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Adventures on my 2021 MULTISTRADA V4S Radar & Travel Pack

39972 Views 285 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  Stillrollinalong
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Hi to all V4 convicts (converts) - I bought my V4S just after it was released onto the dealers floors and have been busy running it in ready for a 1500km raid into NSW to ride what's left of all the best motorcycle roads in Aus.

So far so good (ignoring the engine recall for my particular VIN...... that's just luck of the draw and has been dealt with superbly by Ducati Aus). I have fitted some home made radiator screens and an oil cooler screen, a Givi quick release tank ring, and a 34 Ltr top case (because there is absolutely zero under seat storage). There is a nice little puncture repair kit (like the sort I have been using) and interestingly, the tool kit consists of 1 Allen key and 1 chain slack gauge.

Ducati obviously thinks most owners are nerds that should not be allowed near any tools...... but I have plenty of tools in my man cave........ my last bike was a KTM 1290 Super Duke GT - it had a proper tool kit ;)...... but no center stand!

So my 2nd V4S MS is loosening up nicely now with 780kms (the first version was recalled after 3 days & 955kms so I'm doing double duty running in again :LOL: ).......... There's a lot to like about the V4SMS........ The cruise control holds it's speed uphill and down...., and I find myself wondering what I would have done without the Radar and Blind Spot Alert tech. The suspension is excellent, the seat is comfy all day, the screen has no turbulence, the dash is superb, and the airconditioning duct's work so well I wonder where all the engine heat has gone? :unsure:

Gripes...... no TPMS on an alloy wheel road tourer ($286 for a front, and same again for the rear, rim sensor's... if/when stock arrives at Ducati Aus...) also, I like to run my low beam LED's in daylight (though Ducati state the DRL's are brighter. Aussie car drivers are blind and stupid.......), but the dash doesn't show a headlight on symbol for low beam.... it shows it for the DRL instead....... must be an Italian thing...... but that's ok ... I'm getting used to it.

So not many gripes, and fuel economy isn't bad even though for late stage running in the throttle has to be used with some vigor...... :devilish: ..... and there's plenty of that on tap!

Yesterday saw two Dave's, on two RED bikes, go for a ride out to Canungra (Gold Coast Hinterland) for :coffee: & SconesJam&Cream, then down Hinze's Raceway (an 80kph trial by sloth) to Tyalgum Pub for lunch, then out to Uki and over the range to Kyogle and through the Lyon's road (late afternoon autumn sun was a problem) to Beaudesert and home again to Brisbane through the traffic chaos in Springwood.......... 400kms of fun, until the Springwood bit at 5pm :D.

The V4S is a luxo touring bike that can do sport, whereas the KTM 1290 SDGT I traded was a fantastic sport bike that could do touring ........ so the center stand makes the Ducati the winner for me :love:....... and the RED paint;), and the 4 cylinders (y), and the amazing quality of finish and assembly :D.

The mirrors are excellent too,... did I mention the brakes?....... yes, autumn sun on dirty dusty 1 tonne tray back ute's tail lights = surprise emergency braking and swerve to avoid pain and suffering...... :(

Well done Ducati!...... you won me over at long last (y). The Audi Strada V4S is a fabulous bike!

PS Cracked the 1000kms on Saturday so it's booked in for the 1K service on Thursday (y)

Also, was fiddling around with the handlebars today (Sunday) trying to mount my 12ltr Givi quick release tank bag and discovered the bars can drop down past the 'road' mark and will slip under the tank bag easily.... also the brake reservoir can be unhooked from it's locating pin and supported by a zip tie so it is clear of the tank bag on full right lock. :D

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:LOL:....... Sedate adventure last evening......car at the repairers so I had to slum it and ride the Dukati to the Ducati Club AGM........and the sky is dark grey :(

It's too hot and humid to consider putting full wets on so I checked the weather radar and decided to wing it instead.

Lucky me, damp roads only, no rain, though some birds (feathered kind) had pooped on the V4 on Tuesday and I was thinking a bit of rain might wash it off........no luck, dry night.......can't win a thing this year :rolleyes:.

I even forgot what meal I ordered and grabbed the first one brought to the table, only realising it was another guys meal half way through. He accepted my order in lieu and it looked better anyway....but that was a shock as I've never made that social blunder before.

:confused: must be getting old, or maybe the prang in my car has rattled me more than I thought..:unsure:

Oh well, good feed, funny meeting, AGM elections completed.......I managed to duck being nominated for any duties so that's a relief......

