Ducati kicks off a series of videos featuring the new Multistrada 1200 Enduro with the short feature below. If you thought the 19′ front wheel and knobby tires were just a gimmick, get a load of what the skilled riders can do on the new Enduro in the vid. Frankly, the video makes the bike appear to handle extremely well off-road, and the suspension also seems quite capable of handling rough terrain (including jumps). We will try to get our hands on one for a test. In the meantime, you can visit the special web site set up by Ducati for the new Multistrada 1200 Enduro.
See more of MD’s great photography:
I don’t think we need (or could) to ride like that on the 2016 Multistrada, rather, the point being that it is now tough enough to be considered in the GS, 1190r and AT class. Even if isn’t the best in that class, it’s built to be a lot more durable than its predecessor. It’s priced right with the BMW and KTMs.
Ducati doing there utmost to deflect Africa Twin sales ! Nice try.
Yup, thought the same thing. Also, I think the TotalCostofOwnership will be much higher on the Duc. Dropping that = hug cost. Plus, the reliability of Ducati electronics vs. Honda (stators aside) … nuff said.
Nearly 50, can hardly manage a slide on my trusty 15bhp 80’s trail bike, too scared to even try on my 30+bhp 2-stroker (also 80’s).
This is such BS. A Multi would crumble in less than 2000 miles ridden like this.
If you can ride like this for 2000 miles, you deserve a medal.
“Disclaimer: Individual results may vary.”
Generally speaking if you can afford this bike you’re at an age that you can’t afford to ride like the video rider because you take forever to heal anymore. But that’s OK, you can go and scare yourself a few moments and get it out of your system. Let us know the next time you see a dirty and dinged Multi.
Sad but true. Youth is wasted on the young.
Eh. Priorities. Look how many “young” people spend all their money on cars and trucks loaded with thousands of dollars worth of wheels, sound systems, and other bling. These folks could easily afford a Ducati like this if they’d drive a cheaper vehicle. There are plenty of people who can afford this bike AND ride it well, if that’s what they choose to do…
Remember that this is advertising and they have only shown the bits that they want us to see. They would have done numerous runs through each section and shown us the best, and have avoided showing situations that don’t suit the bike. The jumps are small, corner speeds low, and terrain easy compared to what can be done on a real dirtbike.
The important thing is not what the bike is capable of doing, but what you are capable of doing on the bike. No matter how good your riding skills are you will be able to do more things and go more places on a lighter more agile bike. However, this video does show that the new Multistrada is as capable as any of the other heavyweight adventure bikes and, in my opinion, is the most exciting bike in its class.
Sorry to double post. Wow again! Going by memory of the Honda’s Africa Twin video circa a couple months ago, this bike may exceed the Honda’s off-road performance. I seldom watch such videos twice, but I did this one. Impressive is an understatement.
I presume the riders had plenty of time to become infinitely familiar with the track, and they did not start recording till they knew it like the proverbial “back of their hand.” I further presume the bike has variable traction control, and they can pretty much set it where desired, then the ECU controls the ratio of rear wheel spin. The rider becomes familiar w/the power and grows “nerves” to accept that the suspension won’t toss him, and a couple days later you got yourself a nice marketing tool!
See, it was easy! (/sarc off)
I recommend the TYPICAL Multistrada rider purchase a good medical plan (and maybe life insurance) if you try to ride this bike as portrayed. I wish I could ride my KTM450 that fast.
Despite all the comments, that’s some serious machinery.
I didn’t see them doing anything on that video that I couldn’t do on my ’72 Yamaha Enduro. In fact you could do that stuff on any bike. I guess any gun can rob a bank, it just requires someone with enough guts and gall to hold onto it while it does its thing – look threatening.
Or my 77 Goldwing.
Oh yeah, I’d MUCH rather have a ’72 Yamaha Enduro that this….
Me too. No desire for this bike whatsoever.
The bike looks sweet. You could do most of that dirt riding on a much cheaper bike, but you aren’t going to exit a paved corner like you would on that Ducati. How much?
If there was a dealer close by I would seriously consider it. Rode the KTM 1190 but I felt the engine was a bit soft right off idle, and it just didn’t speak to me.
Of course, the question remains, would I actually use it off road?
I tried a DR650, but just too old school both in engine and suspension. Then a DRZ400, but too close to My KTM 350. No, not long range adventure bikes, but living in Western Colorado means I don’t need to travel far to have an adventure ride! MY Tiger 1050 still does the job from fireroad to sport-tour, and sport bike if unloaded.
