BOLOGNA BRILLIANCE

There's more choice than ever if you're after an adventure bike that'll dominate the roads. In an ever-crowded market, can the latest generation of Ducati's pioneering Multistrada - with its Panigale-derived motor and raft of electronics - retain its reputation as one of the quickest, most surefooted and thrilling ways to cross continents?

- Ross Mowbray

Ducati Multistrada V4 S

With well over 100,000 bikes sold worldwide in the 20-odd years since its introduction, the Multistrada is a very important motorcycle that's come a long way since it first arrived on the scene in 2003.

The motorcycling landscape was pretty different back then. Sportbikes and sport tourers were in vogue, and adventure bikes were by and large the preserve of proper explorers who wanted big-mile comfort and reasonable off-road performance.

So when Ducati launched its first generation Multistrada, it didn't quite fit in. Despite its bold adventuretourer-cum-sportbike package being formidable enough to impress, its 999-inspired looks proved a little too Marmite for many.

The Italian firm stuck at it though, and by the time 2010 rolled around things were markedly different. Adventure bikes were big business and long travel suspension, wide bars and proper all-day comfort were the order of the day. There was room for variety, too; adventure didn't just have to mean getting up on the pegs and exploring off-the-beaten-path. The Multistrada was starting to make sense.

The second generation, tech-laden 150bhp, 1198cc Testastretta V-twinpowered Multistrada 1200 had broader appeal. Sleeker, sharper and capable of delivering big smiles for riders after a long-legged adventure bike for the road (or even the racetrack). The factory had found a winning formula.

And they rolled with it; releasing a bunch of variants, adding semi-active suspension in 2013 and VVT in 2015, before eventually releasing the subtly-overhauled and improved Multistrada 1260 in 2018, powered by the 156bhp longer stroke motor from the X-Diavel. The 1260 is a bike I know well. I've ridden to Scotland on the S, tackled trails on the Enduro and spent a glorious couple of weeks restraining my inner hooligan on the Pikes Peak. I was (and am) a fan.