Ride home was dry and warm, and uneventful (know what I mean ;)).......TFFT(y)
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:coffee: ride this morning, 33C + high humidity, YUCK.......but it was ok at highway speeds.

Rode past the scene of the grime where I got tail ended in my car last tuesday week (the 24th Jan)......made sure no one was on my 6, or queued on the exit ramp,.. BUT... :censored::censored:ark me, there was a fresh tailender at the intersection with Logan Rd. It was so fresh the drivers were just realizing what had happened and beginning to pull to the side to exchange pleasantries. I hope I had nothing to do with that.......I've served my time, car in hospital thanks very much.

Nasty bump to the lead cars rear hatch, didn't see the offenders front end damage, I was outta there, too many bad memories :eek:......and I didn't see it happen so not a witness.

Driving on our road network has become a lottery...... :mad:......time to buy an army surplus TANK......

On the upside, we had :coffee: & cake at Simply Beans, in airconditioned comfort, surrounded by erm, exceptional talent. Our conversation was interrupted several times by super model standard lookers and the prettiest young things bringing our orders out.........A truly lovely morning :love:.

Missed any chance of rain so the bird :poop: is still on the Multi.......although,.... it's started raining as I write, :unsure:.......thunder too......

I think I'll push the bike out and let it get a wash........oooohh bugger, too latte, rain has eased, :(.....spot the pun?
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latte
Oh, TFFT, cool front has chased that heat wave away and we didn't need three fans running all night to get some sort of sleep........

Woke at 5am feeling good, hey, it's 24C and not sweaty or raining......😱........what will I do today 🤔

Oh I know what you are thinking 🤗..... BUT since I had the rear ender in my car I have been a bit wary, so it took a few minutes for me to convince myself to suit up and go......... got out before 7am after sorting out the parrots and my pills....hey, I'm not young anymore......have pills, can travel.....😁

Aaaaah, nice and cool, off I go for breakfast at the Flying Bean on Beachmont, but WTF, these few a'holes sticking to me like glue are giving me the 💩's...... I lose them, but just like a mosquito at a BBQ, they keep getting under my skin 🤬.

Somehow I find open territory on the motorway and peace returns. I'm a bit off this morning so I run direct for Canungra thinking the Outpost will do, but it's chockers with bikie's doing the same as me..... So I keep going for my prime target, the Bean. Lucky me, no traffic on the climb up and not crowded at that cafe... It's breakie time ☕🥳😍.

While pondering my navel waiting for my meal to come I watch a dual cab Toyota ute slow, turn across the oncoming lane without indicating and slowly turn into the cafe's driveway.....a Corolla hatch was approaching at the speed limit, without easing off.....this is it, they are gonna collide, I thought, but both buttheads missed by millimetres.......

WTF is wrong with these people? No, don't answer that, it will attract tooo many responses..... So dual cab turns in and parks next to 2 cars, BUT, his rear end is blocking half of the driveway down to the cafe's car park 🙄....driver gets out and walks in without even a glance.

Some time later a young family with baby on mum's hip, and toddler on dad's hand are walking to their car after having breakfast. I see them again as they try to squeeze past dual cab's ute......mum gets out to guide hubby through. I could see there was just enough room to fit their sedan through, but from the driver's seat it would look very tight.

This is what's wrong with our world I think to myself. Thoughtlessness and self interest...so where's my prize for getting that correct? 🤑

Oh well, I've had my ☕ and eggs & mushrooms, so it's time to get going.

A lovely ride home, had the suspension on solo to keep my lower back injury happy, and it worked fine.

I kept the good karma thing going until I got home, had a shower and went out to lunch with the 75yo neighbour who is fighting cancer (in his final stage).

That makes me think twice about what I do and say about others.....😉, even when they crash into my pristine SUV.....😥

After a week of 33C + super sweaty humidity, today's high of 29C with a cool easterly breeze is a relief 🥵.

Take care on the roads y'all.... People are a bit sleepy these days.......

👍

Here's the two terrorist's I look after for my niece.

The blue is a Quaker who knows his ancestor was a T- Rex, and the green is a Conure and real smart, unlike the blue,...... If humans had ever roamed the earth in the dinosaur era (as some weirdo religious cults believe) we would have been a good source of nutrients for them.......

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+ Grime (...scene of the crime) 2nd para......:ROFLMAO:

I'm on fire........ 🤗✌
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Had to bike it into Sunnybank Private Hospital today to do a pre-admission and collect the evil :poop: they use to clean out the bowel for a colonoscopy check up.

