Ducati - A New Love Affair?

Several weeks ago I applied for a position on the Ducati Globetrotter 90 team.  Ducati intends to introduce the new Multistrada 1200 Enduro by taking it around the world and stopping at various venues.  They are picking an initial 14 people who will go to Italy and attend "Boot Camp" and the final seven riders will be selected to take the Enduro around the world.  Ducati Globetrotter 90

You can only imagine my surprise when I was notified that I made the first cut!  Wow!!!!!  They were looking for people who ride and blog.  I guess I met both criteria ;-)  On the down side, if selected as one of the final 14, you had to make your own way to Florence, Italy to attend the boot camp.  So, that would be a BIG expense for anyone traveling outside of Europe.  Oh well, after discussing it, Eric and I agreed that IF I was lucky enough to make the cut, we'd find the money somewhere to get me to Italy.

Whoa, some exciting things to think about.  The new Multistrada 1200 Enduro is a BIG, MEAN MACHINE.  Multistrada Enduro  Pondering the costs and excitement I thought it might be prudent to actually go meet this machine in person and take a test ride.  A quick Google search indicated the closest dealer to us was up in Sandy, UT, about 300 miles to the north at Harrison Eurosports.  A few emails back and forth to the dealer and we were set to test ride on Saturday, June 4th.

Late Friday afternoon, Eric and I left home and headed north.  It was a paltry 106 degrees when we left and it really didn't cool down a whole lot as we rode north.  Fortunately, we had planned on staying the night at the Best Western in Nephi, UT which is only about 200 miles from home and about 60 miles or so from the dealer.

I stayed at the Nephi, UT Best Western on my return from Bonner's Ferry and noted in my blog that they have done significant upgrading.  We had a delightful King room with fridge and microwave that was clean, tidy and just right!

 The view across the parking lot was a field of just mowed hay and it smelled delightful!

At one entrance was a gigantic tree that just called out to be climbed!

We had a good night's sleep, enjoyed the motel brekkie that included sausage, waffles, scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy among other usual fare.  We weren't in any hurry and finally made our way out to the bikes mid-morning.

 We simply hopped back on I-15 North and motored along.  We made one quick break and enjoyed the picture perfect day!

 It was warm, but nowhere near the previous day.  We had filled our hydration jugs with ice that morning so we were set to go!

Traffic was fairly light since it was a Saturday morning.  We arrived at our designated exit around 11:00 am and quickly pulled into Harrison Eurosports parking lot.  OH MY HECK!!!!  Eye candy everywhere!  They have the Trifecta, Ducati, Triumph and BMW.  And....they had lots of each brand!

Well, heck, I somehow lost a bunch of pictures showing all the bikes.  Or maybe....I was just focused on Ducati?

 Yup, here it is, the Multistrada 1200 Enduro!  Oooohhhhh, pretty, shiny!  BIG!!!

We completed all the appropriate paperwork to take test rides.  They set up the Enduro with a low seat for me and they set up another Standard Multistrada so we could test ride together.  We were ready to roll.

Except.....My feet were a LONG way from the ground!  I mean, a Loooonnnngggg way, even with the low seat and the bike in Urban mode (which is the lowest to the ground mode).  I couldn't even tiptoe.  And, it was heavy :-(  There was no way to lower it any further other than putting in a different spring and that wasn't going to happen.

 Of course, once I get in motion, I could most certainly ride the bike.  However, takeoffs and landings were definitely going to be a big issue for me!

So, my Ducati bubble was burst :-(  Boohoo! There was no way I was going to try and take that monster out of the parking lot.  All I could envision was dropping it and having to pay lots of $$$ for the damage.  Darn it!  Oh well.  On the other hand, Eric was most eager to take that beast out on a test ride!  He had the regular seat installed on the Enduro, made several parking lot figure eights before heading out of the parking lot on a test ride.  Here is his review.

After some Ducati emails and other poking of the internet, I became curious just where the nearest
Ducati dealer was to me.  I knew nothing existed in St George, UT, so went to the Ducati North 
America web site,http://www.ducatiusa.com/index.do , to do a dealer search.   Come to find out that
the nearest dealer was Harrison Eurosports, approximately 300 miles away in Sandy, UT.  
That's a slog North on I-15, for those unfamiliar with Utah cities.

It was Sunday, so I perused their web site, http://www.harrisoneurosports.com/ , and noted that they 
showed a 2016 Ducati Multistrada 1200 Enduro in stock and had a request area for demo rides. 
I filled that out and went about learning some things about the Enduro.

Some minor tid bits:

While is shares many parts with the other 4 Multistrada models, it's the only one to have a 17" Rear
 and 19" front wheel, (as opposed to 17"/17"), and the only one to have a dual sided swing arm.  
Hmm, interesting so far.  Very feature rich with the usual bevy of programable dash, multi modes for
ABS, traction control, wheelie control as well as having throttle by wire with different modes. 
Seat height is a staggering 34.25" seat height.  Not quite in the KTM stratosphere, but not for the short 
inseam riders out there.  Still, they did offer a low seat...

