Quote:
Originally Posted by DucFanDan
As before, the Multi is the better asphalt bike, the Beemer is the better outback bike.
I'm struggling with this dilemma right now, because I'm moving to the country, living where it's 5 miles of gravel road to get to the nearest asphalt. I'd like to go poking around in out-of-the-way places, yet still enjoy myself when I do get to the curvy asphalt. The bike needs to be a good balance of abilities... my commute will be 5 miles of gravel followed by 30 miles of twisty asphalt. Then there's the weekend rides... 2-up touring to God-knows-where.
I'm still undecided. One thing I do know is that I really don't like the Multi's new Throttle-by-Wire engine controls. The Japanese can't do it reliably (Exhibit A: Toyota), and every other throttle-by-wire vehicle I've driven suffers at least 300-500ms latency between user input and change in engine throttle position. That's intolerable on a motorcycle. I want a physical cable from the handgrip to the throttle bodies. When I roll the grip open, the butterfly better open. When I close it, it had better close.
But... that's just me, an anal-retentive Aerospace Engineer, who's worked on a lot of avionics. I don't trust most electronic systems.
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I'm in much the same dilemma as you, though the Duc has taken the lead. 2 years ago I looked at the Duc Multi, Beemer and Buell Ulysses. I bought the Buell. I bought the Buell over the Beemer for it road handling, the Beemer while ok did nothing to excite me. The Buell was a seer joy in the turns. The Duc while fun in the turns had nothing on the Buell, I did like the Duc motor but for me the Buell had more comfort and in my opinion better road handling. Additionally the Buell handled the dirt and fire roads with ease, any more I look to a true offroad bike.
Two years later HD gutted every Buell owner when in my opinion they stupidly closed the doors on Buell. I still love the bike but the new Duc beats the Buell in every category except maybe comfort. I can put down 500+ miles in a day easy on the Uly, for me the new Duc has only a couple flaws. I would much prefer a more utilitarian saddle bags and top case. I also do not like the idea of a chain. The price is a bit steep. All that said I have for the most part decided that the Duc fits what I want to do, 80% mountain twisties and 20% dirt and gravel roads.
