Seems to me Ducati ought to release an "Adventure" variant of the Multi, just like BMW and KTM have done, to appeal to the Ewan & Charlie market. It would need to have the following: Bigger fuel tank Crash bars Robust luggage Lower gearing Steel footrests Tougher plastic parts Other stuff (please suggest)... If Ducati are too stretched to do this, they could contract the whole job out to Touratech. It would increase sales, enhance the image, and poke BMW.
The Multistrada is at the sports end of the sports tourer category, it could never be an 'adventure bike' in the McBoorman sense, IMHO.
Would it though? If I'm not mistaken the MTS is already one of the fastest selling Ducati's in recent history, and I can't help but feel that part of it is due to being aimed at a slightly different market. Both BMW and KTM already had off-road cache and an existing market. BMW scoop some major product placement with the Ewan McBoorman adventures, and as a result their sales soar over KTMs. Would they have achieved that without the marketing effect of everyone wanting a piece of that action? Probably not. They'd have only been selling to those people they'd always been selling to anyway because they wanted a GS/Adventure style bike. (and yes, I bought a GSA back in 07. I got sick and tired of having it pitched as some yuppie lifestyle accessory by the salesmen. I don't give a sh*t if 2 "celebrities" decided to do a big ride on them, I just want the bike because it fulfils my needs.) IIRC, Bob Marley's kids did a ride through Africa on Multistrada's after Long Way Down. Yet the resultant public coverage was almost non-existent by comparison. I sincerely doubt it influenced anyone's decision to buy an MTS. There simply wouldn't be a market for it - to make it a proper adventure bike would take away everything that puts it in the niche it is in currently (where it is enjoying phenomenal success), and put it in direct competition with the BMW and KTM models. In that arena, and without the benefit of "lifestyle" buyers, it would lose badly because the remaining punters will go with what they know and trust. And for the love of god, don't let Touratech build it. It would always be on back order, and if you did ever get it, it'd cost £10k more than the standard one.
"IIRC, Bob Marley's kids did a ride through Africa on Multistrada's after Long Way Down. Yet the resultant public coverage was almost non-existent by comparison" ....and that pales into insignificance against Paolo Pirozzi's world tour Giro Del Mondo In 80 DOC and then there was another small 'adventure' for the MTS1200 Multistrada 1200 - Timbuktu Challenge 2010 And for the love of god, don't let Touratech build it. It would always be on back order, and if you did ever get it, it'd cost £10k more than the standard one. :biggrin: :tongue:
And that's exactly my point...if you put the right tyres on for the job at hand then the bike can be as good as if not better than the gs...explorer....KTM....tenere...etc etc All those reporters that say it's not an adventure bike....it's because of the street tyres doh...put on some noblies and it will handle the dust....remember it's much lighter than anything in it's class, so must be easier to handle off road...
Well, to be fair Nick Sanders doesn't even do that on his R1s :wink: The Ducati sacrifices fuel range, "crashability" and off road handling with the small front wheel in comparison to the traditional rivals, but as you say it's a hell of a lot lighter. If your name isn't Pavey or Peterhansel, that counts for a lot.
From the comments in this thread, there seems to be a unanimous view that this would be a bad idea, because the Multistrada is (a) wholly unsuited for Adventure work, so not worth bothering to modify, and (b) ideally suited for Adventure work in its standard form, so unnecessary to modify. So that clears that up, then!
anyone tried to put in a 19" wheel? It can't be that hard .. just compensate by dumping the suspension 3" inch ... grtz Koen
