This review provides a comprehensive long-term assessment of the Ducati Multistrada V2 Travel, highlighting its strengths as a capable touring machine while also detailing its significant drawbacks, particularly concerning rider comfort and engine character.
Mind Map
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Welcome to MCN in a series of videos where MCN staff like me get to talk about the long-term test
bikes that they've been running for this year. And I've been lucky enough to run two bikes, two
Ducatis. And the reason we've done that is that we decided that with Ducati's new 890cc spring
valve engine, we wanted to get a bit of a taste of what that engine is like in different bikes. So,
I've already ridden it quite extensively in the Panigale V2. Um, but as far as long-term goes,
I've spent three months with this, which is the Multistrada V2 Travel, and 6 months with the or
three months even with the Streetfighter V2S. So, three months each. Um, but I managed to do a lot
of miles in that time. Um, and in tradition, I'm going to talk about 10 things I like and
10 things I don't like for each bike. Um, I've got quite a lot to say. A lot of them are quite
similar between the two bikes. So, if you watch the Streetfighter video or vice versa, you'll see
some of the comments are the same because it's got the same engine and it kind of creates a similar
character for the bikes. Um, so without further ado, um, this is the I've written all this down,
so bear with me. Um, callers, this is the the V2 Travel. This is £18,195. So, it's based on
the V2S, which is £16,995, which means it's got electronic suspension and a few other nice bits,
but because it's a travel, it's got panniers, it's got heated grips, it's got cruise control. Um, but
I've also added this top box, which is about £611 as well. Um, and in the 3 months that I've had it,
I've done well, the bike had uh the bike's now done about 7,481 miles. I got it at 1,600 miles,
so done about 6,000 miles on it. Um, I've done lots of kind of traveling around the UK, lots of
commuting, but the main thing I've done on it is a 3,800 mile 2 week road trip with my girlfriend
on the back. Um, and we went down to southern Italy via Slovenia, Croatia, through Italy, had
a day trip to Sicily as well, and then rode all the way back. So, even though I haven't actually
had the bike for that long, I've done quite a few miles on it. So, um, and the other thing to note
is I've had kind of touring bikes from my last few long-termers because I'm at that stage in my life
and, um, it's it's relatively small by comparison. So, I've had the 1390 Superduke Evo R, which isn't
really a tourer, but with the screen that I put on it and the luggage, it it is actually one of
the most comfortable bikes I've ever ridden. Um, and the same goes for the Tiger 1200. So, they're
both big bikes. They're both roomy. So, I thought it'd be really interesting to see what this would
be like on a big tour with with two people. And I know a lot of people have asked us that when
we we've ridden this bike and road tests and and at launches. So, if we talk about the the things
I like first, so in no particular order, the durability. It's only 3 months old. Nothing's gone
wrong and nor should it. That should be a given, but it's worth mentioning anyway, especially with
the amount of miles that I've done. Um, and it's also worth mentioning as well of all the Ducati
long-term I've had over the last 23 years of me being a road tester, I've never had any problems
with any or no major problems with any test bikes. So, you know, Ducatis are are reliable, you know,
even though they've got that stigma from way back in the day on bad electrics and stuff like that,
which doesn't exist anymore. Um, the next thing on my list, it feels special. It is a Ducati. You
know, it's more than just having a Ducati badge. You know, beauty is more than skin deep. It's
beautifully finished. The paintwork's beautiful. This this red when you clean it and polish it,
it just comes up amazingly. Um, and it's just very neatly built and you feel like you've got
good value for money when you bought this bike. And we'll talk about sort of value a little bit
more later on. Um, the next thing on my positive list is it's roomy. So although it is kind of a a
baby Multistrada compared to the V4, there's loads of room on it for me and a pillion. My
girlfriend's 5'6 and I'm 6 foot and there's plenty of room on the the seat. There's loads
of leg room for me. The bars are nice and wide, so it's really good for a two-up trip. And then
with this luggage as well, which doesn't get in the way, doesn't make the bike feel cramped.
