Mr Traveller Jr Ducati Multistrada 950

- Sandeep Goswami

Fifty hours of international travel for ten hours of motorcycling. Well, true passion does usually exist beyond the ordinary but the time equation just mentioned definitely goes further. Of course there were reasons – two of them. 1) The locale – Fuerteventura, the second largest of the exotic Canary Islands, a Spanish province off the Moroccan coast. 2) The machine – Ducati Multistrada 950. A handful of auto-journos from across the world were invited to experience the Multistrada 950 and admittedly there could not have been a better place to ride it. The island is big (some 1600 sq. km) and the Ducati boffins had charted a nearly 200 km course for the day’s ride and we got every kind of tarmac to roll the wheels. It was fun and a large percentage of that fun came from the bike itself.

The Multistrada series started as a 1000cc adventure bike for road use in 2003, with stance and ergos like a dirt bike but shod with 17 inch tarmac spec rubber. It was new and novel, comfortable for day long rides, handled well and sold in good numbers. Healthy commerce usually drives the upward evolution and the Multistrada 1000 evolved into the 1200. This big brother of the 950 in question here, had the power to rival most superbikes, amazing handling to boot and bristled with enough tech to be almost capable of auto-riding! Of course this came at a price. And the ‘price’ along-with the power when combined with that tall stance made it intimidating for anyone but the well-moneyed and better skilled riders. Ducati wanted to spread that customer base and so they watched, analysed and acted. With the Multistrada 950 they’ve delivered a bike that preserves the versatility and road presence of the Multistrada series while being easier on the pocket and rider at the same time.