From the Ducati Multistrada to the V11 - Reflections

[ScottS]

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.

 

Yup you can enjoy a 250cc 4 stroke single ridden to its limits as much as a 150hp rocket that you cant leave 2nd gear with. Even the (relatively) lower powered V11 can get you in trouble quite quickly- I passed a truck with a wfo whack in 2nd and ended up doing a verrrrrry long stoppie at the red light i didn't see down the road because the truck blocked it. Ver impressed withthe brakes/front tire though !

 

I can have just as much fun with 15hp and 150. and the modern sportbikes are just appliances to me- I bought the Guzzi because it jumped up and down and said "ride me !"

[kecup]

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.

 

Can say I've had a lot of similar thoughts and experiences. But I like my S4R Monster for what it is and the same applies to my 1997 1100i Sport. I like diversity as soon as the bike is exotic, beautiful and has character. With MV Brutale for 4cylinder of that quality and Benelli TnT for 3cylinder my garage would be complete. Working on getting MV now:)

 

Kecup

 

glad you did not get the Beemer, my friend has R1150 rockster and he likes it a lot, it is economical and never disappoints. I can not say that about Ducati or Guzzi but I love them!