It's nice and spacious and really good on the long haul. Um, the engine. So, let's talk about all the
positives with the engine. So, this engine, like I say, is in the Streetfighter and the Panigale.
uh in Multistrada trim. It makes 114 bhp, 118 with the Panigale and the Streetfighter. So a
little bit down but a little bit more torquey. Um it's more powerful than the old V2, the old
uh 937 V2 uh 937cc V2. Um that made 111 bhp. So it's a little bit up on power. It never ever feels
lacking even two up. It's got loads of grunt. Um, it's it's it's revvier than the V4, so it feels
quite involving. It's got a nice little burble and a pop and bang on the overrun, which is really
nice. Um, and you know, if you want to grab it by the scruff of the neck, it obliges as well. So,
you know, there's no shortage of power and you never kind of ever feel like, I wish I bought the
V4 because it's got a better engine. I think the engine's really, really good on that. Although,
there's something else to say about it later. The handling superb. very very well balanced
riding it one up. You can kind of ride it like a supermoto. You can fire it into the corners. It's
got really good grip from these Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2 tyres which are dual purpose but really
really grippy. Um very well balanced, very very confidence inspiring. Um, and because this has got
electronic suspension, um, it's nice to be able to have the flexibility of really being able to
change the behaviour of the bike at the press of a button. So, when I'm riding it on my own,
I can have it in a sporty mode. When I'm riding it on two up, I can put more preload on the rear for
a bit more support. Um, I can make it softer um, on bumpy roads. So, you kind of got that
flexibility. And like all electronic suspension bikes, the kind of default position of the bike is
that it's soft and plush and it only stiffens up when you need to. And then with the self-levelling
rear, you've you've got more support when you got two up and luggage as well. So the handling and
the suspension absolutely spot on. Um the next thing on my list is the brakes. These Brembos,
I think they're M50s are superb. No, no wooden feel from the lever, no fade, just just loads
of feel, loads and loads of uh confidence and fantastic stopping power. And that's the same
with the back brake. I use the back brake loads on my own, even more when you're two up with luggage
as well to keep the bike stable. So, the brakes are superb and no no ABS intervention either. So,
that's a big tick. Um, the next thing on my list is the tyres. I've talked about the tyres already,
but Scorpion Trails, they're dual-purpose tyres. I mean, I've never taken this off-road, nor would
I probably want to. It's got a low front mudguard as well, so I think the the whole 19in front wheel
thing with the front mudguard gives it the kind of flexibility to take it a little bit off the road,
but has it got short front mudguard? Yeah, it has. It's got a beak as well. Um, yeah, it's more of a
styling exercise really. Um, you know, you'd have more tyre choice with a 17 front wheel,
but you can get 19s, you can get sports tyres now, sports tour, really good sports touring tyres in
19s. And I never ever felt that a 19in front wheel would ever be holding my back me back.
It's just something you don't think about. So, uh, the wheels and the tyres are fantastic. Um,
next on my list, second to last on my good list is the the weather protection. So, you know,
on my my trips around the UK and Europe and in all kinds of weather, luckily never too cold. Um,
but really good protection from the tank, protects your knees. You got handguards to keep your hands
dry and warm, and you've got extra deflectors on the the screen, and you got a manually adjustable
screen, which is really easy to adjust on the move. And that gives lots of protection
as well if you're in uh the right conditions. If you haven't got the wind in front of you,
the whole thing is very quiet in the wind, but we'll talk about when it isn't later on. Um,
and finally on the good list is just, you know, how good a tourer this is really. You know,
the luggage is really useful. This top box, when I was on my tours, this kind of stays on the bike
locked up. And this has got all the paraphernalia that you don't want to be taking into your hotel
room every night, all your tools and stuff like that. Um, it hasn't got any inner bags in these
panniers, although you can get them get them. But the panniers are quite big. They're a bit awkward
as anyone who knows lugging panniers around when you're going into hotels and walking upstairs and
everything like that. But, um, yeah, really good luggage. Over the summer, I had an SW Motech tank
bag, which I've taken off now because this is going back to Ducati very soon. Um, and the fuel
range is very good on this. So, it's a 20 litre tank. It does about 52 mpg average. Um, and in
reality, that means that just for normal touring riding, you can get over 200 miles to the tank,
which is really, really good. So, overall, there's loads and loads of positives, and I do really
like this bike. But, we have to come up with some negatives as well. So, let's um let's start with
probably the the biggest, and that is its comfort. You know, it's very spacious. It's a touring bike,
but these seats are really uncomfortable. If you were to just jump on this now and go for
a ride for an hour, you'd say, "What you talking about? It is perfectly comfortable." You know,
they're nice and plush. And the Streetfighter is the same when you watch the the other video when
we talk about it. There's something about these seats, whether it's this kind of textured effect
that really hurts after a couple of hours. And you know, we were doing 10-hour riding days on our
Europe trip and both of us had kind of grazed bum cheeks. No better way of describing it than that.
