Feeling the radar love

DUCATI MULTISTRADA V4 RALLY 5782 MILES Answering the riding needs that you never knew you had…

When I first heard about adaptive cruise control and blind-spot detection I was nonplussed. I’ve only ever used cruise control to stretch a wrist out or engage in some ill-advised game of hands-free mile-counting (hey, we were all young and stupid once). So why would I want a cleverer version of something I don’t use?

But when I first rode with both systems back in 2021 on Ducati’s Multistrada V4S, I was amazed by how much both systems enhance every ride. All the reasons I didn’t love normal cruise control are answered by the ACC system. And the BS detection is a lovely second layer of defence, too. Fast forward to 2022, and my longterm test bike was a BMW K1600GT – which has neither system (they’re not even options). Suddenly, I was missing something I thought I’d never wanted or needed – so it was great to have both systems back this year with the V4 Rally.

The ACC is almost faultless, and 99% of the time it’s like having a near-autonomous second rider at your disposal, looking after an aspect of your ride. It’s genuinely brilliant, and makes long motorway journeys much more pleasant. But there is still the odd foible.

Using anything other than the closest distance setting results in too much electronic caution – but in the shortest setting it will operate how you’d wish the vast majority of the time. The only negative is that approaching a vehicle before sweeping out for an overtake requires more space than you’d normally allow if you were controlling the bike. As the radar picks up the vehicle you’re sweeping out to pass, it sees the car, not your trajectory, and backs off the throttle until you’re fully in the lane to pass. Yamaha’s system avoids this by overriding the intervention if your indicator is on.

The only other foibles I’ve found are that manually overriding the system by opening the throttle for a burst of pace can cause you to momentarily panic as the bike slows, then picks up the throttle again as it gets back to target speed. It’s not the bike’s fault, it’s the rider’s, but it gives you a fleeting sensation that the bike’s developed independent thought. It also has a tendency to be more hesitant around small white vans, too.

I did also have a ‘BSD’ (Blind Spot Detection) error warning on the dash recently. It stayed on for about 15 miles, then went out – and has never done it before or since.

The only danger was that I didn’t know what the ‘BSD’ warning related to and had to look it up later. Thankfully, I look before I change lanes, so didn’t come a cropper.

LIKES ACC and BSD are genuinely ride-enhancing tools DISLIKES

The occasional moments when it doesn’t think like you

Think of it like a helpful in-built biking co-pilot It works best on the near setting Other settings feel too cautious