STYLING AND DESIGN

Kawasaki has graced the bike with a superb base setting...”

When Ducati first released the new Multistrada, it was a huge departure from the original bike. Was it good looking, or vile? Hard to tell at first, but the bike grows on you and in the metal you can’t help but be impressed by the sheer scale that the design shoves into your retinas. You have little choice; it dominates and invites you to examine the intricacies of its build, searching for details, both big and small. The duck bill air-scoop still seems to split opinion, but again, just keep looking at it and it’ll soon lose its prominence and become part of the glorious whole. Ducati (and Kawasaki) smartly realised that while the adventure style of bike was growing in popularity it didn’t actually mean it had to look like it could go off-road – because barely any of them ever do, after all. So they took a rough shape that defines the class, and pretty much threw away the rest of the expectations, creating something of their very own. The Versys 1000 certainly is its own thing, although quite what that is, is another question entirely. It does look more like a Transformer from some angles, mid-transformation, but handsome isn’t a word we’d use to describe the Versys. One big bonus is the new colour scheme, and the radiant Kawasaki green does go some way to glamming it up a tad. Otherwise the design is pure modern Japanese when they try and emulate a European bike which has been a big success. It’s there or thereabouts, but still some way off. The lack of interesting things to look at is also reflected in the fact it costs less than £10,000, to some degree. There’s no getting away from it, the Ducati smashes this first category – and then some!

Kawasaki 6/10

Ducati 9/10