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What It’s Like Riding the Ducati Multistrada V4 S, A Review

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One of the most anticipated motorcycles of the 2021 model year is finally here for us to test, and in case the title to this review didn’t give it away, I am talking about the Ducati Multistrada V4 adventure bike.

Ducati has teased us long enough on this new ADV machine, including giving us an early look at its new Granturismo V4 motor, which is most notable for its lack of desmodromic valves. *Gasp* goes the Ducatisti collective.

With 168hp (125 kW) on tap, and 92 lbs•ft of peak torque coming from the compact V4 engine, it is hard to imagine why anyone would complain about what is beneath the fairings on this new Multistrada model, but then again…Ducati did leave a few sacred cows on the slaughterhouse floor when designing this motorcycle.

A pillar to Ducati’s two-wheeled lineup, the Multistrada V4 is a critical bike for Ducati to get right, as it accounts for roughly 20% of the company’s unit sales.

And for all of its changes and upgrades, the Multistrada V4 continues Ducati’s core principle for the Multistrada lineup – of having a model that is four motorcycles in one.

To see if Ducati got this recipe correct, the Italian brand invited us down to Borrego Springs, California, to ride the 2021 Ducati Multistrada V4 S in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

Our ride involved equal parts of curvy mountain roads and sandy desert tracks, giving us a good glimpse of what the Multistrada V4 S was capable of on the street and in the dirt.

The verdict? It’s a big one. If there was only one motorcycle we could buy with our hard-earned blogging dollars, this would be it. The Ducati Multistrada V4 S is the new standard in the premium ADV space. Let me explain.

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Reviews

Gone Riding: Ducati Multistrada V4 S

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The much rumored, much anticipated Ducati Multistrada V4 S is finally hitting US soil (in dealers, as we speak) and today we get a chance to ride this new adventure bike in anger.

Ducati North America has brought us to the Anza-Borrego desert in California to try this new machine, and put it through its paces both on the street and in the dirt.

Our bikes are also equipped with the new front and rear RADAR systems from Bosch, which means that we will get to test the adaptive cruise control and blind spot warning systems on the Ducati Multistrada V4 S, even though they won’t officially be available on the bikes until later this summer.

It should be a lively day of riding, and a prime chance to get your questions in about this machine and its new systems.

The Italians have been talking a big game with the new Multistrada V4, so we will be looking to see if this Ducati can top the very best in the big-bike ADV class.

Per our new review format, I will be giving you a live assessment of the Ducati Multistrada V4 S right here in this article (down in the comments section), and I will try to answer any questions you might have about this exciting motorcycle.

So, here is your chance to learn what it’s like to ride the Ducati Multistrada V4 S, before even our own proper review is posted.

As always, if I don’t know an answer, I will try to get a response from the Ducati personnel. So, pepper away.

You can follow our thoughts on the bike live via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and you can see what our colleagues are posting by looking for the hashtag #MultistradaV4 on social media.

Spec-Sheet Comparison of Relevant Models to the Ducati Multistrada V4 S:

  Ducati Multistrada V4 S BMW R1250GS KTM 1290 Adventure S
Horsepower 168 hp 136 hp 158 hp
Torque 92 lbs•ft 105 lbs•ft 103 lbs•ft
Weight 529 lbs (wet) 549 lbs (wet) 524 lbs (wet)
Engine 1,158cc / V4 1,254cc / Boxer-Twin 1,301cc / 75° V-Twin
Price (w/ bags) $24,095 $22,415 $19,847

Source: Ducati

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Podcast

Paddock Pass Podcast #185 – What If We Raced w/o Marquez & Rea?

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Episode 185 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one tackle a bit of a “what if” question for motorcycle racing: what would MotoGP & WorldSBK be like without their dominant riders, Marc Marquez and Jonathan Rea?

To handle that topic, we have Neil Morrison, Steve English, David Emmett, and Adam Wheeler on the mics, as they discuss this idea, and the many others that are related to the concept.

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Podcast

Brap Talk Podcast #53 – The Superleggera Show

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Episode 53 of the Brap Talk motorcycle podcast is out with another weekly episode, for your two-wheeled listening pleasure.

Since we are on the road right now, we thought we would dig up this old episode that for whatever reason just didn’t get out on time when we first recorded it.

It was recorded in July 2020, so you will hear some dated references in the discussion, but we think the content holds up pretty well. Don’t worry, we will be back to present time next week, with plenty to talk about.

