WHAT YOU SAID AT THE SUPER SAUSAGE CAFÉ
‘I TRIED IT’
Age 57
Height 5ft 8in
Current bike Ducati Multistrada 1260 S Pikes Peak
Been riding for 30 years
“I’ve been a BMW man for the past 10 years or so and have ridden or owned pretty much every bike they’ve had: S1000RR, HP4 Carbon, R1200GS Adventure, R1200RS. I’ve had a whole bunch of them and they’ve been really good to me. “I bought this Ducati Multistrada Pikes Peak (background, left) a couple of weeks ago. I just fancied a change and wanted to try something different. I’d found my BMW GS Adventure just too big. It came to a head when I took it on the ferry to Assen last year had to stop on the ramp when boarding and nearly toppled off. I had visions of knocking over whole lines of bikes like dominos...
“So I went down to my local Ducati dealer, test rode one of these and loved it. It’s so light compared to the Adventure but it does the same thing and it’s got a bit of a kick to it as well. It’s also the beststeering bike I’ve ever had.
“I test rode the 2018 Super Duke GT around the same time as well but found it a little bit tall. That was one thing that put me off. The seat on my Ducati has been lowered. But I found the seat on the KTM was a little bit tall for me.
“But I loved the GT’s performance. I thought the switchgear was OK at the time and this looks like it might be a little bit better; but I felt that everything was a bit, well, cheap. I got back on the GS and it felt plush and top quality.
“I loved the fact the luggage just goes on and off the KTM and you don’t really notice. I love the performance, I loved the way it looked. But it was a tiny bit too tall plus the feeling that it was not quite as good quality as the BMW.”