Ducati Multistrada 1000DS

Highway Star

If you want to stand out in a crowd, Ducati certainly has the answer. That's my first thought as I ride into a parking lot full of big, bad chromo-cruisers on a bright red Ducati Multistrada. The Duc's avant-garde bodywork and trellis frame give it the look of something that might have fallen off a passing spacecraft, while the retro-Wurlitzer styling of the two-wheeled juggernauts on display is as earthbound as a '59 Caddy.

The heavy-metal brigade is heading north from Topaz, California, for Reno’s Street Vibrations as I’m riding south into Toiyabe National Forest. But I shouldn’t have been riding the Multistrada at all. Ducati North America had arranged a sport-touring ST3 for me to collect from Southern California Motorsports in Brea, but in the meantime, the ST3 had been sold – the customer comes first, of course. I certainly wasn’t disappointed with the Multistrada as a second choice: I’d previously spent a delightful weekend with a tastefully accessorized 1000DS from Ducati’s North American HQ in Cupertino, California, and was greatly impressed by its agility and thrust.

The 2006 Multistrada 1000DS is the celebrated marriage of Ducati’s outstanding dual-spark 1000cc air-cooled, two-valve L-twin Desmo engine and cycle parts designed for greater ground clearance than the company’s sportbike range. The result is a go-almost-anywhere motorcycle that, like Triumph’s Tiger, becomes an ideal sport-touring machine for less than perfect pavement, while its upright riding position allows comfortable all-day riding. Certainly the specification shows little compromise from sportbike practice: the 43mm inverted Marzocchi front fork has a sportbike 24 degrees of rake, and the wheel, tire and brake specs all say sportbike too....

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