with lock and USB hub) - £536.47
Enduro (Supplementary LED lights, Ducati Performance components by Touratech: engine protection bars, radiator guard, bigger kickstand base and off road footpegs) - £TBA
