I beat all my super-naked bikes with an ugly stick. I love taking them on multi-day road trips so I need comfort and luggage capacity. Definitely effects the looks but not the performance at relatively sane and safe street pace. My 2021 SFV4 received these modifications: Ohlins TTX Shock Ohlins Fork Cartridge Kit Ohlins Steering Damper Givi 20L Tank Lock Tank Bag Ventura Rear Rack with Hepco-Becker Orbit Top Box Hepco-Becker C-Bow Pannier Rack with Orbit Panniers MFW Adjustable Lowered Foot Pegs Seth Laam Custom Saddle MRA Highway Windshield with MRA Sport X-creen spoiler Koso Apollo Heated Grips Rox Bar Risers/Bar Backs Acerbis Hand Guards SW-Motech Mirror Extenders
and forgot to add, Multistrada V4 is dimensionally larger, 19" front wheel and has a conventional swing-arm. The multi has a profile where the saddle is in a valley. The rider sits "in" the bike. I prefer being more on top
I'm beyond help. Old age has many advantages. Leading the pack is that I just don't give a flying feck what people think of me, or my bikes. Good or bad. Someone out there might be interested in riding their SFV4 to the Dolomites or even to the ferry to Sardinia. Here are some options for touring duty. I"ll post some photos of the bike without all the ugly shit on it. It literally comes off in minutes. So if you want to pose at your local bike meetup, you won't feel quite as embarrassed.
Weights an important consideration for me anything above 180kgs dry is a no no, jebus FultiStrada 242kg SFV4 200kg both wet weights. Hated my old R1150rt due to it’s weight when moving it around.
“I’m beyond help” Take no notice of me @wallycycle ..I’m just pulling your leg, your bike do what the hell you want with it, as long as it makes you happy, at least you’re riding it rather than hiding it away I tend to suffer from an overactive sarcasm gland, my mates have nicknamed me “Thrush” cos I’m an irritating cnut !!
Funny thing about a bike's weight and where it's carried. My RT1250 lasted only a few months. Every stoplight became a stress event. If the bike was just slightly off vertical, I could really feel the pressure on my foot. With the SFV4 and the like, I can lean it over at a stop to scratch my ass and it's a non event. My old Navy buddy who is a short-arse, rides a Hardly-Davidson Electra Glide Classic. 890 lbs dry and with his portly hefer on the back. He got on one of my bikes and said it feels like a child's bicycle.
If I was just the moving it around the driveway and in the garage that got tiresome, great bike for my needs but not a bike for pleasure IMO. I liked my Harley as all the weight was so low I didn’t ever worry about leaning it that much. If you want child like bike sit on a MV Agusta 800RR they truly are small.
Personally I salute you and what you have achieved. A light weight sports tourer. Heavy adventure bikes don’t do it for me either. I don’t understand why Ducati don’t produce an STV4. Or a larger Supersport with the Multistrada V4 engine in it and panniers. They’d sell bucket loads. But who am I? What do I know. Kawasaki’s bestselling bike in the UK is…. sports tourer with panniers.
I see what you mean with the weight of a Harley being really low. I'm sure that makes a big difference, say compared to a R1250GS ADV with a full tank of gas. A Stradale and TVL in our family. They are truly small/light-steering bikes. I'm always over-controlling for the first few turns. I imagine the Dragster is even a bit lower. When I sit on her Stradale, she always says I look like the proverbial monkey having its way with a football.
I found the multi quite ok to manoeuvre around the garage (high bars really help), the gs1250 wasn’t! But on the go, both bikes were easy to use and never really felt the weight unless unplanned stop on heavy side incline. The panigale and monster by comparison are a doddle!
I’ve said this for years,..if they would use the V4 Multistrada engine with the conventional valve springs to get the long service intervals, 175 bhp is enough for a sports tourer , if Ducati had made a nice stylish sports tourer I would have bought one in preference to my Ninja 1000 SX , ..not that there’s anything wrong with the Ninja mind, just that I would have liked another Ducati in the garage
With Audi deep pockets, the reducing cost/increasing price model making record profits for Ducati, you do wonder why they don’t fill that gap. Has the supersport been a winner? They could top that and use the assembly line for a modern ST series. I’d be interested.