On Monday I received an email from Tyler Mott of Harrison Eurosports and after some back and forth 
we arranged a demo ride for Cletha and myself on Sat, June 4th, ensuring that they did have a low 
seat and it would be available for Cletha to use on her demo ride.  The week went by quickly and after
 work on Friday we rode up to Nephi for a free night at the Best Western.

The following morning we road the remaining ~70 miles to Harrison Motorsports and easily found
their location, discovering a very nicely laid out trifecta of showrooms including Triumph, Ducati and
BMW, each with an appropriate selection of gear and accessories well aimed at each marque.

A bit of paperwork and they had two Ducatis ready for us to demo, the Enduro and a regular
Multistrada so we could go out together, which was a very nice consideration.

Cletha test sat the Enduro, only to find to her disappointment that it was simply too tall for her to be
 comfortable with, even with the low seat.  I had them swap the standard seat back onto the bike and 
did a demo ride solo.

My first action was to get a feel for the bike.  Ergonomically it was very similar to my Yamaha Super 
Tenere, but the Multistrada Enduro has better ergos, more easily transitioning from seated to standing 
and easily allowing me to shift while standing.  Seat height was not an issue for my 225 lbs, 5', 11" 
frame with a 30" inseam.  I'm sure my extra strength helped as I still was only getting the balls of my 
feet down.

I started off with some slow, idle speed circles and figure eights in the parking lot just to check out
turning radius and see how the bike would handle chugging along.  The turning radius is very good 
and after some practice to get used to the slightly different geometry, I was comfortable with what the
 bike was going to do at low speeds.  I followed Tyler's excellent advise and exited the rear of the 
dealership parking lot to an empty frontage road that ran along the rear of many office buildings.  
This gave me some room to play with the throttle and also some opportunity to depart the frontage road
for large parking lots with speed bumps and a few areas of unpaved terrain where I could see what the 
various mode settings would result in under safe and prudent conditions for riding a brand new $24k
bike that wasn't mine.

After playing with Sport, Urban, Enduro and the other modes I discovered that each had interesting 
things to offer and that I rather liked the Enduro and Urban modes best, though Sport did bring out the
 inner hooligan a bit.  I then spent some time doing some more serious parking lot drills, working on 
doing U-turns inside two parking spaces at idle speed.  This took me several tries before I mastered the 
unique characteristics of the Ducati engine idle and gearing, but I found that once comfortable with 
how the bike fell into turns with the Scorpion Trail knobbies it was easy to keep between the lines and 
give it just a bit of throttle when needed to pull the bike upright as I exited the U.

Throttle response is truly outstanding.  The idle is surprisingly smooth and stable for a V-twin and 
Ducati's efforts here show.  I still did find a low rpm stumble that seemed to display itself at steady 
lower rpms and light throttle, but nothing I couldn't accept as character, rather than flaw.  Getting on
 the throttle woke up the exhaust note dramatically but the bike never seemed unduly loud,
 (I do wear 32 dB ear plugs when riding).  

The suspension sucked up everything I tossed at it and was a joy to ride standing on the pegs or seated. 
In Enduro mode, it just ate up everything like a magic carpet ride.  Even in Urban, speed bumps and
 uneven pavement were nothing to slow down for if you chose not to.  It didn't seem like anything
 could upset the suspension, even in a lean.

Braking is what you would expect from an Italian motorcycle with radial calipers and a strong sport 
bike lineage.  In other words, excellent, strong, easy to modulate all the way to ABS engagement.

The on ramp acceleration is quite fun.  As you would expect from 160 Hp and 100 ft/lbs of torque. 
 Romping thru the gears brings you quickly up to a 75 mph cruising speed at 4500 rpms.  That's just 
300 rpms higher than my Super Tenere at the same speed in top gear with both bikes.  It didn't feel
 buzzy at all and the oem CC was simple to engage and rock steady.  A tap on the + moved the speed
 up 1 mph, a tap on the - and you went down 1 mph.  Easy to engage and disengage with controls
 right where you can reach them.  

The switchgear is precise.  The turn signal switch requires only a light movement to engage, almost
 w/o travel compared to the Yamaha switchgear.  Different, but with it's own feel.  The keyless feature
 was interesting and could prove helpful if you lost a key while traveling, as it is possible to start the
 bike by entering a custom PIN even w/o the key present.  All of the instrumentation was clear and easy
 to read.

To conclude, this is an exceptional bike.  Ducati has listened to the market and brought a bike out with 
features that we want.  Some things ignored by nearly every other bike manufacturer in this segment, 
like a frame mounted sump guard, are present on the Enduro and not an accessory.  Foregoing style 
for function, the double sided swing arm makes the Enduro stand out among the Multistrada line as 
THE bike that means business for off pavement action.  This does not mean that the other 
Multistradas don't have purpose, a look at the Pikes Peak model quickly tells you where that 
bike's focus is too.

