I rented a 1260 S Touring for a day here in France. I left it in urban mode, thinking that would be less agressive, but in the curves, coming into a tight turn and letting the engine braking slow me down, the surging was pretty strong. Not sure if that's common, or if it was due to the Urban setting. Any ideas.
Surging implies under power? Are you saying there are strange sensations under braking? It may be the skyhook working hard on the soft shocks in urban mode.
Going into a corner and letting off the throttle, the motor rather than providing engine braking was surging, not a smooth deceleration, but jerking. At other times, letting off the throttle, even going through traffic in first gear, when I let off the throttle the moto was very jerky.
That doesn't sound right to me, if anything Urban should be soft and compliant, an easy ride. Having said that I don't think in the 10,000+ miles on mine I've ever had it in Urban... Poor/contaminated fuel possibly.
I'm guessing it may have been a fault with that particular bike, rather than a 'normal Ducati' thing.
Surging in the manner you describe is, from my point of view anyway, an undoubted Multistrada 1260 issue and not just in urban mode. I frequently ride in touring mode, where without the use of a throttle spacer, the ride under throttle as you have set-out, has been appalling. At times it still remains so, however, with the throttle spacer, it has improved exponentially, at least for me. Others on this forum haven't found this to be the case, so perhaps it is a limited concern with some, but not all bikes. Definitely very disconcerting though......
You're describing an issue with your particular bike as a trait among all multistradas, which is just not the case. if 'surging' is cured by a throttle spacer then rider throttle control is likely the issue. The engine can be a bit jerky in 1st gear in slow near idle traffic but if your bike is surging under throttle then there is a problem with your bike, not everyone's bike
