Ducati is a brand that motorcyclists don’t require an introduction to. With an illustrious heritage of 70+ years consisting of some of the most iconic motorcycles ever made and moments of motorcycle racing history, Ducati has successfully captured the aspirations and imaginations of motorcycle enthusiasts across generations.
Created by engineers and designers widely regarded as prodigies in their fields, Ducati motorcycles are considered the pinnacle of automotive engineering and design, even being colloquially referred to as “sex on two wheels”.
But despite its popularity and presence, the global financial crisis of 2008 had almost sounded the death knell for Ducati. The iconic brand was on the brink of bankruptcy and desperately need a motorcycle that would help the company stay afloat and clawback its sales numbers.
So, this is the story of the Multistrada 1200 (Multistrada - many roads in Italian), the phoenix that helped Ducati rise out of its own ashes.
A Bit of History
The illustrious brand situated in the heart of Bologna, Italy, has had a colorful history. Founded by 3 brothers – Adriano, Bruno, and Marcello Ducati in 1926, the company initially manufactured radios and electronic components. During World War 2, the Allied forces destroyed their factory, so Ducati decided to make 4 stroke engines instead and in 1949, Ducati built its first motorcycle, the Ducati 60.
In 1954, legendary Ducati engineer Fabio Taglioni created the 125 Grand Sport, Ducati’s first racing motorcycle, sparking the brand’s racing pedigree. In 1972, the Ducati 750, also designed by Taglioni, beat the MV Agusta ridden by the then GP champion Giacomo Agostini at the Imola 200, cementing Ducati’s dominance in superbike racing championships for years to come.
In 1994, conceptualized by the 'Michelangelo' of motorcycle design – Massimo Tamburini, Ducati unveiled the ‘916’, a motorcycle considered to be one of the most beautiful ever built. The Ducati Monster also was released during the same time, which was Ducati’s first naked sports motorcycle which was followed by the ‘1098’ and the ‘Hypermotard’ in the early 2000s.
In 1999, Ducati Corse - the racing division of Ducati was established, which with help of legendary racers such as Carl Fogarty, Casey Stoner, and Valentino Rossi, have won several World Superbike and MotoGP championships in the last 2 decades.
The Ducati Museum was also opened in 1998 to commemorate Ducati’s two-wheeled excellence.
Powered purely by the passion of millions of Ducatisti worldwide, who they honor every year at the World Ducati Week in Bologna, Ducati still continues to push the envelope in automotive performance
The brand is currently owned by Lamborghini which in turn is owned by the parent company - Volkswagen AG.
The Inception
Ducati had realized that there were other market segments such as the cruiser, urban commuter, and adventure touring that they needed to expand into quickly to stay afloat. But not only were these segments already occupied by established Japanese, American, and other European motorcycle brands, they also only had around € 10 million in the bank, enough cash to develop just 1 new motorcycle.
This was going to be a gamble, a do-or-die situation. The responsibility of the decision fell on the shoulders of the then Chief Technology Officer and now CEO of Ducati – Claudio Domenicali.
Working round the clock with the rest of the team, Claudio synthesized the unusual idea of the Multistrada 1200, a ‘shapeshifting’ motorcycle that could act as a sports bike when racing and act as a cruiser/tourer when not, depending on the rider’s wishes. This way Ducati could take on all three market segments with just 1 motorcycle and hit the proverbial three birds with 1 stone.
Needless to say, there was immense complexity and risk involved as not only were the characteristics of the motorcycles in these three categories of biking vastly different from one another, they also had nowhere to draw inspiration from, as it had never been done before.
The point was not to borrow parts from their existing line-up and put together a Frankenstein’s monster looking hodgepodge but to stay true to their core values of style, sophistication, and performance, to develop the concept of the Multistrada from scratch.
The result was one of the most advanced motorcycles ever made.
The Development
The Ducati team knew that as the heart of the Multistrada, the engine would need to be highly versatile. The team chose the race-winning ‘L-twin Testastretta’ (L -90 degree opposed) to work on. But since it was a powertrain designed purely for the racetrack, Ducati had to re-organize its performance a bit to make it suitable for the dirt and the tarmac.
The engine still had the secret sauce which had been pioneered by Ducati through its extensive racing heritage - the desmodromic valves, a system that uses solid cams instead of springs to open and close the valves, helping the engine reach extremely high revs generating more power. But for the Multistrada, it would output variable horsepower figures (between 100bhp and 150bhp) based on the riding mode selected.
For the chassis, Ducati took the tubular space frame technology used in its existing GP motorcycles and stretched it a bit so that it would be able to bear the brunt of offroad bumps. They also gave it a tighter turning radius for city riding, along with a longer, softer, and more versatile suspension system driven by electronics to react instantaneously to the terrain.
The brain of the motorcycle, the microcomputer and multi-ECU system developed by Emmanuel Borsetto – Electronics Development Director at Ducati enabled the rider to switch between its four programmed riding modes – Sport, Touring, Urban, and Enduro.
Finally, Ducati wanted an exceptional set of tires so that the Multistrada’s magic could come to life when the rubber hits the road. But the characteristic requirements for optimum performance in all 4 riding modes were so outlandish and contradictory that only Pirelli, the renowned Italian tire company, came to Ducati’s help. Pirelli introduced the Scorpion Trails, a new dual-compound tire with both soft and hard compounds made specifically to meet the Multistrada’s on-road and off-road demands.
The Reception
Ducati’s gamble with the Multistrada 1200 paid off. Released in April 2010, it was the first motorcycle to feature the now ubiquitous riding modes and it sold around 10,000 units in the first year, saving the company and becoming a fan favorite. Seven versions of the Multistrada exist today with new technologies such as Radar-based Cruise Control, cornering ABS, TFT display with inbuilt navigation, and Desmodromic Valve Timing (DVT) for the engine. It was also the largest selling motorcycle in Ducati’s line-up in 2021, hitting the sales milestone of 100,000 units and beating out both the Monster and the Scrambler.