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Rumors

No New 1290 Models Are Coming to the USA from KTM

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If you liked what you saw with the 2021 KTM 1290 Super Adventure S, and you live in the United States, well…we have some bad news for you. The new 1290 ADV bike will not be coming to the USA this year, and instead will be a 2022 model.

This news comes to us from our Bothan spies, and the indication is that none of KTM’s upcoming 1290 bikes will see US soil until next year, including the KTM 1290 Adventure R and KTM 1290 Super Duke GT – two models we are expecting to see updated soon.

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Reviews

What It’s Like Riding the Honda Rebel 1100 DCT, A Review

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When Honda brought us the Rebel 300 and Rebel 500 four years ago, I called the small-displacement cruisers the most important motorcycles to debut for the 2018 model year. Now, Honda is adding a third model to the family: the 2021 Honda Rebel 1100. 

Debuting last November, the Rebel 1100 was Honda’s big new model for the 2021 model year , and the bike is basically the amalgamation of the Rebel cruiser line, with the familiar parallel-twin engine found in the Honda Africa Twin 1100 adventure bike.

This new metric cruiser is arriving in Honda dealers as we speak, but the American Honda team invited us to Murrieta, California to ride the Rebel 1100, to see if this interesting, if not odd, motorcycle was more than the sum of its parts.

Our ride saw us burn close to 200 miles, with a mix of tight canyon roads, rolling sweepers, and some urban commuting – the typical duty a bike like the Rebel 1100 would see in the real world.

Big Red will admit that the Honda Rebel 1100 is not a cruiser for everyone that rides in this segment, but the bike brings a unique appeal to a large market, and it does so with a certain flair that has been absent from this space. Let me explain.

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News

Harley-Davidson Sales Cratered Another 17% in 2020

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Hidden by talk of the Harley-Davidson “Hardwire” business plan, which seems like more business speak than actual business substance, we also have the American brand’s Q4 results from last year, as well as the yearly sales results from 2020.

If you need a two-word summary of those sales results, we will provide you with a “not good” response.

Harley-Davidson finished the year down 17.4% compared to the sales numbers of 2019, with Q4 2020 showing a 14% drop over the same time period last year.

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Bikes

Here It Is, The “All New” 2022 Suzuki Hayabusa

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The wait is finally, finally over. The third generation Suzuki Hayabusa is now out in the wild, officially, and that means we can talk about every detail of this iconic hyperbike. Don’t worry, it will be a short conversation.

Despite calling it an “all new” motorcycle (Suzuki claims over 500 parts have been changed), there are only a handful of items that are truly new about the 2022 Suzuki Hayabusa.

The chassis is very much the same, with a few tweaks here and there, and the 1,340cc inline-four engine gets an update to make it compatible with emission standards around the world, but it is still certainly a refresh of the current design.

We should say, there is a full suite of electronics to get excited about, and as you can tell from the photo above, Suzuki have given the Hayabusa a serious makeover, with the help of the company’s wind tunnel and CFD work. So, let’s get on with it.

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Reviews

Gone Riding: Honda Rebel 1100

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The Rebel lineup has been a stalwart bike for American Honda, primarily in its role to get new riders on two wheels. But, what happens when those newly minted motorcycle enthusiasts want to upgrade to something bigger?

As Honda discovered, they go somewhere else, as the Japanese brand lacked an encore to the Honda Rebel 300 and Honda Rebel 500 motorcycles.

These motorcycle riders that Honda fought so hard to create were jumping ship to another cruiser brand.

But now the Japanese brand has a solution, the Honda Rebel 1100 – a bike that looks like a greatest hits album from the company’s current lineup.

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A&R Pro

Friday Is The Most Important Day Ever for Suzuki’s Future

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We are just a couple day away from Suzuki’s big motorcycle announcement for 2021, and the full might of the Japanese marketing is busy getting us excited for the next generation of Hayabusa hyperbike.

Suzuki wasn’t exactly coy when it began its teaser campaign for the new model reveal, and of course it didn’t take long for details, teaser images, and even a promotional video, to leak onto the internet.

Fueling the fire even before all of this, there has been no shortage of rumors regarding the next Hayabusa’s look and performance characteristics.

Make no mistake, this new Hayabusa is a highly anticipated model from Suzuki, and I would argue that this is the most important motorcycle release ever from Suzuki.

I do not make that statement lightly.

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