Multistrada as MCN Staff Bike

He posts over on the DSC site.

 

Man of style & taste

 

So hes the one thats not talking DD..

 

So here is a free bike for a year................option a) slag it off and not get another one b) as its free transport for a year sing it praises and maybe get another one...........hmmmm

i guess the same rules apply to the tyre thing....

 

I've spoken to him today and he's hardly been home for the last two months, including riding the Multi all the way to Bologna and back, but is loving it!

 

If only MCn could give them access to the internet when away on these jaunts.......

 

Surely they can put carrier pigeons in the panniers, can't they? :frown:

 

Right then chaps...sorry about the delays in getting on here but work has been a little bit busy over the past couple of months and I just haven't had time to register and post on here along with the rest of the things I have to do for MCN both in print and online.
There are a series of blogs about the bike here... Andy Downes along with all of the stuff that has been going into the paper since December.
I do love the bike, but there is simply no truth in liking a bike (or tyres or indeed anything we review in MCN) just because it's free. If it's good, I say so. If it's not then I am more than happy to say that too. I would hate to think someone bought something on my recommendation that was a load of rubbish.
One of my earliest reports in MCN wrote about the shocking misfire the bike suffered despite a couple of attempts to fix. It was eventually traced to a loose air breather pipe which was sending the fuelling all over the place.
The ride to Italy is going to be covered over four pages in the June 19 issue of MCN...it was a fun morning out with the Ducati test rider out in the hills near Bologna and the whole trip revealed just how good the 'Strada is at pretty much everything.

I really want to try and get some owners together for a future MCN article and will try and get something arranged later this summer in between my work and family commitments. At the moment I am struggling to find enough weekends in the year to get stuff done.

Feel free to email me at [email protected] if you want to let me know about your bike.

 

Not if he posts on the DSC :biggrin:

 

Well, I e-mailed Andy not expecting a reply and bugger me he answered. Me, just a nobody punter who is not even prolific on forums. I have nothing to sell or anything I need endorsing, but I still got a reply.

Nice. Or as the yooof would say "respect man thats safe"
Nephews eh!

 

Andy, Not sure about repeating word for word but as I had been to the factory a few weeks before I was interested in how press are treated differently than us paying customers? Call me a sceptic but I have seen first hand how people change when they are selling something and the press are in town and it P'ssss me off a bit. I don't like creepy endorsed products that are given a good write up because they are free or because the people have been treated "special". The reply was quick and to the point. His article was also a good read. Sorry for the late reply but I have been away for a family hols.

 

I've played the let's get freebies from suppliers before and as long as you're going to be doing something that they think will help them sell their product later on they'll usually hand stuff over. Make sure you're doing something interesting and offer to put their name on twitter or facebook every day so they can shove the feed onto their website and you're 90% of the way there. The downside is that you might have to put a few stickers on your bike for a week or two but they'll come off when you get home.

Avoid the temptation to post pictures of frost bitten finger tips if you've blagged gloves because they might never speak to you again :smile:

 

Andy B That's a fair point but it opposite to what I was talking about. I don't like the "I bagged a freebie " look how good it is. All I want is for reviewer to be honest. If a product is sh1te then say so regardless of the badge or label or cost. I know I may sound a little cynical but I have spent lots of money over the years on rubbish just because the marketing has been good. More fool me. What I would like to see is a test of bikes or equipment where all the label's are removed so no brand influence is brought to bare in the final reckoning.

 

I kow exactly what you mean but you'll never see that happen. I know some testers have sent back kit that was rubbish and told the supplier how bad it was but they're not going to bite the hand that feeds them and put it into print. If I buy something that turns out to be crap I make sure I go to one of the independant review sites and submit one saying what was wrong.

 

I've submitted a couple of new blogs over recent weeks so please have a read and if there is anything you want to contact me about, please don't hesitate to email me at [email protected]

Staff Blog: Solving the Ducati Multistrada luggage conundrum -

Will be going in for the 7500 mile service next week at Ducati with no concerns other than a rounded off bolt on the exhaust clamp caused by a tyre fitter who seemed to have tightened it so much the bolt head has given up.

 

Try some SportSmarts or Z8 Interacts next time :wink:

 

Tyres

I've tried both of those tyres on different bikes and they are great. I chose to run the Bridgestone T30 and Michelin Power 3 options as they are both brand new to the market and I thought that would be of more use to more people in making a choice between all of the tyres available.
To be honest, these days, as long as you stay away from the really nasty cheap stuff, there are virtually no bad tyres anymore. Sport touring tyres are simply incredible in terms of the combination of wear rate, dry and wet grip along with braking performance.