FEATURE
BOSCH/DUCATI MULTISTRADA ELECTRONICS TEST
P92
wussy as Ducati North America's
Nathan Verdugo was cranking
out over 50-degrees each time!
Our ABS and Ducati Trac-
tion Control loop was a large
circle, with the bike continuously
cranked over. After getting up to
speed, the Rain mode selected
on the Multistrada's ECU with
level four traction control, first
gear at 30 mph so right in the
powerband, I did like before and
put faith in the Almighty, cranked
the Multistrada into the right
hand corner and slammed the
throttle as hard as I could. What
followed was nothing less than
astonishing in that not only did
I not highside myself into next
week, the Ducati just hooked up
and drove out of the bend with
hardly a hint of wheelspin, on a
track completely submerged in
water. Now, I've ridden many,
many bikes with traction control
and this was by far one of the
smoothest systems I've yet tried.
The combination of the electron-
ically-adjusted Öhlins suspen-
sion, the ECU modulating the
throttle input and of course the
excellent grip of the Pirelli Scor-
pion Trail tires made simple work
out of the wet surface. I repeat-
ed the exercise again and again,
gradually winding back the trac-
tion control's intervention, and
each time I got the same result.
The engine barely spluttered as
the traction control light flickered
on and off, drive was smooth
and barely neutered; it was quite
an amazing experience.
The Multistrada is not a bike
that's uncrashable, but it's as
close to one as I've ever seen.
This shot shows
how far you can
get down on a
Multistrada! Thanks
to the grip of the
Pirelli tires and the
Bosch system you
can almost hit this
marker in the wet.
TRYING TO
HIGHSIDE
Telling yourself to crash takes
a certain amount of stupidity.
You're basically saying to your-
self to forget every procedure
you know is correct in keeping
you safe while riding. Slamming
the throttle when cranked over
is wrong, unless you're Marc
Marquez. Do it on a non-MSC
equipped machine and you'll be
flying higher than that 747 over-
head. It's equally wrong to jam
on the front brake while cranked
hard over. That's lowside terri-
tory and an easy way of making
friends with a guardrail.
With the rain teaming down, I
gradually worked my way up to a
lean angle I was comfortable at
between 39-45-degrees on the
Multi. I soon realized I as being a
