She’s a fat lass but she can still boogie! My 2012 S Sport is in for a Desmo service so the stealer lent me a Scrambler as a courtesy bike, but as mine is taking longer than planned I asked them for something a bit nicer and they lent me a Multi Enduro. Thought I’d share my impressions as I haven’t got one so don’t feel I have to defend my choice, nor am I the market to buy one so I have no particular axe to grind. Hopefully it’s of interest to others. Yesterday I took it on my regular 125 mile loop through the Weald of Kent and East Sussex all on A and B roads and I’ve done a couple of hundred miles so far in total. It’s my first experience of a DVT engine model. The stonking motor was what sold my single spark to me and the DVT definitely lacks the instant hit of power off the throttle, in fact I often found myself changing down a gear where I wouldn’t normally bother despite the Enduro being noticeably lower geared. 5,000 RPM = 83 MPH on the speedo……………when I popped over to Germany of course, compared to about 90 at 5,000 from memory on the single spark on standard gearing. To be honest the motor is a bit of conundrum to me, it’s definitely much more civilised at town speeds which is nice, but you have to buzz it to press on which isn’t quite so nice and seems a bit frantic and at odds with what I like from a V-twin and surfing the torque. I’d say it has two distinct characters but I agree with those who say it’s deceptively quick and you don’t realise how fast you are going until you look at the speedo. Makes a lovely honking from the airbox too when you get above 5k RPM that can be quite addictive. Apart from a brief change to Touring mode (because you can) because of the nature of the engine I can’t imagine I would ever ride it in anything other than Sport mode whereas I switch modes quite regularly on my single spark. If you’re contemplating an Enduro and are worried that the 19 inch front wheel might compromise the handling then don’t be. If I’d ridden it without knowing about it I don’t think I would have been able to tell. The tyre is quite a low profile so maybe the actual diameter isn’t as different as might be expected? Personally I don’t particularly care for the aesthetics of the spoked rims with the exposed nipples on the outside (ooh errr missus) and wonder how they will look when they are fill of 5hit. Also my first experience of Skyhook, although my 1200S has the Ohlins Mechatronic SCU fitted. Very impressed with the Skyhook as it doesn’t dive on the brakes anywhere near as much but always gives a compliant and well controlled ride. Brakes are perhaps a slight improvement but hard to tell if that’s just the effect of miles on mine. She’s definitely a big old girl, I’m 6 foot and blessed with reasonably long legs but can’t get both feet flat, I can just about get both balls of my feet on the ground at the same time. I felt like Dani Pedrosa a couple of times at junctions with heavy camber or a bit of a slope and I’m not sure how happy I’d be with it all loaded up with luggage and a passenger. Dunno what the weight difference is but it feels much heavier too manoeuvring it around to get in and out of my garage etc. could be the effect a higher C of G with the larger tank and extra bulky bodywork though. I think the layout of the dash is an improvement especially the RPM display at the top rather than the bottom, but the colours seem a bit pointless (a red 9, 10 and 11 wow). Can’t say I noticed the oft reported shaky dash even though the workshop manager mentioned it to me when I collected it, I did notice the front brake fluid reservoir shakes like a terrier with a rat in its mouth though. Switchgear is a bit nicer too with a slightly higher quality feel, but a bit surprising there is no little cubby hole thing anymore. Overall I’m left wondering who would buy one? If you want to genuinely go off-road there must be loads of better choices than a big old lump like this. I can see that if you are into high mileage touring the extra tank range would be an advantage but the lower gearing must offset some of it. Same goes for the KTM 1290 Super Adventure though and that seems to sell OK. Just shows why I work in Engineering not Marketing I suppose! Hopefully I get mine back this evening so it will be interesting to ride them back to back. If nothing else it’s convinced me that I won’t be changing mine for a DVT anytime soon. If anyone has any other questions about it let me know. Cheers!
Good report, thanks. I also went from a single spark 1200S with Ohlins Mechatronic to the new DVT (Not Enduro). I ride into London most days and find the DVT a big improvement, much easier from lower revs. I can't say I've really noticed the lack of grunt that others talk about, it's plenty fast enough for me. The skyhook is less 'plush' than the Ohlins, but much better on poor quality surfaces. there is a stretch of my local commute that has a terrible broken up surface which was very noticeable on the old bike, the new skyhook soaks it up with no effort. How did you find the overall comfort of the seat and riding position?
Riding position is absolutely fine much of a muchness really although the bars are on big risers, sorry but I don't know if the risers are different to the standard DVT. Seat I would have to wait to give a verdict on, I did notice it a little more but that might be because part of the reason I asked the dealer for something else was because I couldn't do more than about 20 miles on the Scrambler before the seat started to hurt my sternum. So my ar5e could still be recovering from the Scrambler!
I've done 800 miles now on mine and there are times when I would prefer by DVT S (2010 and 2016). But for touring I prefer the Enduro, the tank makes it so much easier as I only fill up once a day and spend the rest of the time playing on the back roads in France without the worry of finding their dam elusive gas stations. The suspension works better for me as well, with the luggage and the wife (she's only small) the DVT suspension had trouble coping and had to have the preload maxed out. on the Enduro it copes much better. One up the Enduro is very tall but dropping the pre-load down helped a bunch. I did manage to drop it at the weekend whilst off-road. Schoolboy error, didn't give it enough gas whilst doing a slow tern so the engine stalled and that was it. Almost everything on the bike was fine despite going over with a full tank. the only casualty was one of the screw hole mount that holds on the indicator in those stupid plastic hand guards. was easily fixed but they really are crap. Like the review that started this thread and thanks for taking time to write it.
My single spark is supposed to be ready to collect this evening so I rode the Enduro to work this morning in the rain. Another couple of observations: The more civilised DVT motor is nicer in the wet. It sprayed so much muddy water up my back I arrived at work looking like a yoof on a BMX. Bit surprised there is no crud catcher even though most people remove it anyway. Is this to give the rider an authentic Enduro look?
I agree, I was surprised that it didn't come with one for road use but I wouldn't ever have one when off road as they fill up with mud really quickly and become a problem. I guess they are assuming that the panniers will protect us.
