From the Ducati Multistrada to the V11 - Reflections

[d-rock]

Moving on from the Multistrada a few years on: Reflections

 

A few years ago I wrote my impressions of the Multistrada on Multistrada.net after owning it for a few months. I wrote that "In the time since I've switched I've come to see the Multistrada as a remarkable act of design and creativity. One that has followed an idea of functionality to quite irreverent extremes and succeeded." Now that I've decided to move on, I thought I might share the reasons.

 

The inspiration for the change came during a spirited 9 day ride from Geneva to the Italian coast then around Corsica. Melker and I planning to turn our photos and footage into a short web move called "the Only Way Around" because … well … it's an island.

 

Melker rides a 1998 Triumph Thunderbird Sport. I have a 1000DS from 2003 with cases, topbox, centerstand, and Sargant seat. The Multistrada's performance was flawless and it has been unflinching in its reliability since I bought it two years ago.

 

Like many Multistrada owners I love the bike and have a slight ambivalence towards it as well. So I've been a frequent reader of motocycle websites, magazines and other journalistic account of new bikes. And in that time I've learned that there is something missing. Something that the journalists aren't explaining and writing about, which is something I'm looking for. It came into focus when Melker and I switched bikes.

 

The Triumph T-bird Sport is a lovely machine. Whereas the Bonneville is underpowered and rather plodding, the T-bird has 83HP up from the Bonneville's 69 or so, and it feels peppy and able. The 1998 had the pipes on the same side and was a looker. As I swayed and bobbed and lulled my way around mountainous bends with the Mediterannean below me, I found that the Triumph whispered differently to me. It wasn't obessed with the speed, or the lean angle, or taking the time to mock me by suggesting it had power to spare and I wasn't a good enough rider for it.

 

This is something the Multistrada does. It actually snears at me for not attacking a turn up to its design specifications.

 

No, what the Triumph did was lull me into reverie. I felt a certain sense of timelessness and it captured that elusive sense of "freedom" we all talk about but find hard to explain. I'm reading "The End of the Affair" by Graham Greene at the moment and he says that eternity is said not to be an extension of time but an absense of time. I think this the freedom I find on a motorcycle. A momentary step into eternity. That is the feeling I want.

 

What I want from those journalists, in turn, is less about the new bike, or about its comparison to other bikes, and more about its relationship to the rider. Every bike has a voice. It says different things to us — unless it is so utterly boring it has nothing to say at all. I enjoy knowing what different people feel and experience on different machines. There is nothing scientific about it. It is subjective. It is gloriously and unapologietically subjective, and it is remarkable just how interesting and engaging that can be to both write and read.

 

I was a proud and appreciative Multistrada owner. It remains, hands down, the greatest "twisty-tourer" I know of, and I would not hesitate to strongly recommend this bike. And of course, the bike has not changed. But I have. I have a young son now. I have a greater appreciation of riding for the joy if it, and less for the technical challenge of it. I appreciate the convergence of style, physical sensation, performance and that dreamy state a great bike puts me.

 

In the next few weeks I'm trading it in. I considered the Thunderbird Sport, Ducati GT, the Moto Guzzi Griso, the Triumph Scambler, an old-style Monster, and even the BMW R1150R. What I settled on is the Moto Guzzi V11 Rosso Mandello from 2001 with bar risers and some soft cases.

 

It just feels right.

 

I'll be posting some great images and video from the Multistrada in Corsica when time permits.

 

Best wishes to all,

 

drock.

[jrt]

It just feels right.

 

 

Exactly.

[orangeokie]

Your story is similar to mine. Read it here if you wish.

 

 

Moving on from the Multistrada a few years on: Reflections

 

A few years ago I wrote my impressions of the Multistrada on Multistrada.net after owning it for a few months. I wrote that "In the time since I've switched I've come to see the Multistrada as a remarkable act of design and creativity. One that has followed an idea of functionality to quite irreverent extremes and succeeded." Now that I've decided to move on, I thought I might share the reasons.

 

The inspiration for the change came during a spirited 9 day ride from Geneva to the Italian coast then around Corsica. Melker and I planning to turn our photos and footage into a short web move called "the Only Way Around" because … well … it's an island.

 

Melker rides a 1998 Triumph Thunderbird Sport. I have a 1000DS from 2003 with cases, topbox, centerstand, and Sargant seat. The Multistrada's performance was flawless and it has been unflinching in its reliability since I bought it two years ago.

 

Like many Multistrada owners I love the bike and have a slight ambivalence towards it as well. So I've been a frequent reader of motocycle websites, magazines and other journalistic account of new bikes. And in that time I've learned that there is something missing. Something that the journalists aren't explaining and writing about, which is something I'm looking for. It came into focus when Melker and I switched bikes.

