Hi folks. I have never owned or ridden a twin cylinder 4 stroke motorcycle before the Multistrada. Mine now seems to be running ok, ie not stalling, but I just wondered if it is normal to get so much vibration from the engine. Some may say that is the character of this particular bike but I have no experience of riding another one. Don't get me wrong, it handles wonderfully and is very fast but once it gets over about 4500rpm, the vibration is quite severe, to the point where I can't actually make out what is behind me. I have the twin spark version which I understand was to make it smoother - god knows what they were like before if mine is the smoother one? Maybe it needs some adjustment somewhere or something?
Don't know about anyone else, but hard to diagnose without riding or seeing for myself Jon. Maybe someone nearby on this Forum could meet up and hopefully allay your fears but not dismissing that there could be something wrong for a minute. I remember an elderly rider at BoxHill, Crystal John and @mervyn both knew him far better than me - he bought a "top of the range" Panigale twin new and mentioned that it seemed rough and unrefined through part of the rev range and even took it back to have the tune checked. I asked him what he'd ridden before and (same as you) had had nothing but 4 cylinder bikes and this was his first large capacity high-output twin. He traded it in for an MV 4 cylinder within a year from memory.
you have more details than me Andy - if this is the case/not long purchased then obviously the first step.
It's hard to know how vibey yours is but, as stated above, if you're coming from in-line fours then yes, they vibrate a lot more than your average Yam or Honda etc. Mine's a twin spark too, can't make much out accurately in the mirrors at certain revs, can feel the vibrations through the seat too but I've owned quite a few V-Twins so I find it normal.
The engines are lumpy and grumpy at low revs, for sure. However, normally they settle and I would say the vibration is not that bad when they are up in the revs, the vibration though is always a low frequency vibration, never a high frequency vibration like you get on 4cyl bikes. The older Testastretta engines could suffer from failing main bearings on the crank, if you are REALLY unlucky maybe yours has this, so I would encourage you to get a dealer to check it out properly, but honestly the engines do have character. TBH best thing you can do is start using the revs, yes they are twins, but they still don't like being in 4th gear at 1500rpm, they want to be revving, it's just how Ducati's always have been.
Thanks very much for the replies all. I would really like to find someone locally who knows how they should be to take it out and tell me if they think it’s normal or not. I realise that they don’t like being in 4th at 1500rpm, or even 3000 rpm for that matter but the vibration is a bit extreme when you get to anything over about 4500-5000rpm. Ducati took the horizontal cylinder head off because of a sheared exhaust bolt but it had the holding system on for the cams so that shouldn’t have been any different from before they did that. They also dropped the coolant and refreshed it, running the engine to operating temp to check for leaks so you would expect any issues to have manifested from there. All I’ve really done is to change both MAP sensors and put som dialectic great on the connectors for those and the 02 sensor connections. I’ve got the bike booked in for a remap to see if that smooths things out but, if this is how it should be, I either get used to it or px it for a V4?
I mean I once had a 450 single that vibrated so bad you couldn't read electronic road signs, all the little letters did a dance. That sadly is now my measure of a very vibey bike. My 2013 twin spark is not that bad and I have no discomfort running it for longer periods above those revs. Sadly I'm not more local to offer a short swap ride to see. Maybe go and "test ride" another if someone else has one for sale.
