Easy to live with adventure bikes are the best kind. They give you the ability to travel the world when the itch for adventure strikes, and on other days, they can take you around in some. Some can even handle pretty well in corners, so you don’t need another sportier bike to have fun in the twisties.
Add luxury to that package, and everything becomes even better. You now have a great, versatile adventure bike that also comes with high build quality, proper electronics suite, and fancy bits, like electronic suspension. There’s one problem with luxurious adventure bikes, though.
Luxury And Easy To Live With Often Don’t Come Together
Think of the most luxurious options out there, like the BMW R 1300 GS Adventure, Triumph Tiger 1200, or Ducati Multistrada V4. These ADVs feature all the bells and whistles that you’d ever want from your luxury ADV, including powerful engines, off-road-ready electronic suspension, and much more. On paper, there’s hardly any ADV better than them.
Outside the brochure, however, you’ll quickly start seeing their limitations. They can sit on the highway for hours, but once the pace slows down or roads start turning, you’ll quickly start feeling their weight. These full-size ADVs are a handful to handle in tight city streets and feel lazy in corners. While some of them can be considered versatile and practical, most luxury full-size ADVs are just tourers that can handle a bit of dirt.
So, if you’re looking for a luxury experience in an ADV that’s actually easy to live with, you need to look at the middleweight segment. These adventure bikes balance everyday agility and ease of ownership with a full luxury experience. Unfortunately, the luxury middleweight segment has few names, and one that stands out the most among them is the Ducati Multistrada V2 S.
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The Ducati Multistrada V2 S Is The Ultimate Luxury Middleweight ADV
Ducati says the Multistrada V2 S embodies the essence of riding pleasure, and we wouldn’t disagree. Unlike full-size ADVs that are only ever good on the highway, the Multistrada V2 S can do everything you ask of it. It can take you around the world in comfort, commute on weekdays, and run with sports nakeds in the corners. Being an ADV, it can also handle a bit of dirt when your campsite is a little farther than the road takes you.
The bike is powered by Ducati’s new V2 engine, which offers a proper 90-degree V-twin experience and rumble, with over 100 horsepower focused on comfort and versatility. It’s underpinned by a monocoque frame sitting on semi-active suspension, a 19/17-inch wheel setup, and Brembo brakes. These things make it quite a competent motorcycle on the road that should be easy to live with and fun at the same time.
The picture doesn’t end there, though. The bike offers neutral ergonomics, and even the steering geometry is designed with natural handling in mind. Thanks to its slim, slender profile and Minimal Preload Function, it should also feel easy to handle in the city. Right from the factory, the Multistrada V2 S is ready to do it all, staying true to its name, which is Italian for ‘multi-roads’.
The Ducati Multistrada V2 S Starts At $19,995
The Ducati Multistrada V2 S starts at $19,995, which is $3,000 over the standard V2. For that extra price, you do get some much-needed features that push the bike into the luxury territory, including semi-active suspension and standard quickshifter. Ducati offers the Multistrada V2 S in Ducati Red and Storm Green, with the latter coming at a premium of $500 over the sticker price.
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Ducati’s Lightest-Ever V-Twin With A Focus On Versatility
The Ducati Multistrada V2 S features Ducati’s latest V-twin engine. It’s a 90-degree V-twin featuring liquid-cooling and displacing 890cc, and it’s rated at 115 horsepower at 10,750 RPM and 67.9 pound-feet of torque at 8,250 RPM. Ducati says this engine is developed to offer maximum comfort and versatility over long range, and many things about this powerplant reflect this philosophy.
Sturdier Engine Internals
For starters, it features a sturdy rod assembly and a flywheel that is said to improve its reliability in difficult conditions. These components also result in a 12 percent increase in moment of inertia compared to its predecessor, which ensures more balanced power delivery in the lower revs and a slight increase in engine mass. Similarly, a larger flywheel improves the smoothness at low revs.
