Picked up my new bike this weekend and found time for a 200k ride. Previously owned a 2010 and 2013 model. First impressions. The finish the best yet, no fasteners on panels and cable runs all tucked away nicely giving a high quality look to the bike. The switch gear all worked really well and easy to use. I will shorten the high beam toggle as the gloves caught it going for the clutch on several occasions, flashing oncoming traffic. The heated grips now have their own switch, hazard lights present, cruise control brilliant, and the colour screen really clear and easy to set all the parameters. A stunning looking bike. It is by far the best handling multi I have owned. I have always felt the earlier models didn’t tip into corners without a fair amount of counter steer effort. The new bike is beautifully balance, tips into corners with a minimum of fuss and tracks flawlessly around them, it is such an easy bike to ride and will be a fantastic touring bike it is so effortless. Shorter riders will love it. At 6’0’’ I could place both feet flat on the ground and with the seat lowered I would be positive a 5’ 6’’ dwarf could easily manage the same feat. The gearbox is much smoother than earlier models and there seemed to be less throw between the gears. The pillion seat is move spacious for those pillions with big arses (read wives). The engine (running in so not over 6,000rpm) is smooth and hints at all the power you would expect from a 160 HP 1200cc twin and with a deeper exhaust note than earlier models. My only negative is the ‘laggyiness’ or ‘fluffiness’ in the throttle response. It’s hard to get your thinking in sync with the engine. I guess Ducati have mapped it this way to make it a very easy bike to ride but I like an instant throttle response and to be able to feel the engine through the throttle. All modes seem to have the lag effect. I know I will get used to it, but when Ducati come out with a map to match my old 2013 twin plug PP I will be the first in line. Oh, by the way the way the brakes are also brilliant front and rear and I think this bike will sell its tits off.
Great review looks like your in NSW don't think any delivered yet in Vic but mine can't be far away now, need to ring tomorrow to check when i will see her. Did you get the rear boxes.
Yep, have the side panniers. They have silver (matt chrome) inserts, no clips on the side and with all things Italian are colour coordinated with other parts of the bike.
Congrats on the new bike, I'm also Sydney based and suppose to be picking mine up in two weeks time, but with all this talk on lagy throttle response I'm beginning to wonder if I should put it off until they get it sorted. Have you tried turning DWC off ??, as some seam to believe this is the culprit, does this lagy situation only occur under hard acceleration ?? One last question if I may, did your S come with red contrast stitching on the seat ?? as I have noticed some markets seam to get black on both models
If you think the bike has lag try been a HGV lorry driver, were when you depress the throttle. It can take two-seconds for the vehicle to start moving. That is where per-emptive planning comes into its own.
I certainly wouldn't put off taking delivery of the new multi, it is a brilliant bike and you will be waiting months for the next batch to hit town. I have not had time to play around with any of the settings other than the mode settings. The S does have the red contrast stitching. Will try with the DWC turned off over the next weekend.
I test ridden the 2015 multi 1200s today. I think it's really good fuelling. The best part of the bike is fuelling. I ride it for 2 hours and couldn't fault the fuelling. Suspension was great too I felt the handling of the bike was amazing felt a lot lighter then what it is . The wind screen was ok on the fully up position even at 70 mph it was great. I must say again I can't fault the bike ! The design ,finish, fuelling comfort was just spot on ! I ride a lot on touring mode she was turning around 43 mpg in city riding ! This is more then great for a Ducati , it's excellent ! Obviously I was riding under 6k rpm. The gearing was so smooth you can find neutral no problem ! Would have love a quick shifter but the bike is so good that, it's ok even not have an option. Negatives; I don't know if it was just because she is a demo bike, but the rear brake wasn't working. I use rear brake mainly slow speed riding, u turns or very slow speed stopping but there was no rear brake at all. The seat was far too low, dealer kind of said it's in lowest position but I have to re test ride it in higher position. As well as it's a good thing to have a low seat it's not great thing about sitting geometry. It's almost you are hiding in the bike. Anyway rather then that she was ok faultless, pretty to look at and good on fuelling , these are big things for any biker. I test ride Ktm 1290 adventure last month but I didn't enjoy as much as multistrada. Finally exhaust note was just normal but wish it was a little bit Lauder ? If you listen an Aprilia Caponord 1200 you will know what I mean. The bike doesn't bark ! I don't know if it's a good thing or bad
They have to appeal to the German GS riders who prefer quieter exhausts. It does get louder over time (around 20k). Diavel on the other hand has a great stock exhaust designed by Mivv. There's always the full system...
I was interested in the new 1100 Tuono for a while and read your impressions of it on one of the Aprilia sites, could I ask you to give a bit of a comparison to it and the new Muilti, ??
The fuelling on the 2015 is perfect. The lag in throttle response is a mapping thing and can be probably substantially overcome or modified by fiddling with the settings available.