How to ride a BIG ADV bike like this is rather easy.
Step 1 – Borrow someone’s Big Adv bike.
Step 2 – Wear as much protection as possible.
Step 3 – Train for 10 years and be in the best shape of your life.
Step 4 – Ride it like without a care in the world.
You can skip step 3 if you don’t have to pay for the broken stuff in step 1 or have a high pain threshold (see step 2)
I’ve got two air cooled Multistradas, one in the US and one in Europe. I have taken them through some pretty gnarly terrain, even two up. They do work better than one would think that they would.
I have also jumped all four of the Ducatis that I have owned over the years, a 900ss and a 916 being the other two. Ducatis do jump well. They take off and land predictably and control well in the air. They even absorb hard landings without complaint.
Would I have volunteered to ride for that video? No. I ride dirt bikes in the dirt. I only do that sort of thing on a street bike if I have to. My GPS has a sick sense of humor from time to time.
I will echo what most people here have said. That’s a really good rider, on what appears to be a freaking awesome bike. I don’t need my bike to go off road, but if I did. The way I see it is the bad guys would be riding African Twins, and Bond would be on this thing.
Perhaps, unless you have visions of over-stylized Yamaha XJ650 Turbos burning a hole in your synapses! 🙂
(Never Say Never Again)
Is THAT what that bike was? That’s the Bond movie where Connery was being made to write a memoir about the night he spent with the hot black-leather/plastic clad female villainess, right? I always thought that bike was an over-styled MuZ 660 or something, but never took the time to study an image of it. Thanks for clearing that up. I remember watching that movie in the theater and saying to myself, “What the heck kind of bike is that??” Whoever that stunt rider was, he was darned good.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Say_Never_Again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWQHlNaBVRM
Woah! That 75 yard long wheelie was stupendous!
The last GS video like this I saw was for the then-new R1200GS air cooled, unknown year. It looks like this new Ducati would bury that bike w/similar riders, as I suppose it should consider the newer technology and cost difference.
Frankly, I have to admit I was pretty darned shocked to see this bike’s capability.
One little text item would be nice, which is confirmation the bike was totally stock. Most reading this know the difference between stock suspension and a $2-3k suspension upgrade could be as severe as if the stock bike had a bent frame. That likely is not the case with this $20k gem, but still, if the bikes in the video were stock, it only benefits Ducati to loudly announce same, and lacking it opens the door to serious doubts.
Ducati, if you’re reading this, take note.
I believe they’re required by law to insert a caption to notify us if they’re using aftermarket/modified parts.*
*But I don’t think they’re required to tell you HOW MANY different machines were used in the video… LOL! 😆
To me the charm of the segment is the fact that you can do 80 mph all day long on the interstate in comfort with enough gear for a couple of weeks, have fun on twisty canyon roads, then go off the beaten track to places you would not dream of riding a street bike.
In automotive terms I would classify that bike as the Porsche Cayenne of the cross-over segment. My Super Tenere would be the Nissan Murano.
but lets be honest here, you can pretty much do this with any motorcycle. i threw a set of TKC 80s on my Superduke and its amazing what the thing was capable of. ive always thought its more about the riders ability than the motorcycles design. they are all pretty capable of doing amazing things. i had more fun that summer!
I find that sport bike tires do not stand up very well to being punctured on gravel I also find that the suspension on my K1300S and CBR1000RR is too harsh and limited in travel for off road, not to mention you can not stand up on them.
I find that the biggest benefit, aside from the obvious difference in suspension, between a sport/street bike and an adventure bike off road is that you can stand up all day long on an adventure bike. Sitting down when riding at high speed on dirt or gravel in my opinion is risking being a candidate for the Darwin awards.
do explain why its Darwinian. ive tried both and am not sure at all of the advantage.
last summer i followed my buddy for an afternoon of riding high speed blasting down twisty dirt roads off the Blue ridge Parkway here in Virginia. there were long straights and lots of turns as well. he was riding his Super Tenere i was on my Superduke. He was standing all the way, i was sitting. i was able to stay right with him and pass him at will. we were having a absolute blast! i do get the ground clearance issue, but we werent jumping, not big jumps anyway. the SD handled everything i threw at it. it also climbed some crazy steep hills on another adventure.
I think all my road bikes touched dirt at some point or another in the past. Not all were the best to be sure but running down fire roads or cow trails was OK. Nothing like being on something more dirt orientated of course.
The realities of today though, living in the big city, open and available dirt areas are miles and miles away. Not like years ago when one could turn off-road all over.
