Let’s talk touring bikes

Ouch...what happened?

 

Ouch is right! I always thought the OEM radiator guard was pretty decent. I wonder if an errant rock found its way past the guard?

 

Exactly. On a Saturday afternoon climbing into Mesa Verde National Park. Coasted back into town. No dealership. Radiator unavailable from Yamaha USA.
Found a radiator repair shop on Monday. Told me if I'd take it off, they'd see if they could braze it up. I removed it with the bike's tool kit. They fixed it. I put it back on the bike with an absolute minimum number of nuts and bolts left over. Rode it home a week later.

Then this happened:
I had a bike when I got on this road and nobody leaves `till I find it!

Joined Lloyd and Orvis, the Wednesday Ride to Lunch Bunch, for a little jaunt down to Granbury yesterday. After lunch, I decided to ride on down to Glen Rose to check out Dinosaur Valley State Park as a potential Memorial Day gathering place.

Had a nice ride in the twisties on FM-51, a nice visit with the Park Rangerette and gathered the info I needed.

The day was still young and I had better than 3/4 tank left after filling up in Granbury so I did a bit of wandering. Took Park Road 59 to new-to-me FM-205 and headed west back toward 51.

Topped a rise only to find a low water crossing at the bottom with water running across the road for about 30 yards, a couple of inches deep. I slowed and entered the water with neutral throttle. The I entered the water with my helmet. Then my elbow. Then my hip. Then my knee...

My beautiful `05 FJR1300, Pearl, is on her side as if taking a short nap after lunch. I get up to go turn off the ignition and, once again, my feet are higher than my head. The whole concrete roadway is slick with light-brown moss under the water.

I end up crawling over to her to turn the key off. I unsnap the tank bag and slosh to a dry area to stash my Arai, gloves, Roadcrafter and sunglasses. Back to the bike. Each time I try to lift her up, my feet slide in one direction and she slides the other, this sick sound of grinding metal and graunching plastic drowning out the bubbling murmur of the stream.

I finally manage to slide her off the roadway and get the tires into the stream bed with enough purchase to lever her up.

Minimal damage. Sprung the fairing pocket, scraped the saddle bag and alternator cover. The fairing pocket and alternator cover are on order, the saddle bag lid replacement part appears to be on a nation-wide backorder.

Rode the 90-odd miles home the direct way. Woke up this morning with bruises and a scrape or two. Shoulders are a bit on the stiff side from all the levering. Held gloves show a bit of abrasion and the Arai is almost dried out.

Now I understand the Irish prayer that ends, "and may the road rise up to meet you..."

 

So I somehow ended up looking at a bunch of 2018 Goldwing stuff. Holy crap, there is an insane amount of tech in that thing. It's apparently also 90 pounds lighter, thinner, faster, etc. Some are even saying it's closer to a sport touring bike. Base model has no tail pack, which I do not need and like the looks of. I don't think it's in the cards for me, but it is pretty impressive.

 

Weren’t there a lot of problems with the front suspension being woefully under damped/sprung? I thought I saw some articles stating that with a rider onboard, the front suspension was bottomed out just sitting still.

 

As a follow up to this, I spent a few hours today just playing on highways 321 and 421. I routed my trip home through the mountains, but I was still loaded with luggage and shit. Today I took all the luggage off, turned the Wheelie Control off, and went to the mountains just to play.

After today, I am even more impressed with it. I wouldn't hesitate to take it to a track day, and feel like after adding some Slicks, I could probably hurt some feelings on it.

After riding it back from Pensacola, I was impressed with how comfortable and easy to ride it was. Next summer I plan on going 5-6hrs east to reach the east coast, then heading west until I reach the west coast (bucket list thing). The Multi is perfect for that because of how comfortable it is, the wind protection, cruise control, great headlights, etc. It makes a great touring bike.

But it says a lot for a bike to be able to do that ^, while also being able to carve into and through a corner like a sportbike, then power wheelie exiting the corner, then use the quickshifter to bang a short-shift to bring the front end back down before trail braking into the next corner.