The only things that I found holding me back from riding away from Harrison Eurosports on a
 Ducati Multistrada 1200 Enduro last Saturday were the chain drive and the the $10,000 premium
 over some of the other choices in the market.  
-- 

Eric Vaillancourt
Ivins, UT

So, obviously, Eric had a fantastic time on the Multistrada 1200 Enduro.  He raved about it the entire day and all the way home!  However, it simply wasn't going to work for me, period.  So, while Eric was out and about testing the Enduro, I had plenty of time to go shopping.  Oh my!!!  Again, it was Harrison Eurosports and they had Ducati, Triumph and BMW.  

An honest admission here folks, I've lusted after that dang BMW R1200GS Adventure ever since I bought my little F650GS in 2011.  I want that bike!  The sales guys were more than willing to help me find a set up that would work for me.  As a matter of fact, they went out of their way to help me out!  First, I sat on a standard R1200GS with a low seat.  Perfect, fit was awesome but it wasn't the Adventure over which I lusted.

Hey, wait a minute!  The shop had just this minute uncrated an R1200GS Adventure Low Suspension and I could check it out.  Then, they put on the low seat.  Oh, STOP MY BEATING HEART!!!!

It was like putting on a well fitting glove.  I could easily get my feet firmly on the ground and just as easily pick up the bike from the side stand.  Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, (yeah, almost orgasmic here!).  Good thing they didn't have one I could ride away.  The bike I sat on was already sold.

Eric returned from his test ride, all big smiles and happiness.  And, I was thrilled to have found a perfect fit bike.  Where do we go from here?  Well, that is the question, isn't it?  If you read Eric's review above, we probably won't be purchasing a Ducati Multistrada 1200 Enduro for the stated reasons.  However, I probably WILL be purchasing an R1200GS Adventure LL (Low suspension, Low seat) very soon.

Wow, what a day at Harrison Eurosports!  We left about 1:30 and headed south on I-15 with the intent of riding the Mt. Nebo road.  It was glorious.  The weather was perfect, the road was smooth and hardly any traffic.  We stopped at several pull outs and scenic view spots.  Here are a few pictures of that glorious afternoon ride in central Utah.

A view of Utah Lake from the Mt. Nebo loop road.

 What?  Looks like we went to the Alps :-)  Nope, just some of the beauty in Utah!

 Another scenic stop on the Mt. Nebo loop.

A map to show where we were.

 A little blurb about  Devil's Kitchen, what a fantastic little find in the middle of nowhere!

 A few pics of Devil's Kitchen.

Such beautiful wildflowers!  We had this space all to ourselves - very special!

Another scenic view stop on the way down.

After exiting the Mt. Nebo loop road, we ended up in Nephi, UT, where we spent the night before.  We headed off on UT highway 28 to Salina, UT, our destination for the evening.  We stayed at the Super 8 which is really a nice little property.

The next morning, Sunday, we headed home.  Neither of us wanted to slog down the interstate so we chose UT Highway 89 to UT Highway 14 across Cedar Mountain.  The day was clear and hot until we got to the mountain when the temperatures dropped to a pleasant low 70's.  We stopped on Highway 89 at the Big Rock Candy Mountain Cafe - don't bother - it was mediocre at best.  However, about a 1/2 mile south on the same highway was a decent looking cafe with lots of bikes parked in front.  Probably a better choice.

Our ride home was uneventful and the traffic was sparse.  Well, we did have an event....Eric turned 100,000 on his 2012 Super Tenere!!!!!  Milestone :-)

 We were only about 1/2 mile from Butch Cassidy's boyhood home when the event happened.  So, of course, we had to stop and take pictures!

The closer we got to home, the hotter the temperatures.  I saw 108 degrees before we got home.  It was HOT.  Fortunately we had our LD Comfort garments on under our gear and were smart enough to wet down in Cedar City where we had taken a small break.  That kept us comfortable until we got home.

It was a great weekend and well worth the trip North.  I found out that I really couldn't ride the Ducati Multistrada 1200 Enduro and it rather shattered my dreams of an awesome Ducati Globetrotter 90 adventure.  However, I also found the bike that fit me so perfect I must buy it!  Yes, you'll eventually see me on a new BMW R1200GS Adventure with the lowered suspension and lowered seat.  I'm looking forward to kitting out a new bike.

Sure, I'll miss the little F650GS, she has been a trooper for me taking me over 100,000 miles of smiles.  But, I'm ready for a new, bigger, stronger, more adventurous bike.  Stay tuned for updates on this!

Although I was short listed, I didn't get selected for the final 14 for the Ducati Globetrotter 90 team.  However, a FB friend, Jess, did get picked.  I wish her the best luck ever.  She is an awesome rider and deserves this honor.  I'll be watching you, Jess!

So, that's it for today folks!  Thanks for following along on my adventures.  Who knows what might happen next :-)

Cheers,
Cletha