I afraid a bike like this for me would be relegated to road duty and that’s OK, that’s where I ride anyway.
That very last shot – all I could think was, “now I want to see how you’ll back this machine out of this spot without help from your film crew…” Alas, no such luck 🙂
Love the bike and others like it. But , age and retirement income say NO WAY! But, brings back memories of my BMW R11GS and I jumped it and slid it around about 70% percent of what they were doing. I had traded a ’92 KLR in on it and I rode it pretty hard and nothing broke. Only dream of have the now machine and the youth and the salary to do it again. Sigh!
Why do you people feel the urge to comment on motorcycles you’re not interested in buying? If you don’t like 500 pound “dirtbikes”, then consider the KTM 690 Enduro or Husqvarna 701. At least you have a choice. If you can’t afford to drop a $20k bike, then don’t buy a $20k bike. There are lots of used bikes available that you can afford to break without breaking the bank. I think the bike is cool and the riders awesome.
Ditto!
Why do people feel the urge to comment?
Because it’s a public forum, and if only the people that were going to comment positively were to post each article would have like 3 responses
Its just as much fun reading and contemplating the negative responses as it is the positive responses isnt’t it?
I wouldn’t begrudge anyone commenting, but I kinda hear what he’s saying. This particular forum seems to have an unusually large population of commenters who mainly seen interested in running down any motorcycle that doesn’t fit their particular idea of what a bike should be, without any consideration for whether there might be a market for it, or reasons for its particular design.
It’s not the opinions that bother me…it’s the utter lack of perspective.
“OMG, my 1982 Suzuki GS1000 had more horsepower than the CB1100. Fail!”
“Thirty-two inch seat height?? When will the idiot manufacturers ever learn about the masses of people just waiting to buy shorter bikes?”
“Who could ever possibly need 150 horsepower on the street? These sportbikes are ridiculous.”
“Gawd, if I see any more Transformers styling I’m gonna puke. Every bike should look like it was made in the 1960s or 70s.”
“Way to not redesign your motorcycle for 20 years, Kawasaki. Looks old and crappy.”
“G50 pounds? My 1984 Virago was 485. I can’t imagine riding something that huge. Stupid Americans and their fat, non-handling bikes.”
“Dealer mechanics are idiots. If I had a bike with this recall, I’d be forced to sell it at a loss before trusting a dealership.”
And so on…
And those were all from the same day! 😄
NO NO NO! This is an example of the most irresponsible riding.
Catching air on dirt and gravel, drifting, speeding…NO.
Did they do something to hurt your sensitive little feelings?
Ummm… Huh?
I’m betting on tongue-in-cheek, myself.
I sure hope so. An emoji or two would help, if that’s the case…
I’m sure it’s just me but my little brain just can’t comprehend the thought of throwing a 560 lbs,160 hp,$20K motorcycle around like that.
560lbs.? Where’d you get that number?
And what about a 530 lb., $14,000 1000cc Honda? Everyone seems to love the idea of throwing that one around…
http://www.ducati.it/multistrada/1200enduro/techspec.do#full-tech-spec-dimension
Okay, so that’s with a full tank of fuel, I take it? Fine, then the Africa Twin is just going to weigh even that much more.
Anyway, what I find ironic is that every time a bike like the Multistrada comes out, all we hear is “That bike could never go off road! Why even pretend it’s an off road bike?! That’s just for posers! It would break in half on anything worse than a fire road!”
So then Ducati puts out this video to prove what the bike is capable of, and we get, “Ehh… Nobody will ever ride it like that anyway!”
Just can’t win with some crowds…
It’s not just you. The videos of professional riders flogging the latest giant adv bikes off road are inspiring and show off the impressive capabilities of the men and machines. But I can’t make it through a single similar video without wondering how many people there are that possess the skills and pocketbook to ride these machines in that way. My guess: very few.
If it were me I KNOW I would not be attempting to ride it that way. I’m too old anymore and don’t have the reflexes that it takes. It would be predominately a street machine and I’d own one because it fit me and I liked the style, etc. Any off-road riding would be in purely an exploitative role, checking out new territories.
If I were to ride at a more aggressive pace it would be on something lighter and more easily handled should things get out of shape. This is not to say that the Multistrada can’t be ridden as they are in the video, just not by me!
You’re not alone…
I’m not saying anything bad about the Multi,it’s a glorious machine! Those guys doing the riding just have incredible skills to manhandle a machine like that was the point I was trying to get across…..and yes,that is wet weight I got from Ducati’s site.It holds about 8 gallons of gas.