Upgrade from 2013 Hyper to Multistrada 1200S?

I've had a Hypermotard 2013 now for a couple of years, and it's by far the best bike I've ever tried. However 821 cc has it's limitations. It lacks some torque in the low register compared to a 1200. At least that is what you expect. I've tried a few 1200's (other brands) before I bought the Hyper, but they never spoke to my soul the way Ducati has done every time I've sat on one.

So I ordered a testdrive of Multistrada 1200S (new 2016-model) this spring and was excited to potencially feel massive torque from the low register. My driving pattern is mostly back and forth from work in town and a couple of 2-4 hour "longtrips" each season.

So where was that low register torque? It wasn't there at all. And you will probably get it when you compare the torque curve on these two bikes. The 821 has about 40nm and the 1200 has about 50nm at 3000 rpm. Problem is that the Multistrada is a much heavier bike, so the effective torque in the low register is probably worse on the Multistrada.

The bikes produced from 2014 here in Europe is rammed by the Euro 6 emission protocol. That gave the engineers a bit of a headache. The famous Ducati sound is gone, on all the bikes. They all sound like sewing machines now. You can probably solve it by changing the exchaust system to a Termi and leave the db-killer back at home (yes it kills power aswell as sound).

The engine also vibrates a lot more than on my 821. I have a feeling that the new Testastretta DVT 1200 has some work left on it before it's optimized. I tried to change the riding mode to sport, but it didn't matter much. Actually it felt less dramatic than on the 821. Again I guess it's the added weight that kills some of the difference.

So the positive. It's a comfortable bike, and it doesn't feel large and bulky like the BMW 1200 GS. I kind of felt that i could easily ride as smooth through tight traffic with the Multistrada aswell. It still has the Ducati soul (as long as you get rid of that terrible stock pipe). Actually it felt more easy to learn than my 821. I had to train a lot on my 821 before I could drive it safely on sport-mode most of the time like i do now.

So the question remains. Did this ride make me feel a lot? No it didn't. For a 10000€ more, it should make me feel a hell of a lot more. I guess that I would be more comfortable and the torque would probably be more unchanged on the 1200 when I load it with a passenger and a lot of luggage, but that's not my general riding pattern anyway. So **** it! 10000€ saved.

But still. I'm left a little disappointed....

If you compare the torque-curves from earlier years models you will see that they kind of "cheat" by shadowing out the bottom torque on the models. You may suspect that they don't want you to see that they have less or equal torque on the low-end rpm level on the newest models because of the new emission protocols. One bad example was the 796 Hypermotard that was a disaster when it came to power output compared to the earlier 1100. Then they got back to the drawing board and came up with the 821 that in my eyes is a masterpiece when it comes to power output for each cc. I suspect Ducati has less experience when it comes to large engine tuning, since they traditionally has worked mostly on those 800-900cc engines.

lomax said:

I have both a 14 Multistrada and a 14 Hyperstrada and they are two completely different bikes.

As you mentioned above the 14 821 Hyper feels more like a 4 cyl inline engine in that it develops its power at higher RPM and not so much right off the bottom. Absolutely brilliant engine so I am not cutting it down.

The 14 Multi does have the torque down low where it belongs. They changed (ruined IMHO) this in 2015 with the DVT engine. The DVT engine is more like the 821 in the way it makes power.

Saying that even the 14 1200S Multi does not make bottom end torque like my 94 900SS. So I guess things progress.

If you want the lower end torque Multi get a 2014 and leave the 15 and 16's out of the equation.

Marc

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Thanx for your feedback. Interesting to hear that the 2014 Multi has better low-end torque. I will see if I can arrange to try one of those instead.