Good point. The lowness of the seat will be attractive to shorter riders, and thus increase sales which is reasonable enough. The snag is that taller riders find their knees being bent at a sharper angle, superbike style, which can be uncomfortable especially on long rides. For me (over 6 ft 2 in) the seat in its higher position plus an inflatable seat cushion is almost high enough. Changing the seat from low to high is not entirely simple. It requires several plastic components to be fitted or removed, and attached with several screws. This is not something you could feasibly do while away from home!
On the 2015 DVT, the amount of steering lock is considerably increased. This is very useful while parking or in tight manoeuvres, but it means that the handlebars overlap the tank on full lock. As a result it is only possible to have a small tank top bag. A large bag would foul the bars at the sides. The tank top bag supplied as part of the "Urban" pack is pretty small, but as far as I can see you couldn't feasibly fit a bigger one.
Hi yes they didn't like me on that aprilia forums but i didn't say anything bad about the bike I just told my honest experience. I test ride the 2014 tuono v4r and 2015 tuono v4 1100 rr and the difference is day and night if you buy tuono buy 1100 but the problem is you won't be to happy with pillion or in rain. The bike throws so much mud and water to you . It must be the tail design. And also in city with pillion in any mode you get max 18.5 mpg and if you are good and one person in a roads you get 24-26 mpg. So I was filling the tank every two days . So you can do 60 miles with 18 litters tank that's why I gave it back in the first week. Other then that the bike is faultless. The fuelling, sound the torque of the v4 is mad! So much fun to ride alone in sunny days . But considering we are living in Uk may be a second bike for sunny days ?
I rather have the steering turns really good for u turns rather then the silly tank bag. As an urban rider steering angle is everything for me ! The biggest reason I didn't go for 1290 is steering first of all the Ktm 1290 has tight and sort handle bars and the steering is not as good as ducati .
I said you can't fault the fuelling. It is the best fuelling ducati ever build ! It can pull from 1750 rpm is this good or what ? The bike I test ride didn't have lagging with dwc on max. So I don't know what people are talking about. If they want to see a throttle lag they should try , bmw or early Ktm s I think who doesn't really know or understand or get used to fly by wire system will think there is a lag .
Picked my bike up today and did 90 miles home averaging 42 mpg at 51 mph average so tank to empty around 160 miles. Kept it at 6000 rpm max which is 108 mph in 6th. My impressions after owning and riding 1500 miles on a 11 degree Testerthingy and my current GSWC. This bikes chassis changes give it a much faster turn in and nimble handling ( remember my tyres have a perfect new profile). There is no weight to this bike once underway and slow turns are a doddle partly due to the increased steering lock and partly because the weight seems low. It's almost sports bike nimble and tracks a bend with precision......took me sometime to adjust after a recent 3000 mile trip on my German Tractor. Brilliant handling and an improvement on the 11 degree MY12. The engine is vibey. Is it my bike or are they all like it? Has it got 'L' twin character or DVT designed in vibes........not sure until it gets past 600 miles and 6000 revs. It is a monster of a power unit as it instantly responds to the throttle and pulls,pulls,pulls.......that 4th gear catapult is present and correct but I think the DVT masks the speed by being smooooooother than the 11 degree. The low speed ease of use and smoothness has improved but I almost had a 'so what' reaction and probably need to judge after a 3000 mile trip next month to the Pyrenees. Gearbox is perfect; easy to use, predictable and reliable. Clutch caught me out with it's quick as a flash bite but that's probably because the GS is soft and easy. Lever pull is fairly hard against the light GS but I have tendon problems in my dannies. Front brake is brilliant as it is easy to modulate and very strong if need be.....rear brake is there but shy unless kicked awake, at least it's there! Rider comfort has improved as the screen is further away, the seat is good and the reach on high seat allows flat feet ( I am 6'2" with 31" inseam and a long back). The screen allowed air to hit my neck and above but it's relatively clean air and not turbulent air. Tomorrow I will try the Touratech screen extension and see what difference that makes. The bars will be well positioned for the average jockey but were a tad low for my height....no big issue. The active suspension gives a plush ride whilst tightening up when needed and allowing precision tracking and turn in. The noise is engaging like a V2 German Flying Bomb ( OK I never heard one other than on film) ..... it's a good sound, an 'L' twin sound. The headlights are very bright, almost painful to look into, and the spots very bright as well. Dash is neat and easy to read and the switches are robust and a doddle to use. You still have to hit a button to initiate bike 'on' and then a button to start. In summary this is a very nimble and fast road bike. Comfortable and characterful as well as looking like it's well built.
roundincircles: Good review. Do you still have the GS as well as this bike? What bits are better re both bikes? I can see from the review that you love this bike. Re the vibration; most people report this bike to have less than the previous model? When I tested a 14 plate the vibration around the nads was plentiful and somewhere in between pleasure and pain but I was assured it was just a characteristic of the bike and I did very quickly get to know and expect it. In a way i feel it will define character and I'll be slightly disappointed if my new one is absent of it.