I was missing my aircond Tucson, but, the hospital parking, though FREE, was nonexistent.....and it was 30+C......but wait, bikes can jump curbs and park on dead-end footpaths right? Damned right they can, and it was in the shade under the medical centre!

One more reason why I rode my bikes to work in the city in preference to mindless public transport or expensive car parking fees....(y)
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Had to bike it into Sunnybank Private Hospital today to do a pre-admission and collect the evil :poop: they use to clean out the bowel for a colonoscopy check up.

I was missing my aircond Tucson, but, the hospital parking, though FREE, was nonexistent.....and it was 30+C......but wait, bikes can jump curbs and park on dead-end footpaths right? Damned right they can, and it was in the shade under the medical centre!

One more reason why I rode my bikes to work in the city in preference to mindless public transport or expensive car parking fees....(y)
If you have to drink a gallon of that nasty stuff to get your colonoscopy I found that sucking on BBQ potato chips will help your palate tolerate the flavor of that stuff.
Had to bike it into Sunnybank Private Hospital today to do a pre-admission and collect the evil :poop: they use to clean out the bowel for a colonoscopy check up.

I was missing my aircond Tucson, but, the hospital parking, though FREE, was nonexistent.....and it was 30+C......but wait, bikes can jump curbs and park on dead-end footpaths right? Damned right they can, and it was in the shade under the medical centre!

One more reason why I rode my bikes to work in the city in preference to mindless public transport or expensive car parking fees....(y)
Oof make sure you have the soothing wet wipes for the aftermath , when yer ballon knot is doing an impression of a blood orange!
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:ROFLMAO:
Oh man it was hot today......Sunday 12th Feb Club Ride to Tenterfield for lunch at the Commercial Hotel.

Great riding at 5.30am through Brisbane City to collect my passenger at 6am. Lovely cool 80km ride out to Beaudesert......BUT.....WTF has MacDonalds done to their restaurant? I couldn't get the ordering panel to work, and there were no 12yo's nearby to show me how to order a :coffee:.....so I left disgruntled and grumpy :(.

But I felt better once our 13bike convoy was rolling.

Through roadworks, over lumps and bumps, into the hills, past speed camera's, and into Casino NSW.

A cool chocolate drink was needed as I didn't require fuel. Then 125kms later we were on the New England Tableland at Tenterfield. 32C but not humid, and a cool breeze :cool:.

Touched down both my boot soles on the fabulous corners on the Bruxner......:devilish: and that was 2up!

Lunch was in aircond comfort at the trendy Commercial Hotel. (y)

The ride home was another 300km run after the mornings 380km dash.....except it started in 35C and rose to 40C before getting home again bayside in 34C...... Whew, I need a cold beer......I'm shagged :p

It was fun, but the forecast lied.....on the TV news they reported the heatwave conditions, on the ride we were happy only 13 bikes started as that's an easy number to keep tabs on in case of difficulties.

I hate summer........

:D
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Huh? It's almost cold, I'm under a sheet, no fan, it's 5am and it's like autumn....WTF...... I know.....I'll go for a ride while it's 21C cool :eek:......... 👹

I fixed the weeping seal on the exhaust pipe of the toilet yesterday, so there's no puzzling aroma like in a public toilet.... I deserve the morning off, right? :LOL:.

Seriously though, if your loo is leaking poo, use plumbers wax (it's like a big wax 'O' ring) and it replaces that worn out leaking rubber seal.....no need to dismantle anything.....$10 bucks and fixed in minutes - just sanitize the area before kneeling down and wear surgical gloves for hygiene (y)

Anyway, back on the bike, lovely morning, light to moderate flowing traffic, way cooler than riding in Sunday's 40C heat wave 😎.

I head for Canungra, on my own, hungry for breakfast.

8am, "are we there yet" I'm chuckling to myself, as I roll into an empty car spot right in front of the Outpost Cafe. Beautiful day, 21C ride, poached eggs on sourdough with mushrooms and a :coffee: = BLISS.

9am, time to suit up and head up over Mt Tamborine and back to the burbs......Really glad I broke free and took off for a morning ride 😍.