Um, and just was really, really painful. And then when you got on the bike the next day, you know,
you know what it's like when you got a sore bum from riding. It takes a while to get comfortable
again. So, sort of a big miss really when it comes to long-distance comfort. I'd say for a few hours
it'd be absolutely fine, but you know, those seats are really, really uncomfortable and nowhere near
as comfortable as the seats I've had before on my H2SX, Tiger 1200 or Super Duke. They were
just a million times better. Um, and also a bit of a long reach to the bars for me as well. So,
you know, I'd prefer the bars to be swept back a little bit towards me. And that's the same on
the big Multistradas as well. So it doesn't feel completely natural. And just thinking about it,
going back to those seats, when we were riding back from Italy, my girlfriend actually wrapped a
towel around the back seat and wedged it in just just to give her a little bit of respite. Um,
next thing on my list, the engine. Although the engine on paper is very good on a dyno is very
good. It doesn't lack any kind of performance or flexibility, but it's just it's just lacking a
little bit of soul. You know, it's a very modern Ducati engine. It doesn't really sound like an
old booming Ducati. It doesn't really feel like an old booming Ducati, dare I say it. It almost feels
parallel twinish in the way it delivers its power. It's just kind of very utilitarian. It it does its
job with no kind of fanfare really. So that's one of the sort of only disappointing things. And when
you think the engine is the heart of the bike, you know, the engine maketh the bike really. If you
think of all the the best bikes have ever been, if it's 500 Grand Prix bikes, V5 RCV, Rossi bikes,
or crossplane crank R1s or whatever LCs, it's all about the engine. You know, the chassis is kind of
minor. And you know, the heart of this bike isn't that exciting. And between about 5 and 6,000 rpm,
it's a little bit vibey, but not too bad. Um, next thing is there are bits of it where you feel a
little bit short-changed. Now, I know the Ducati have got to differentiate the V2 from the V4. Um,
but things like the dash, so the dash is nice. It's easy to read. It's a new new generation of
dash with the Panigale, Streetfighter and this everything you want. is colour, but you just
you're riding along thinking, "This isn't as good as dash as I could have." And when you're spending
18,000, you want the best dash. I mean, I've ridden a few bikes recently, the new KTM 990
RC RCR, which has got a beautiful uh 8 in dash on it. That bike cost 13 grand. I've ridden a CF Moto
675S SRR the other day which cost seven grand and it's got a very similar dash to this. Arguably it
looks nicer and the same with the switchgear. So, you know, it's like the old days when you'd have
a Ford and you'd have your L and your GL in your gear. You know, if you're driving along in your L,
you'd always look a bit enviously in the person in the gear. So, although the dash does nothing
wrong, it's just a shame that for the money you haven't got something a little bit all singing,
all dancing. Um, going back to kind of the engine a little bit, my next point is the the
gears. The gear change, it's got a quickshifter and a blipper, which is nice and it works well,
but the gear change on the way up is just a little bit stiff. And on the tour that I was doing,
there weren't that many gear changes because of the way you're riding. But on the Streetfighter,
which feels the same, and I did a trip down to the south of France on rural roads where there's lots
of up and down gear changes, actually ended up with quite a sore toe and like a blister on my toe
from changing gears so much. So, for some reason, the gear change is just a tiny bit stiff. Um,
next thing on my list, like all adventure bikes, we've said it a million times before, it's just a
little bit buffety in headwinds. So, you know, the screen is really, really loud. You know, there's
lots of big sticky out bits on a adventure bike like this, the mirrors and the handguards and the
the deflectors and everything and they all create buffeting. So, if you were to jump on a even a
naked bike after this, you'd find it's quieter in the wind. You get a different kind of more of a
treble kind of wind noise which doesn't drill into your head where it's more of a deep low down vibey
um wind noise on this. So, in certain wind directions, it's awful. But again, if you were
to ride this bike a short distance in the right wind direction, you're thinking it's the most
comfortable bike in the world with no buffeting. Um, but there's not really a lot you can do about
that, unfortunately. Um, other small minor thing, the mirrors are a bit buzzy at motorway speeds.