A Goldwing or Concourse would be a little better for purely vertical droning down the interstate, a Panigale would be better for track days, a Hypermotard would be better for pure hooligan riding, but illbedamned if the Multi isn't damn good at all of those things. After today I see why everyone calls it the best all-around bike on the market.

 

BTW - I (or I guess I should say Rob) added the aftermarket radiator and oil cooler guards on mine. They might be overkill, but I would hate to be halfway across the country and be stranded because of a damn rock.

 

/thread.

 

lol i love when broome gets a new toy....


as far as sporty, the multi has won pikes peak a few years. this year’s bike had fancy rear sets though that are unobtanium... if you take it to the track you’ll come home with half of your pegs. i tracked mine and i’m not fast and was dragging peg everywhere. kinda frustrating.

 

There's no way to explain how good it is. You just need to ride it. Mine is a 2012, and is a little more "raw" than the newer stuff. I can't speak to the new Multi, but mine works so well it's silly.

I love heading up Palomar on a Sunday when the sportbikes are out. They think I'm insane and just riding the wheels off the thing, because they don't understand how well it works. I'm probably not working any harder than they are.

At "race" pace, obviously it would be different, but it's plenty capable at an aggressive street pace. The only real limiter is clearance. The pegs get pretty ground down but that's a compromise. Also the center stand MUST go if you're riding it hard. The stop bumper for the stand is on the exhaust. I grounded mine out hard enough that the header tore and I had to have it welded.

 

Beat me to it.

 

The Multi looks great, but how are they in terms of reliability? I read about some real horror stories about the Hypermotard. I’d love to have one, but not if it means shelling out big bucks regularly for fixes.

 

To be honest, after getting mine I am a little aggravated at myself. Several people on here, including Mongo, have been saying how good the Multi is for years. But when I looked at it, I just didn’t “get it”.

When I looked at it, I just thought it doesn’t look big enough, roomy enough, or seem to have a frontal area/windscreen large enough to be *that* good at touring. But on the flip side, i didn’t think it looked sporty enough to be *that* good at performance riding. Plus I figured being a big Twin, it would be all loud and clanky and vibrate a lot.

I kept putting off getting one because I figured everyone was just exaggerating. Then I was bored at work and said “fuck it”. Emailed Rob and he had an S in stock, so I grabbed it.

Now that I’ve got one, I’m pissed I didn’t get one years ago.

I reckon the main purpose of me making these posts is to try to prevent someone else from making the same mistake. If someone has an opportunity but doesn’t get one, they are really missing out. They won’t realize it until they finally get one.

 

I haven’t heard anything negative (I spent a lot of time researching them on various Duc forums). I wanted to do that research because of the trips I plan to take. I didn’t want to risk being halfway across Texas or Arizona and being broke down. But I didn’t read anything on any forum that made me hesitate to get one.

They have a 15k valve service interval, just like the Jap bikes.

My only complaint about the Multi is that I wish it was easily convertible to GP shift. It’s been years since I rode STD shift and I have to consciously think about it.

 

That’s great to hear. The most “famous” story about the Hyper was from a YouTube guy named Snowcat. He apparently got a lemon. I guess when you have issues w/ something you bitch 5 ways til Sunday. If all’s good, you just ride it and go. Glad to hear your Multi is working great. In a few years, one might be in my garage.

 

Scotty, I think you are relatively close to me (just south of Bham), want to borrow my FJR? it is a GEN 2 with 50k on her.
the new ones have a lot more gadgets, but the power plant is the same

 

i had an 821 hyper and a 939.. tracked, hard street riding and off-road, no issues with either.

my 2016 multi left me stranded on the side of the road with a bad fuel pump. but i was on the way to the dealer for the 600 mile service. they sent a truck to get it lol

 

it’s actually really easy... two of these

https://www.motovationusa.com/eccentric-toe-peg-by-ducabike-RPPIF01.html

one of these

https://motowheels.com/i-23901081-ducabike-billet-shift-lever-ducati-multistrada-1260.html

one of these

https://motowheels.com/i-23901082-d...260-works-with-ducabikerplc19-lever-only.html


and one of these


https://motowheels.com/i-23900289-ducabike-billet-brake-lever-ducati-multistrada-1200-15-950.html

 

Lawd.