My Brembo rotors are :censored:'d, but my new Serie Oro 10 button rotors should be here in 7-10 days C/W new pads.....I'm done with excuses for grabbing/pulsing brakes.....probably should have insisted on the superbike rotors (5.5mm thick also 10button vs stock 6button 5mm thk) but the guy at Superbike Spares recommended the Oro's for my usage, and he knows he can get them. $750Au rotors, $130 pads $25 delivery = to my door for $905Au. I would have collected them just to see his shop but my car is in the panel shop and it's too hot to ride along the coastal strip in summer, so $25 for a courier sounded like a good plan 🥵.

Well, that was Thursday's big ride, but what was the weatherman saying about another heatwave on the weekend? :eek: 🤬
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Thursday breaks cool but threatening showers....:(

But a ride is a ride.......

So I launch the beast at 6.50am and battle my way through the early morning commuters, city bound, then I get a decent run from the city scramble out to the meeting point at the 7-11 servo at The Gap.

I get there at 7.50am, almost done in from the 1 hr hussle through the clogged city, but looking forward to our fang out over Mt Mee, Maleny (via Belthorpe), and down to Peachester for brunch.

There were 6 starters and one pickup on the way.

:devilish: Little did we know about the conditions we were about to encounter.......

So a Tri-coloure M1100 had the lead with my super-bus in 2nd, the frail looking little old guy on the BMW boxer was in 3rd, the Hardley-a-Diavel 4th, a stripped down ST4S and the midweek convenor's 1200SMS out the back......

Traffic separated us almost instantly but the tail caught up as we approached Samford, only to get seperated again at the roundabout :LOL:.....

Anyway, roadworks, slow BMW rider in 3rd, and Dayboro appears.....Greg on the SS750 is just around the corner, and the famous 7 are on their way over Mt Mee - errr, stuck behind a work ute and a Dodge RAM.....:rolleyes:.....both were quick where we could have passed, and slow where we could not......:censored:.

Nice morning and the frail looking little old guy seemed to not be able to stay with me while I was being considerate and keeping our progress under all speed limits.......:sleep:.

Well we kept together so that's good, right? No need to regroup at D'Aguilar....no stragglers....:D, so on to Nonmus Rd (yes, really....that's it's name, but everyone pronounces it Anonymous Rd :ROFLMAO: ).

I know this road well, from 30 odd years of riding up and down it....it has claimed many inexperienced victims, and I"ve stuffed up more than a few times!

We make it past the first test, a sharp uphill steep switchback left turn which absolutely cannot be taken within our lane....I go wide on exit as I launch upwards, so does the next, some of the others start their turns from the other lane just to make the exit, we all get through, no drops......TFFT.

Overhead is dark cloud, threatening a shower, but soon we are immersed in that cloud as we climb the ridgeline. Steep roads, sharp turns over crests, narrow bitumen, wet surface and cold enough to make me think of using my hit grips in the middle of summer....o_O

We turn for Maleny in thick fog/cloud, follow a sedan and break free of the mist at Mary Cairncross Forrest park. Phew, that was hard work....now I need a :coffee:.

Past the policeman booking a Mazda CX3 driver and down to Peachester we go......it's time for a yarn!

I enquire about the little old guy on the BMW, curious to know if he thought I had been riding too fast, and suspecting he might not know his Speedo error, but typical of every BMW owner I've ever talked to, his bike was perfect and he said he had personal reasons......WTF does that mean? Oh well, secret squirrel mens business, don't admit anything to a Ducati rider :ROFLMAO:.

Anyway, we had a great yarn and a feed, and the ride home via Old North Rd and Narangba was fine, even thought a police Stinger blitzed past our convoy just outside Woodford (in the 80k dual lane).....someone's day was in ruins wherever they were off to with lights and sirens..

Our 1st official midweek pensioners on Multistrada's run was a success (y)

Here's the obligatory Ducati scrum/huddle at Peachester - err, pretend the HD is a Diavel....
and ignore the black BMW.....:LOL:

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Today's adventure started with breakfast at a cafe with my cancer warrior neighbour and his MG EV SUV. Had a phone call I didn't recognise, but later discovered was from the repairers, informing me my car was ready for collection........quick, find the address again, google the area, call a cab, come on, get it home B4 lunch :D.

That went well, but it took all afternoon to put all my gear back in and do some checks.....so the V4MS was left sullenly waiting for me to install it's new Serie Oro rotors and pads :(.

I can usually work miracles, but not today....

Car came back looking great, but there's a noise from the tyres (I hope) that I think is from overinflation, so I reset the pressures and will test tomorrow on my usual Saturday :coffee: run.

