TAMING THE TITAN

Towering, ferocious, and relentless – Ducati's ultimate ADVis a reminder that monsters still roam the Earth

- Manaal Mahatme

Long ago, before we built roads or even drew borders, the planet was at the mercy of giants — towering, untamed, and terrifying. They roamed where they pleased, ruled as they wished, and bowed to no one.

Even today, some still exist — not in flesh and bone, but in alloy frames and a pulse of combustion. We like to believe we've tamed them, but in their most feral — or rather, natural — form, they can still send us straight to our ancestors. The Ducati Multistrada V4 Rally is one such beast. And like the first men who stood beneath open skies and stared into the eyes of monsters, I tried to tame this one.

It didn’t take me long to understand that this is not going to be an easy one. After all, the Rally was bred for one purpose — to take down the longstanding king from Bavaria... the one that’s been casting its shadow across every continent for years. The already menacing-looking V4 now looked even more predatory — a taller and wider windscreen, longer-travel suspension, and the massive 30-litre fuel tank turned it into something that wouldn't just conquer terrain but consume it.

It towered over me like it knew it had the upper hand. I threw a leg over anyway — maybe not entirely out of courage, but because turning back felt worse. From the saddle, it didn’t feel all that intimidating — my feet reached the ground easily, the handlebar was wide enough and I didn’t feel the 238-kg heft (wet, without fuel) even with the 30-litre fuel tank filled up. Was it going to be this easy? Of course not. Moving it around required Herculean strength, but thankfully I had the 1158cc Granturismo V4 powerhouse to do my bidding.