Who is it for?
“Born to be unstoppable on any terrain, the Multistrada 1200 Enduro is a full-optional bike designed to satisfy even the most demanding globetrotter. Moreover, this maxi-enduro has specifically been developed and built to handle the stress and strain of off-road riding,” Ducati tell us in its press information.
Ducati Australia certainly weren’t afraid to let us put the bike through its paces, with various journos getting them sideways and airborne, and we even took them out on the beach, which probably wasn’t the best idea, but more on that later.
Ducati hired a former Dakar racer to help develop the bike, and the company is offering rider training in Europe for those who want to get the best from the new bike.
Ducati has aimed the bike at the BMW R 1200 GS Adventure and KTM 1290 Super Adventure market. All three have 30 litre tanks, comprehensive electronics, optional alloy panniers, laced 19-inch front, 17-inch rear wheels and a style which screams long-distance riding.
The Japanese brands are offering a myriad of machines which can be classed as Adventure but all are have lower price points and varying capabilities and options.
Interestingly, Ducati Australia wanted to emphasis the new 1200 Enduro wasn’t just for the big long-distance tour, but was also very capable solo, for fun day rides with your mates and no luggage, taking the off-road a bit more seriously, pointing to things like the very serious bashplate, standard handguards, semi-active suspension and off-road optimised enduro riding mode. Conversely, BMW and KTM market their machines as touring bikes, but both of those brands have other machines which might better suit the more serious off-road adventure bike rider.
Capabilities
Ohh, I love a good press release, especially when they write things like “Unstoppable on any terrain”. Well, we stopped them – look, don’t take your adventure bike onto the beach when the sand is soft! In doesn’t matter which one, it will sink.
That said, turning off the traction control meant we got out pretty easily, although it would have been tough for a lone rider to have done so.
The reality if the 1200 Enduro is very, very capable in nearly every situation a buyer is likely to put one in. Ducati has put a lot of effort into making the bike more suitable for off-road riding than earlier Multis.
Starting at the front, the wheel, forks, mudguard and beak are all very different and optimised for off road. The new tank has easily replaceable alloy panels designed to take a flogging in minor tip-overs and crashes, which one of Ducati Australia’s staff kindly demonstrated when he toppled on some loose rocks – pretty well all the damage was absorbed by the panel and the bike continued on without a problem.
Like the standard Multistrada, the Enduro has handguards with integrated indicators, which to me look a little fragile. I’d like to have seen sturdier Barkbuster-style guards.
The taller handlebars will suit most riders, although even higher risers are available. The footpegs are wide triple-row toothed units with a rubber insert for road riding, and the gear lever has a spring-loaded tip – you can pull it out and flip it over to change its height, a better system than BMW’s fold-down riser. The gear lever is articulated, so it folds back to reduce the likelihood of breaking in a minor incident.
The last part of the riding position is the seat, and this had me concerned from the first time I laid eyes on the machine – unlike nearly every other off-road capable bike, the 1200 Multistrada Enduro has a scalloped rider’s perch rather than a flat seat.
The reason dirt bikes have a long, flat seat is for movement – you want to get your weight back on soft surfaces, like beaches. Potentially making matters worse is the passenger seat, which is fat… but it turns out Ducati’s already thought of these things. They are offering both taller (890mm) and lower seats (850mm) than standard (870mm) – at 185cm, I’d definitely order the taller seat, even if it might make throwing a leg over and manoeuvring a little more awkward, and there’s an optional narrower and lower passenger seat, too, but it turned out I didn’t crash my arse into the pillion perch anyway.
Ducati has positioned the footpegs quite high, which is great for ground and cornering clearance, but the seat to footpeg distance I found a little cramped, the other reason I’d order the taller seat.
Overall I loved the standing position, the new narrower seat and tank design working well and I suggest you order the seat height which will best suit you.
The electronics
The 1200 Multistrada has long made good use of a powerful electronics package, from its ABS and traction control to riding modes… and the Enduro model is stepping it up again.
The enduro features a Bosch Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), which dynamically measures pitch and roll angles along with acceleration along the 3 axis to better understand what the bike is doing, so if you snap the throttle open, Ducati Traction Control knows if you’re cranked over hard in a corner (and thus to ignore you) or upright (and thus to pour on the power).
There’s also cornering ABS, the IMU communicating with the ABS unit your angle, so the ABS will kick in a lot earlier if you’re cranked over.
There’s also Ducati Wheelie Control which is there to keep the front wheel down when it shouldn’t be airborne and new-for-the-Enduro Vehicle Hold Control (VHC) has been introduced with this model.
When activated, VHC applies the rear brake and uses the ABS system to determine when you’re riding away, releasing the brakes gradually as you do.
The rider interface for the electronics is through the instruments, which is a big flat panel television in the fairing.
Oops, did I say TV? Nope, much sharper than a television, although not quite as big as most of us have dominating our lounge rooms these days.
Underneath the gorgeous 5-inch TFT (Thin Film Transistor) dashboard (it’s not really a TV) is a power outlet, which is really handy because the Bluetooth connection to the bike – which can display text messages, tell you when your phone is ringing and much more – it will drain your phone’s battery (like any Bluetooth accessory). There’s another power outlet and a USB power port under the seat.
The Bluetooth connection is also important for the Multistrada App (now available for iOS, coming soon for Android) which will allow the recording of bike data – speed, lean angle, power and fuel consumption can be recorded onto the map and riding diary, so you will know where you went, how fast you went there.
Not sure if it can display where you arse got all puckery from charging into a hairpin too quick, but maybe that will be next year’s model…
The dash also displays everything you’d expect, including speed, rpm, selected gear, total kilometres, trip 1 and trip 2, engine coolant temperature, fuel gauge and a clock. Other information shown includes the selected Riding Mode, kilometres remaining, current fuel consumption, average fuel consumption, average speed, air temperature, travelling time and an icy road surface warning.
The riding mode is displayed, of course, but if you select Enduro a small yellow warning comes up displaying ‘Enduro ABS’, reminding you the rear wheel now has ABS switched off.
The four modes on the Enduro are Sport, Touring, Urban and Enduro.
Each one gives the bike different characteristics – suspension settings, DTC, ABS, power delivery. And most of the settings can be tailored to suit the owner, too. For example, if you’re a serious off-road rider buying a Multistrada Enduro for a big trip, you might want to turn off the ABS completely when in Enduro mode, but have it come on quite early on the bitumen. Someone buying the Multistrada Enduro as their first ‘big’ bike might want to stick to the reduce output of 100hp you get from the Urban Mode.
Me, I like to turn off the traction and wheelie control in sports mode, so I can loft the front wheel… and there’s a button to return everything to standard, too.
The dash will also display info about your use of the standard cruise control which is operated through the left switchblock.
When you’re riding the Multistrada Enduro your connection to the engine is via a ride-by-wire throttle, which has three different power maps.
Be the first to comment