 

The Triumph T-bird Sport is a lovely machine. Whereas the Bonneville is underpowered and rather plodding, the T-bird has 83HP up from the Bonneville's 69 or so, and it feels peppy and able. The 1998 had the pipes on the same side and was a looker. As I swayed and bobbed and lulled my way around mountainous bends with the Mediterannean below me, I found that the Triumph whispered differently to me. It wasn't obessed with the speed, or the lean angle, or taking the time to mock me by suggesting it had power to spare and I wasn't a good enough rider for it.

 

This is something the Multistrada does. It actually snears at me for not attacking a turn up to its design specifications.

 

No, what the Triumph did was lull me into reverie. I felt a certain sense of timelessness and it captured that elusive sense of "freedom" we all talk about but find hard to explain. I'm reading "The End of the Affair" by Graham Greene at the moment and he says that eternity is said not to be an extension of time but an absense of time. I think this the freedom I find on a motorcycle. A momentary step into eternity. That is the feeling I want.

 

What I want from those journalists, in turn, is less about the new bike, or about its comparison to other bikes, and more about its relationship to the rider. Every bike has a voice. It says different things to us — unless it is so utterly boring it has nothing to say at all. I enjoy knowing what different people feel and experience on different machines. There is nothing scientific about it. It is subjective. It is gloriously and unapologietically subjective, and it is remarkable just how interesting and engaging that can be to both write and read.

 

I was a proud and appreciative Multistrada owner. It remains, hands down, the greatest "twisty-tourer" I know of, and I would not hesitate to strongly recommend this bike. And of course, the bike has not changed. But I have. I have a young son now. I have a greater appreciation of riding for the joy if it, and less for the technical challenge of it. I appreciate the convergence of style, physical sensation, performance and that dreamy state a great bike puts me.

 

In the next few weeks I'm trading it in. I considered the Thunderbird Sport, Ducati GT, the Moto Guzzi Griso, the Triumph Scambler, an old-style Monster, and even the BMW R1150R. What I settled on is the Moto Guzzi V11 Rosso Mandello from 2001 with bar risers and some soft cases.

 

It just feels right.

 

I'll be posting some great images and video from the Multistrada in Corsica when time permits.

 

Best wishes to all,

 

drock.

[fotoguzzi]

d-rock U-rock!

 

[slowkitty]

Welcome to our world. IMHO ....

 

The R1150R is steady, reliable, versatile and comfy.

 

The Guzzi is a rider's motorcycle.

[DeBenGuzzi]

The Guzzi is a rider's motorcycle.

That is straight up non-fiction, best riders bike I can think of, not a long tourer or really a sport tourer or a super sport but a great bikers bike

[luhbo]

.....What I settled on is the Moto Guzzi V11 Rosso Mandello from 2001 with bar risers and some soft cases.

 

It just feels right.

 

.....

 

I too feel right now. THX for this posting. You do have style!

 

Hubert

[RHIP]

Perfectly expressed; I don't think you will regret your decision. I also sold a perfect S2r 1000 for my RM, and have never had a second thought about it. The V 11 is like a Harley, in that is has some passion and soul - but thank God it handles and stops! Get some photos up of your Rosso!

[Orson]

That is straight up non-fiction, best riders bike I can think of, not a long tourer or really a sport tourer or a super sport but a great bikers bike

I'm coming from an FJ1100 and I find no problems sport touring on my V11.

 

Granted, the FJ may have been a bit more comfortable, but 8 hour days on the V11 don't kill me

[wheelsucker]

I too recently purchased a MTS1000, a 2004 with 1400miles to be exact. Don't ask how I got it, but for the price I basically stole it To me the two bikes are so perfect and compliment each other. I love both bikes but would ditch the Duc if I could only have one. I like to think of the MTS as a lighter more upright V11 that has more long range touring capability based on comfort and luggage carrying capacity. Both bikes have "character" but to me the V11 just has that little bit of something extra.

[ScottS]

Wow you captured my feelings exacly - Thank you !

[jrt]

FotoGuzzi- you have a leopard skin tank pad? That looks GRRRRREAT!

Really- I think it's cool.

[d-rock]

Thanks for all your comments, guys (I'm assuming "guys" not "gals" -- where are all the gals? I like gals.)

 

A Multistrada and a V11? Lucky, lucky man. That is pretty much my perfect two-bike garage. I was a real fan of the Multistrada. It is a far better touring bike and is more comfortable for the passenger. But the V11 can do the occasional overnighter with the wife, and for solo touring I think it will be fine. No, it is not the Multistrada, but at best I tour 10 days a year. So I'll survive.

 

I'm at the stage in my life where I want a "garage find." We all know the moment. You pull off the tarp in the farm house all our great uncles apparently have, and there is a perfect (fiill in the bike here), and -- as this is our collective fantasy -- the battery is apparently fully charged, allowing us to fire up and roll out among the apple trees and French vineyards that have strangely appeared around our New England or Appalachian homes.

 

There are woman in 1940s sun dresses smiling coyly at us as he ride by looking rather more trim and full of hair than we last remembered looking, and -- despite the crisp autumn air and leaves on the ground -- we don't worry for a fleeting moment about those leaves being wet or on-coming traffic.

