The day they put a belt drive on a Multistrada is the day I walk away from the brand entirely and take a visit to the BMW showroom to order an S1000XR. I could forgive them if they put a shaft drive on it but if you're whinging about the price now then you'll never stump up the extra £2K that a shaft will instantly add to the RRP.
So you'd go buy a parts bin German Panzer that vibrates like Ann summers toys?? And you'd put a power sapping heavy shaft on a Multi ?? But what's the issue with a belt?
Bike is two years old, so out of warranty, end of this month. May be time to try something else. I won't it another multi if a new one is planned next year or so anyway. Considering something entirely different. Soon as I feel able to, I'll go test ride some bikes
Been doing that. Most recently tried: R1200RT - comfy, pleasant, competent, boring beyond belief; K1600GT - rather fun, in a 'can it really do that?' way, but slower and more vibration than I expected. Took a bit of body English to get it turning, too; R1200RS - slightly more interesting variant of R1200RT; MV Turismo Veloce: very nice bike, but waay underpowered; XDiavel S - a complete bloody hoot and, with the rear pegs/high seat, a screen and panniers, could be a left-field alternative. Not ridden the KTMs yet: one dealer in Scotland and their insurance doesn't actually cover anything at all. I have not yet ridden anything that's as good a compromise between sports bike handling, touring comfort and laughter-inducing power as my 2010 1200S. That's other than my venerable ST4s - I'm going to be very interested to see what the two forthcoming Monster models will offer (1200T and 1200ST) - I'm assuming and hoping that the 'T' there stands for Touring. Other than that, a 1260 may well be in my near future.
I'm probably going to try the XR and R models, see how they work, then maybe a MT10. May muster up a crack on a 1200 monster too... although I found myself sat on a triumph bobber and road cafe thingy today
I've yet to try an IL4 that I liked, although will give the XR a test and see how it goes. I loved the Monster 1200R, and one of those with a fairing, panniers and proper dual seat would effectively reinvent the ST - which is what I'm hoping the new Monsters will offer, rather than just a windshield and soft bags option. But, as they've registered them separately with CARB, they're probably distinct models.
Would you change soley for the warranty then or just fancy something different? Rode my multi to work tonight, and now pre-load sorted, hard to imagine anything else much better. Hence, cheaper to fix the odd thing than buy a new bike if you still like the multi??
