Blog: March 21. Been riding.

G’day, everyone.

It feels good to say that, because for the last week I’ve been trying to get my ‘Bongiorno’ and ‘Gracias’ in the right place with ‘cappuccino’ and ‘Testastretta’. I didn’t even attempt words like ‘preload’ and ‘weight bias’.

I’ve been in Italy riding the Ducati Multistrada Enduro.

AS3Y0343I was on the island of Sardinia, part of the Tuscany region of Italy, and it’s the best international travel experience I’ve ever had. The Australian Ducati folks sent me business class, and it made a huge difference to a very tight schedule.

The bike is pretty special, as you’d expect in a Ducati. 160 horsepower in street trim is no joke for an off-roader, but the electronics package is very advanced and very impressive. It’s a very viable alternative to any of the big adventure bikes on offer in Australia – depending on what you’re looking for of course. The performance is sparkling, and the semi-active suspension was a pleasure to use. A touch of the thumb on the menu button alters, for instance, from the softer spring rate and 100 horsepower output of the Enduro setting to the much firmer feel and 160 horsepower of the Sport setting at a chop of the throttle. Braking actually took a little getting used to. The front is strong, and even though feel was good, it was just SO bloody strong! I had some funny lines going as I tried to settle in on the road.

AS3Y6205I was glad I got to mess about on the road first, because there were a few things I needed to become familiar with before it all went silly in the rocks and mud.

_multienduro_0572I really enjoyed the bike, and I can’t wait to ride one in Australia and see how it stacks up in the sand and dust.

Anyhoo, I’m back at my desk, not really sure what day or time it is, and my head is still spinning a bit.

Marty’s been e-mailling while I’ve been away. His son Tom has cracked the top-secret code to make the DualSport Australia discs work on Macs. That’s a bit exciting for us, and I’m looking forward to finding out more this week.

I think I’m going to fall asleep.

Arrivederci for now.

TF

2 Comments

  1. Nup not jealous at all , that looks like a terrible few days you had , I’m sure none of the rest of us would have swapped our week at work for yours.

  2. What Squirrell said.

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