Hello Ducati world, I need help making a decision and could use some real world owners advice and different perspectives.
Coming from a 700GS, I am in the market for an upgrade. I rode a 1000XR, 1300GS, Multistrada V2S and V4S this weekend. A Multistrada is the bike for me, without question.
My use case: I live in Socal, 6ft 2in 185lbs, 100% pavement, no pillion, luggage for my rare touring, no track riding:
60% Commuting a couple days a week: Malibu Canyons and PCH, not much freeway. 20% of my commuting is lane splitting/filtering on PCH during rush-hour at low speed.
30% weekend joy riding: Angeles Crest areas, Malibu canyons, Ojai, PCH, etc. Some freeway, but usually it’s just a short stint to get to the next mountain.
10% touring (8hr+ days): route 66 to vegas/valley of fire, PCH to San Fran, I also have ambitions to do PCH to vancouver and Cali to Pikes Peak Colorado, etc. Here, freeway will be more of a thing, but it’s not entirely the point, I would rather take longer and do the old Route 66 road versus staying on the freeway the entire time if that makes sense.
My experience riding the Multistradas this weekend was that they are pretty similar once moving in terms of weight and size based on my quick 15 minute demo ride of each. The V4 obviously has more insane power available. But it is also a bit heavier/bigger. It’s probably the upper limit of how big I would want to go. I worry about the classic saying “it’s more fun to be fast on a slow bike vs slow on a fast bike”. I am an intermediate rider, I’m not interested in doing power wheelies like a hooligan street Rossi. I ride like a sensible dad, who rides a bit spiritedly sometimes. I ride sane.
At the moment it looks like you can get a new V2S for about the same money as a used Pikes Peak. Purchase price matters, maintenance, insurance, mpg, etc. But the finances are at the very bottom of my list of priorities. I am much more interested in finding a bike that I am the most happy with for the long run. Obviously, the PP looks way cooler, is more premium, has a 17 inch front and all the features of the V4. But I realize that the V2S is more closely aligned with my riding use case and I might regret always carrying around the extra weight and size if I dont use all the performance and capability. On the flipside, if I get the V2S, long term I worry I might regret not having the more premium features and a cooler looking bike. I also worry slightly that the V2S might look a bit smaller underneath me. A similar problem I have with the 700gs now, which is one of the many reasons I want to upgrade. I guess if I boiled it down to one sentence: I want the Pikes Peak, but I certainly don’t want its size/power to detract from the riding experience for the majority of my use cases.
For now, I think I am going to wait for the 2027 V2S to be released, maybe there is a new livery or other improvement that clinches it for me. I also havent ridden a Pikes Peak either, but finding one to ride might be challenging. I find this decision very difficult. What say you?
