My wife was anti bike and had hadn't ridden pillion in our 27 years together when, three days before our 25th wedding anniversary, I got on my Multistrada, picked up my much younger girlfriend and toured France with her for two weeks. Divorced now - and much happier, living with the new girl and spending all my money on myself as the kids are grown up. So I will treat myself to a new bike in the spring, when the Multi will have covered 20,000 miles and will be two years old. And it'll be another Multi or the Ace.
It wasn't just head gaskets that suffered from a lack of rear cylinder cooling, IIRC the Ariel Square Fours had a habit of seizing the rear cylinders due to excessive heat which was what did for them in the market at the time. Those that bought ASFs and kept them for any length of time, fitted crude aluminium scoops at the side of the front 2 cylinders to provide additional cooling to the 2 rear pots in an effort to aid reliability.
Well, the other way round for me....my wife loved to go on the back of my bike years ago when there was just the 2 of us, back then I lost the bike for a new kitchen in our first house, thought that was it up until 5 years ago when she talked me back into getting a bike to go to work on as she didn't like me being on a push bike (and being knocked off twice) - the problem is, with a 6, 11 and 13 year old she wont even enterain getting on the back as if both of us are in an accident then that's both of us out for the count....otherwise she loved going on the back...
At the risk of repeating myself, who could have guessed that two air-cooled cylinders, nestling out of the breeze behind two further heat-producing cylinders, would overheat???!!! The designers must have been totally flabbergasted.
You're lucky. Mine was just "too scared". Fortunately the younger model isn't. Not by the bike anyway!
If fuel consumption is a consideration it may be time to reconsider the wisdom of blowing a five figure sum on a toy.. Having said that bike fuel consumption really should be better, many people on here will be getting better mpg from their cars than their bikes.
Fuel consumption is a consideration when your bike needs refuelling every 80 miles. Been there with a Tuono and it was an utter pain in the arse. Just getting into a ride and you have to stop for fuel for fear of being stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Is the Honda as bad as that? I admit that one if my reasons for getting a Multistrada was the prospect of more than doubling the range of my ST. Much will depend on the Ace's tank size because to a certain extent you can't have the performance we all crave without using a lot of it.
Ariel quote 45mpg. Better than a Speed Triple's 30-35mpg max and about the same as the MTS, in fact a bit better than I get, according to my bike's computer. 14.1, 18.6 or 21.3-litre tank capacities are available on the Ace, compared to the Multistrada's 20 litres, so range doesn't have to be a problem. View attachment 40044
The Honda V4 engine experience I had you are lucky to get 40mpg. And if you ride it as it should, then closer to 30mpg is more realistic. You could almost see the fuel gauge go down on the bike i rode. My Speed Triple got close to 50mpg most of the time.
Christ knows how you got 50mpg out of an ST!!! My friend and I both have them and "if you ride it as it should, then closer to 30mpg is more realistic". I got 27 out of mine after a row with the then wife!! Mind you, I remember getting 15mpg out of a Kawasaki triple and 21 out of my Jota - triples can be thirsty beasts! Even my mate's Trident only averaged 26. But that was in the 70s/80s of course.
By riding the torque rather than revving the thing. The 1050 engine never felt entirely happy being revved hard.
Engines obviously vary a lot then. Both my mate and I have bought V twins (he a Caponord) to free ourselves from a tendency to ride too fast because we find the STs unhappy UNLESS they are being revved hard!
I never got much more than 40 mpg out of my Speed. Wouldn't have mattered so much but being the current model the tank was smaller than the 2010 bike. I average closer to 50 mpg on the Streetfighter ridden harder and the tank is a tad bigger. And that's an engine with bottom, mid-range and top-end scream. Take your pick. That's why the dear old trumpet had to go. I agree, ST's pull hardest and sound best above 7K.
I have been told to expect 31mpg out of the 1199s couple that with a 17ltr tank and I will be planning rides out by petrol stations The SF is pretty good I average 100 - 120 before fuel light comes on so I get a ride out to loomies and back no probs but still onlyt a 16ltr tank now if it was 20ltrs I would be a lot happier.
Love the 200-mile plus range of the Multi! I reckon with a bit of wrist restraint I could wring 250 miles from its 20-litre tank. Fewer petrol stops the better in my book.
I'm Jealous of your tank range, but not a lover of the Multi style wise. It costs me 4 times as much to fill a tank up these days compared to my 20's and I get less fuel 'kin harsh
I don't know how old you are, but I bet you get more smiles per mile riding today's bikes. I know I do! I thought no bike could be better than my 2007 ST - until I bought the MTS. It does everything the ST did and some! Lookswise it has really grown on me too. I don't like the looks of the Explorer, Capo, GS, KTM - or any other adventure-type bikes but the MTS is a machine apart I reckon. Perfect for me, my riding style and what I use a bike for - long runs mostly, with occasional short blasts.
50 next year, I would like an old Norton Commando 850cc I think, but 'i would never ride it just have it in the garage. One of my old Fav's was my RD350 lc fecking mental, I remember when the GPZ900R first came out it was awe inspiring but I look at it now and think shit did I really class it as a sports bike, look at our machines today so sleek and so much power, as Usain Bolt says in the Virgin adverts "We need more Power"
You must be giving it some hammer to only get 100 miles to a tank (fair play to you for that though). Is it standard? Mine went for a tune up. It already had open Termis but had its exhaust valve removed and a full custom remap. It gained 10 bhp and 9 lb/ft of torque and returned slightly better fuel economy. Its away now for blue-printing, dynamic balancing and some headwork. I'm assuming fuel economy is going to head in the other direction fairly noticeably, but who cares. Can't wait to get my hands on it. Roll on Spring.
