2020 Ducati Multistrada 950 S first ride: A Duc for all seasons

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It’s tall, gray and a bit beaky but what it lacks in classic good looks, the Multistrada 950 S makes up in riding enjoyment.

Kyle Hyatt/Roadshow

The thing about adventure bikes is that while they look like they’re ready to blaze a trail through the Darien Gap, most of them aren’t great off-road. They’re big and heavy and, in most cases, they wear their weight way too high in the chassis to feel stable when the surface gets slippery.In many ways, they’re kind of like the of the motorcycle world.

One line of ADV bikes has made precious little claim to its off-road chops, instead choosing to focus on the real strength of the form factor: its utility. When came out with the Multistrada, the company seemed to know that not only did it not compete with the likes of the GS in the dirt, but more importantly, it didn’t have to. That freed Ducati to do what Ducati does best: put powerful engines in competent chassis and create engaging machines.

Today, Ducati offers the Multistrada in a couple different flavors.For https://tranhmaihuong.com/tranh-go-treo-tuong-tphcm/ the ego-driven or just plain silly (in the best way, of course), there is with its honking-big superbike engine and a price tag north of $20,000. It’s a hell of a machine, but it’s a little much for most people most of the time. The true cognoscenti know that it’s the newer, smaller Multistrada 950 S that hits the sweet spot of performance, utility and practicality.

The Multistrada 950 S is based on the totally dreamy 937-cc liquid-cooled desmodromic L-twin that we recently experienced in the (there’s a non-S version, but we’re not getting it in the US).It produces 113-horsepower and 71 pound-feet of torque, which is more than enough to get silly with. It’s arguably the rowdiest engine in the middleweight adventure category, and thanks to its plentiful torque and excellent fueling, it’s a treat to use in this more practical application.

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Making rowdy and rideable L-twin engines is Ducati’s bread and butter and Tranh go treo tuong tphcm gỗ treo tường hiện đại it’s no surprise that the one in the Multi 950 is great.

Kyle Hyatt/Roadshow

The Ducati six-speed transmission is still excellent, with a competent if not class-leading quickshifter that lets you move both up and down through the gears sans clutch.Speaking of the clutch, it’s still the same bummer of a unit that we experienced in the Hypermotard. It’s one of the few touchpoints on the bike that doesn’t feel great thanks to its heavy pull and dislike of being slipped.

When it comes to suspension, the Multi doesn’t mess around despite being the entry level ADV from the brand. The 950 S comes with an electronically-controlled fork and shock that comes with presets not only for the various ride modes (City, Touring, Sport, Enduro) but also for different rider and baggage combinations.Riding with a partner? There’s a preset for that. Ditto if you’ve got luggage on the bike. This is serious kit on a bike in this category, Tranh go treo tuong tphcm gỗ treo tường hiện đại and I love seeing it on a sub-$20,000 bike from Ducati.

The brakes are — surprise, surprise — Brembo units and they work just about as flawlessly as one would expect.