You know, at French motorway speeds at 81, they're a little bit buzzy. Um, and the cruise control,
the heated grips are very good, by the way. I didn't mention that earlier. The cruise control
is very good, but weirdly, like most bikes with cruise control, when you uh twist the throttle
the wrong way away from you, that normally disengages cruise control, but it doesn't on this,
and it didn't on the Streetfighter that I had either. You've either got to just whip the clutch
in or press one of the brakes, which is fine if you're on your own, but when you're in two up, it
can make it quite jerky. So, I managed to master I couldn't be sensitive enough with the rear brake
to turn it off, but I managed to master pulling the brake really gently with my finger and keeping
the throttle like picking up a throttle so there wouldn't be any jerkiness when um when I wanted
to slow down. So, it's strange that you can't just turn it off like that. Um there's no centre stand
as standard. um a big heavy bike like this. It's got um we've got bobbins on the swingarm for um a
paddock stand which I've been using to clean the chains to clean the bike, but it's a big old it's
a big old unit to be putting on paddock stands. And although centre stand's available as an option
and in some of the the touring packs, be nice if it had one as standard. Um right, two left. The
penultimate one, it's quite pricey. You know, what do we say this was? 18 grand plus the plus the top
box. So, as you see it here, it's knocking on the door of 19,000. I mean, I know, you know,
that's inflation for you. Um, and it is a lot of bike for the money as well, but the trouble all
mainstream manufacturers have got now is the new generation of Chinese bikes that have come in,
which are getting better and better and better. They're really well equipped. And sometimes you
think to yourself, it's hard to justify a really expensive bike now because of maybe the badge it's
got or whatever. I mean, you know, this is a a million times better than the equivalent Chinese
bike. Um, so I'm not saying it's not good value, but it's still a very expensive motorcycle. And
when you think like it hasn't got the best dash it could have or the best switchgear,
I wonder if it's absolutely worth it. Um, and then finally, um, is just the way I kind of feel about
it in general. You know, it does everything it's supposed to do. It's a really good touring bike.
Um, I've absolutely loved opening the garage door to it. I think it's it's just a lovely lovely
thing. But it does leave me feeling a little bit cold and I think it's because of because of the
engine. It just doesn't, you know, it doesn't really need more power as such. It just just
needs to be a little bit more soulful. It's it's a very serious bike. It's just not very playful. And
the fact it's not the ultimate in comfort either kind of defeats the object of of its existence in
a way, but but overall overall I really like it. I'm going to be sad to see it go. Um, you know,
I I have had more comfort on other bikes in the past, but yeah, it's always a a pleasure and a,
you know, um, a privilege to to run a Ducati as a long-termer because I couldn't actually afford one
myself. So, there you go. That's what it's been like to live with this bike for 6,000 odd miles
and 3 months. Um, you can have a look at our other video where I talk about my Streetfighter. Um,
and also stay tuned for other videos in this series where my fellow colleagues will be
talking about the bikes they've been running in 2025. So, if you got through all that,
thanks very much for watching. Please like and subscribe and I'll see you again soon.
