As we’re still not sold on the Ducati Multistrada 1200 all-things-to-all-people, we thought we’d take a closer look at the Multistrada test our colleagues at Motoblog.it had the opportunity to do. First up, the look of the bike is not to everyone’s taste, although perhaps necessary for the kind of bike it is. While hardly a masterpiece in sexy, superbike design, the Multistrada does give off a functional, practical air.

In an interesting comparison with the Ducati Hypermotard, the Multistrada is revealed as being more versatile, something we would expect, but also more powerful without gaining too much weight. It’s a fun bike, both in touring and sports style on the road, cornering well and with a traction control that’s not invasive. Further on the technological front, the ABS is very well managed, and overall electronic issues weren’t a problem.

The great thing about the Multistrada is that the four modes are really very different, so that you haven’t just bought a bike with a fancy switch that actually doesn’t do very much. Two out of the four modes have 50 hp less, which you can really feel, although the traction control is less noticeable - you would need a separate day to play around with that to fully understand its influence on the bike.

Test Ducati Multistrada 1200

Continue reading: Ducati Multistrada 1200 test ride and pics

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The Ducati Multistrada 1200 has still yet to earn its stripes, but these official Multistrada launch pics and video (after the jump) from the presentation have enough sex appeal to make us consider the new Ducati in a positive light. We already know most of what there is to know about the four-bikes-in-one Multistrada, but as test ride results start to be published, a pattern is emerging that this is not a bike to underestimate. We’ll be bringing you more details later of Multistrada tests, with live pics and videos, but in the meantime enjoy these evocative images from the official gallery.

Continue reading: Ducati Multistrada 1200 pics and video

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Following the Ducati tradition, the newest and hottest member of the Italian marque’s family, the four-in-one Multistrada 1200 received it’s official christening with the mandatory bottle of bubbly, when the first MTS in white, rolled off the floor in Borgo Panigale, in the presence of Claudio Domenicali, Gabriele Del Torchio and Silvano Fini.

Source | motoblog

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Remember the Dainese Legendary Tour? You had to buy € 250 worth of Dainese and/or AGV products and you could win a trip to Italy to tour the Italian Dolomite Mountains with Marco Lucchinelli, Max Biaggi and Giacomo Agostini.

Dainese has put online this highlight video of the 2009 tour, so we can turn green with envy about what we missed out on; magnificent motorcycles, legendary riding companions, breathtaking scenery (except for snow in September) great Italian food, heady wine, what more can anyone ask for.

Source | motoblog

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Ducati is running a Multistrada photo competition to celebrate the release of its new Multistrada bike. The contest works by entrants registering and then submitting four photographs in the four environments represented by the Multistrada riding modes: Sport, Touring, Urban and Enduro. Each photo must represent a road in some way, under the themes of Quotidianity, Freedom, Adventure and Adrenalin.

You can submit works from March 8, although online registrations are already open. We imagine the idea is something like the Multistrada promo in the video above and with no other real restrictions (you don’t have to own a Ducati, for example) you can let your imagination go. The prizes are as follows:
1st Place: trip for 1 person to Spain and Morocco on the new Multistrada 1200 from October 9 to 24 2010, return flight from any international airport to/from Malaga included
2nd Place: a complete set of technical attire “STRADA”
3rd Place: one Nikon D5000 + Nikkor 18-55 VR

See the “Roads” Contest PDF for more details or visit the Multistrada site.

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Have you always wanted to do a motorcycle wine tour? It’s not easy to plan, considering you’ll either have to limit your wine tasting or be a passenger while someone else gets to do the riding. It’s not previously an argument we’ve considered among our posts on motorcycle tours (having seen some of the more extreme motorcycle itineraries people do). But after a comment from Matt from Motobasturds.com, we thought we’d take a closer look.

Matt reckons the TpR Revolutionary Road is just the kind of bike you want as you get older, so you can stop and taste the wine along the way. Doing a motorcycle winery tours search, a few Australian sites come up (hardly surprising…) and there are also motorcycle tours included for California.

If you’re planning on anything like this, try the Harley Davidson motorcycle winery tour in Australia, the Vineyard Riders tours around the Napa Valley or even a suggestion to hire a motorcycle in Sicily. If you really want to test yourself but must do so on two wheels, try bicycle winery tours with New Zealand wine bike tours or even a cycling Niagara wine tour. If you’ve got your own experiences to share, let us know and we’ll be happy to post your motorcycle tour suggestions!

Photo | Flickr

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Did we mention that it has been a very cold winter in Europe? Particularly if you wanted to go motorcycling. Here are live pics from the guys at Motoblog.it who participated in the legendary (and freezing) Elefantetreffen mega-tour in the snow. As you can see from the pics, this year was very snowy and we imagine the camaraderie was in reverse proportion to the sub-zero temperatures. This is not just a photo of the day segment, we think any motorcycle tour pics after this will have to be something special to be able to compete with all that snow!

Continue reading: 2010 Elefantentreffen live pics: one snowy motorcycle tour

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Yup, another video on the controversial new Honda VFR1200F, who at the moment doesn’t seem to find much favour by current owners of VFR’s, judging by the feedback that comes from numerous forums.

Honda is putting one of these motorcycles out every 90 seconds, so they actually believe that it’s going to be best seller and help sales, and those who’ve already test rided it like the guys at Motoblog found it an extremely satisfying ride.

Source | nieusmotor

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Honda is creating a PR nightmare for itself over its new VFR1200F bike. In light of Europe’s press being generally luke warm about the bike, Honda is getting very cold feet over any comparisons with former, mightier V4’s. According to internet rumour mill (on good authority), MCN followed its standard testing procedure in making the VFR1200 available to the general public and owners of other Honda VFRs for trial, after the initial press launch.

When Honda got wind of that, though, it got so scared it apparently told MCN that it wasn’t to allow the testing by the general public, and that only editorial staff were to be trusted near the bike (as if they’ve been anymore flattering than anyone else. Quote: “The new VFR is a good bike, but it’s not a great one. And after all the hype and expectation… that is not good enough.”)

And the gossip gets jucier: according to reports, MCN spat the dummy and told Honda to take the bike back. It’s a great response for a publication from whom we wouldn’t expect anything less than seriousness and professionalism. Honda’s actions smack of arrogance and will only put the bike further under negative scrutiny; although I feel sorry for the guy who had to deliver the message.

Source | Ash on bikes via HellforLeather

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This motorcycle tour takes us through British Columbia, to Telegraph Creek. It’s a detour on an itinerary for the West Canadian Arctic, and if you love the combination of scenery and riding, this video is for you. The bikes in question are a BMW R1200 GS Adventure, the KTM 990 Adventure and the BMW F800 GS. One of the first pieces of advice is not to forget the wine for a little celebratory drink at the destination. My kind of tour…

Source | OneWheelDrive

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