Adventure shootout: Can Ducati’s new Multistrada V4 S topple BMW’s R1250GS?
Can Ducati’s new Multistrada V4 S beat the BMW GS at its own game?
With a V4 tuned for real-world grunt and cheaper servicing, dual purpose tyres and a shift from a 17in front to 19in, the 2021 Multistrada V4 S has moved away from its superbike roots and into adventure territory. It’s all sorts of clever mechanically, electronically and as we discovered at its launch and around our MCN250 route, it impresses more the longer you spend aboard. After a long day’s riding, you’ll be gagging for more. Swift, stylish and comfortable, the once raucous Multistrada is now more sophisticated and
‘The Multi’s V4 acts and sounds like a big V-twin’
has its sights set on adventure domination… and there’s none more dominant than BMW’s big GS.
The bells and the whistles
So how do they compare? First you need to choose your spec. Each can be as basic (the standard Multi V4 is £15,495 and GS £13,705), or well-equipped as your pounds will stretch. Our test bikes are fully loaded and cost almost the same. In ‘full’ trim the V4 S is £21,495 and the GS TE with its cosmetic bumble bee 40th Anniversary goodies costs £21,690 - without it’s £16,945. They’re both bang on the revlimiter of luxury with semi-active suspension, self-levelling shocks, lean-sensitive traction control and ABS, anti-wheelie, up/down quickshifters, Bluetooth colour displays, heated grips and seats, power sockets, two-way adjustable rider’s seats and Akrapovic cans. Each has cruise control, but the Ducati’s is radar controlled and has a blind spot detector embedded in its mirrors. This is all very lovely, but we’re interested in the machines beneath the tinsel and coincidence or not, they’re unbelievably close.
Ultimate cruiser?
Both have the kind of meaty midrange thrust that makes an overtake a mere centimetre of throttle away and the Multi’s new ‘Grantursino’ V4 engine acts and even sounds like a big V-twin, thanks its twin-pulse firing order. It doesn’t rev to the moon and back like the racier, slightly smallercubed Panigale/Streetfighter ‘Stradale’ desmo V4s, but its crank spins backwards like a MotoGP bike’s, to keep a lid on understeer, wheelies and backing in.
The GS’s grunt comes from its variable valve timing ‘ShiftCam’ system and gives the flat twin unbridled eagerness from walking pace to its 9000rpm redline (just 1000rpm shy of the Ducati’s). The Multi’s engine is less vibey, but with its extra cubes and fewer pistons the BMW is more urgent on the throttle. They’re both spacious, effortlessly fast and will go big distance, on or off-road, without breaking a sweat. Neither are light or small, but despite their size they’re manageable and in fact their bulk and electronic suspension systems guarantee a sumptuous ride and stability as they steamroller the ground beneath. The BMW is slightly heavier, but carries its weight lower, making it feel lighter than the Ducati and it’s easier to paddle, push and manoeuvre at walking pace.
The BMW’s screen is quieter at speed and its wheel adjuster is easy to use, but not as elegant as the Ducati’s one-finger mechanism. Bars are closer to the rider on the GS, making it kinder on your back and its heated grips are hotter. At 70mph it’s revving at just 4000rpm in top, compared to the Ducati’s more fidgety 4600rpm and the constant tugging from the Multi’s strong engine braking can become tiresome on flowing A roads.
‘With its extra cubes the BMW feels more urgent on the throttle’
Both have big, colourful dashes with layers of information and set-up menus, but the BMW’s bright, blocky display is easier to compute at a glance. The Multistrada fights back with fully backlit switchgear, unlike the GS’s sea of buttons that are plunged into an ocean of blackness at night.
Battle of the cruise controls
So for long distance serenity the BMW just edges it, but what about the Ducati’s radar-controlled cruise control? Well, there’s nothing quite like your right wrist when it comes to blending and flowing in motorway traffic and the same is possible with a deft twiddle of the BMW’s cruise control switch. The Multistrada’s (always) adaptive system takes all that finesse away. It works well in straight line traffic but its (four-stage adjustable) radar beam can lock on to slower vehicles you’re overtaking, stopping you in your tracks. It also waits too long for a vehicle in front to move back into its lane before it lets you go again. It’s a gimmick you don’t need and the GS’s conventional system is better, but the Ducati’s blind spot detectors are more useful than you’d first give them credit for.
Backroad blasters
Even with its newfound adventure focus the lofty Multistrada doesn’t hang around. The 168bhp Ducati is ultimately quicker than the 134bhp GS if you ride it very hard and thanks to its stiffer chassis, shorter travel suspension and grippy Pirelli Scorpion Trail II tyres it’s more stable through corners. Does having a 19in front wheel instead of the old 17in ever hold it back? No.
The Ducati would leave a GS in its wake in a straight-up race, but at normal road speeds the BMW is more engaging. Its flat twin has more poke off the corners than you can shake a Charley and Ewan at and it always feels more urgent and ready to go. Its raw, racy exhaust note is about as far away from the GS’s pipe-and-slippers beginnings as you can get, too.
It’s more playful than the Ducati, too – nimbler with more feeling for what’s going on beneath you through its Michelin Anakee rubber. It gives you more confidence on wet or dry tarmac and with its smaller, more stripped-out feel the BMW is the one a novice would feel more comfortable with off road. There’s no problem stopping either bike, but the GS’s BMW branded calipers are more potent than the Ducati’s Brembo Stylemas under hard use.
Counting the costs
Depending on which options boxes you tick the R1250GS TE is generally cheaper to buy than the Multistrada V4 S, it’s more frugal (44mpg v 37mpg) and goes further on its twolitre smaller tank (179 v 193 miles), but the Ducati has a reply.
It trumps the GS’s three-year warranty with an impressive four years and its oil services are every 9000 miles instead of 6000. While the BMW needs its valves checking every 12,000 miles the Ducati’s doesn’t need its doing until 36,000 miles (but that service is double the cost of the BMW’s). Both are the same to insure on MCN Compare: just over 400 quid for a 52-year-old bloke living in West Sussex.