VVT That Improves Power Delivery
Then there’s the variable valve timing system, which is said to offer a full-bodied torque curve in the low- and mid-range. We’ve seen the tech on way more premium bikes like the Multstrada V4, and this makes the bike fun and tractable at low speeds and confident at highway speeds. The VVT also ensures the bike still retains the high-revving performance that makes it fun to ride at higher revs. The system is also said to improve fuel economy by 7 percent over its predecessors.
Gearbox With Dedicated Gear Ratios
The V2 engine is mated to a six-speed transmission with dedicated gear ratios that further improve the Multi’s versatile character. Ducati says the short first gear improves agility at low speeds, whereas a long sixth gear improves fuel economy and offers highway comfort at high speeds. The gearbox is paired with the Ducati Quick Shift 2.0 as standard on the V2 S.
Lightest Twin-Cylinder Engine By Ducati
Another highlight of this engine is that it’s the lightest ever V-twin made by Ducati. It is 19.8 pounds lighter than the previous Superquadro and 12.7 pounds lighter than the Desmodue and Testastretta Evoluzione. This lightness contributes to reduced overall weight for the motorcycle, which should further improve its handling characteristics.
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Monocoque Frame Sitting On Advanced Suspension
Another thing that drives the luxury quotient up for the Multistrada V2 S is its underpinnings. It features an aluminum monocoque frame with a steel trellis subframe. Both are optimized for rigidity and precise control. Then there’s the double-sided swingarm, which is also said to be stiff and lightweight. All of this keeps the weight down to just 445 pounds.
Weight aside, Ducati says this chassis setup is lighter than before and is designed to offer an engaging riding experience by balancing precision and light handling. The frame uses neutral geometry, too, which is said to reduce effort at the bar while improving bike control. This should make the Multi V2 S easier to manage through turns as well as at low speeds while keeping straight-line stability intact.
Advanced Semi-Active Suspension
What makes the Multistrada V2 S even easier to live with is its advanced suspension setup. The front features a beefy 45 mm fork, accompanied by a single shock at the rear, both with 6.69 inches of travel. It’s improved by Ducati Skyhook Suspension, which is adaptive and electronic. Ducati says this suspension adapts to the road conditions on the fly, and you can set the Suspension Mode independent of the ride mode, as per your preference. Finally, there’s the Minimal Preload Function, which lowers the bike in stops and low-speed riding situations.
The Other Bits
Braking is taken care of by Brembo. The front features four-piston radial monobloc calipers gripping on 320 mm semi-floating discs, worked on by a radial master cylinder. The rear features a single disc with a two-piston caliper. Everything sits on a 19/17-inch wheel setup wearing Pirelli Scorpion Trail II rubber, which should balance sporty agility with a bit of off-road finesse, too.
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Quintessential Multistrada Design With A Focus On Comfort
Being a luxury ADV, it can’t be without comfort. To that end, the Multistrada V2 S offers neutral ergonomics that should be comfortable for most riders. The standard seat height is adjustable between 32.7 and 33.5 inches, which should make it easy to flatfoot for most riders. Ducati also offers accessory seats and a suspension lowering kit to further reduce it to 31.1 inches.
The fairing upfront is designed to keep the wind off your body without adding too much bulk to the bike. It’s accompanied by aerodynamic deflectors that integrate perfectly into the design and extend a bit of wind protection to the shoulders. The upward conveyors on the sides direct fresh air to your legs, effectively dissipating engine heat away from you. Combined, the ergonomics and wind protection make the Multi a bike you can ride for hours on the highway.
Advanced Electronics Suite
The Multistrada V2 S is further made easier to live with, thanks to advanced electronics. It features a 5-inch TFT display with the Ducati Multimedia System with optional turn-by-turn navigation. It enables five ride modes, cruise control, cornering-enabled ABS, Ducati Traction Control (DTC), and a Coming Home function. Ducati says the Multi is also ready for an anti-theft system, TPMS, front fog lights, and a lithium-ion battery.
Source: Ducati