 

We stop at a cafe in Provence -- which is luckily only a forty minute drive from the farm -- and have an amber beer the color of nostalgia, which brilliantly has no alcoholic effects whatsoever allowing us to remain bright and alert for the ride home.

 

That is the bike I now want to be riding. Since I can only have one at this point in my life, the V11 Rosso Mandello is it. The Multistrada was not. However, behind the farm is a covered garage for my other bike that I can take on the other road headed east, and that brings me to the Alps. . . .

[andrewdonald1]

Moving on from the Multistrada a few years on: Reflections

 

A few years ago I wrote my impressions of the Multistrada on Multistrada.net after owning it for a few months. I wrote that "In the time since I've switched I've come to see the Multistrada as a remarkable act of design and creativity. One that has followed an idea of functionality to quite irreverent extremes and succeeded." Now that I've decided to move on, I thought I might share the reasons.

 

The inspiration for the change came during a spirited 9 day ride from Geneva to the Italian coast then around Corsica. Melker and I planning to turn our photos and footage into a short web move called "the Only Way Around" because … well … it's an island.

 

Melker rides a 1998 Triumph Thunderbird Sport. I have a 1000DS from 2003 with cases, topbox, centerstand, and Sargant seat. The Multistrada's performance was flawless and it has been unflinching in its reliability since I bought it two years ago.

 

Like many Multistrada owners I love the bike and have a slight ambivalence towards it as well. So I've been a frequent reader of motocycle websites, magazines and other journalistic account of new bikes. And in that time I've learned that there is something missing. Something that the journalists aren't explaining and writing about, which is something I'm looking for. It came into focus when Melker and I switched bikes.

 

The Triumph T-bird Sport is a lovely machine. Whereas the Bonneville is underpowered and rather plodding, the T-bird has 83HP up from the Bonneville's 69 or so, and it feels peppy and able. The 1998 had the pipes on the same side and was a looker. As I swayed and bobbed and lulled my way around mountainous bends with the Mediterannean below me, I found that the Triumph whispered differently to me. It wasn't obessed with the speed, or the lean angle, or taking the time to mock me by suggesting it had power to spare and I wasn't a good enough rider for it.

 

This is something the Multistrada does. It actually snears at me for not attacking a turn up to its design specifications.

 

No, what the Triumph did was lull me into reverie. I felt a certain sense of timelessness and it captured that elusive sense of "freedom" we all talk about but find hard to explain. I'm reading "The End of the Affair" by Graham Greene at the moment and he says that eternity is said not to be an extension of time but an absense of time. I think this the freedom I find on a motorcycle. A momentary step into eternity. That is the feeling I want.

 

What I want from those journalists, in turn, is less about the new bike, or about its comparison to other bikes, and more about its relationship to the rider. Every bike has a voice. It says different things to us — unless it is so utterly boring it has nothing to say at all. I enjoy knowing what different people feel and experience on different machines. There is nothing scientific about it. It is subjective. It is gloriously and unapologietically subjective, and it is remarkable just how interesting and engaging that can be to both write and read.

 

I was a proud and appreciative Multistrada owner. It remains, hands down, the greatest "twisty-tourer" I know of, and I would not hesitate to strongly recommend this bike. And of course, the bike has not changed. But I have. I have a young son now. I have a greater appreciation of riding for the joy if it, and less for the technical challenge of it. I appreciate the convergence of style, physical sensation, performance and that dreamy state a great bike puts me.

 

In the next few weeks I'm trading it in. I considered the Thunderbird Sport, Ducati GT, the Moto Guzzi Griso, the Triumph Scambler, an old-style Monster, and even the BMW R1150R. What I settled on is the Moto Guzzi V11 Rosso Mandello from 2001 with bar risers and some soft cases.

 

It just feels right.

 

I'll be posting some great images and video from the Multistrada in Corsica when time permits.

 

Best wishes to all,

 

drock.

 

Very well written. I too have been longing to express this same feeling into words. I think you hit the nail on the head. I stopped purchasing the typical bike rag, and now start purchasing bike mags based more on typical riding, touring, etc.

How fast can we really go on the streets?

How much power is too much power for the street? I've actually become bored with the 150+ HP machines, its like having a loaded gun between your legs that can never be fully exercised. This frustrated me, and led me down the path of lower HP, simplistic machines, and a ton more of that missing feeling/relationship that you speak of above.

Thank you for the well written comments.

[milar]

I currently own a Multistrada and a Breva 1100 set up for sport touring. Two very different twins.

 

The Multi is a sportbike that can tour. It has quicker steering and a short stroke, rev happy motor.

 

The Breva's more of a GT. It steers slower and the long stroke, big flywheel motor is more torque friendly.

 

I suppose the best way to describe the difference is this: when I'm headed for a weekend in the mountains I take the Multi. When I'm headed for 10 days on the road I take the Breva.

 

M