READY FOR THE WORLD

Is the Ducati Multistrada V4 Rally an able contender for global exploration?

- Joshua Varghese

WHEN CONSIDERING circumnavigating the globe, the GS range of motorcycles come to mind first for most people. Ducati set out to create their own globe-trotter with a capital G and it is called the Multistrada V4 Rally.

The Ducati Multistrada V4 is among the best ADVs I have ever ridden but the thought of going around the world on it never occurred to me until the V4 Rally came by. The Multistrada V4 Rally is not just a V4 S with spoke wheels. We already had that. The V4 Rally is the most off-road-ready and I would even say everything-ready Multistrada yet. It is as Multi as it gets but taller, wider, and heavier.

No cast alloy wheels for the Rally, just lightweight cross-spoked rims, 17-inch rear and 19-inch front. The icing on the cake is that these wheels are lighter, making considerable savings in terms of unsprung mass; 3.2 kilograms to be precise when compared to the V4 S' spoked wheels.

The question "should it not have had a 21-inch front wheel?" may be pertinent if one is looking at this machine as a pure off-roader but it is not. It is Ducati's overlander and while it is their most off-road capable Multi yet, it is also expected to live up to the manufacturer's handling prowess on the road; which it does in good fashion.