Assuming that's fixed, the afternoon is reserved for the Ducati brakes...no breaks, or breakages, ...give me a break,... I'm an older guy now, not superman anymore......so I must pace myself a bit and make sure I don't stuff anything up ;).

Anyway, I'm relieved it only took 4wks to get the damage repaired....see the blue thing.

Here's the progress report on the Duke......got the wheel out on Thursday afternoon......

(y)now for the fun part....cleaning.....:LOL:

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:LOL:.....progress report #2........

After spending most of the weekend fixing issues with the car repairs I finally had time (& motivation) to complete the install on the V4.

Easy job, old rotors off, clean hub, new Oro rotors on, and then wipe calipers clean and swap pads out.

Put back together.......but to hot & sweaty to want to clean up and go for a test ride......I was knackered from working feverishly on the car as I am not keen to hand it back for any reason......it might come back worse than it is now!

It's pretty good, probably as good as any panel job, but I had to find and fix that "rrrrrrr" noise or go deaf in my right ear :(, so while I had it apart I just fixed anything I found......... :cool:. The noise wasn't what I thought....turned out to be the plastic sill guard vibrating against the metal door frames, getting louder the faster I went. Three broken clips were ignored by the panel shop, and they didn't test drive it or they would have known they'd missed something!

Oh well, got my sweet Tucson back, nearly as nice as it was brand new, so that's a positive.....love that aircon on these hot days (y).

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Dave Are there any visible differences between the Oros and factory disks?
Dave Are there any visible differences between the Oros and factory disks?
Cheers Iain,

Yes, quite a few, the most obvious is 10 buttons vs 6 on the OEM Brem's. Next can be seen if you enlarge the pic of the OEM on top of the Oro in my last post. The swept surface of the Oro is much deeper, although the pads will only grip the same area on both.

The carrier's are much more robust than OEM. The OEM have directional arrows whereas the Oro's fit both sides. The hole pattern is different. Lastly, I think the Oro's feel heavier but I didn't weigh them and I'm happy if they just last longer than the OEM rotors ( mine supposedly didn't warp, just had a hotspot grabbing that was getting worse and I'd had enough of pogoing forks as I came to a stop).

The Iron Axis Brake Tech rotors might be better as they have more iron content, but last time I checked they were $1600Au and 4wks ex USA. The Oro's were here in less than 10 days $750pr pads $130, local courier $25.

I was interested in the Brembo Super Sport version as they are 5.5mm thick but I've never seen any reports that they last longer or not .....so I'm hoping these Oro's might be a step up from stock and the stronger carrier + 10 buttons will make the outlay worthwhile. Trouble is, it'll take a few months or a year of riding to know and a hotspot incident could do them in at any time........

(y)
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Cheers , I ruined a set of disks on my old KTM1190R when I was doing a lot of stop start through town commuting, & found I’d been holding hot pads against the front disks in prep for the next traffic light GP, the high spot was a very visible copper coloured pad deposit on both front Disks that resisted my (lame) attempts to remove . I try to avoid that on the Mutley though I rarely need to commute into the orifice these days , last time was over 3 years ago, pre covid.
Cheers Iain, I had the same on my KTM 1290GT but that time KTM were quick to warranty the rotors. I made sure I held the bike by the smaller rear rotor to avoid hot spotting the fronts but after 34k kms and just before I was destined to see RED (the V4MS) I could feel the fronts going grabby again........

Mutley is a taller animal than the Cat-O GT so rear brake holds are (for 32"inseam me) slightly less stable on some surfaces.......especially with pillion on board.

Dammit, now when I look at the two types of rotors I see the same hole pattern...... Can't trust what we hear, can't trust our own eyes with what we see, wonder how much we can trust what we think :eek:
Well, not much has happened since my last expedition into the hills foraging for great :coffee:.

It's turned humid again and is too oppressive to suit up and sweat up....... :rolleyes: and now it's raining. So tomorrows club run might be washed out......

I'm still waiting for my QD tuning module but at least I now have "an expected production date" around 20 March.....then it gets sent to the UK supplier and then on to me in the colonies.....so April is looking realistic for that saga......

Meantime the repairs to my beautiful Tucson have been completed but there's some remedial work to be done and the other side's wheel bearing was also damaged in the rear ender, so they will fix that too.

What a PITA 2023 has turned into for me..... at least it isn't raining rockets and bombs or flooding & burning or snowing......so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much :LOL:

Hope tomorrow cracks open cool and sunny so all the Ducati's will come out to play.......

(y)

Ps, just washed mine (it was disgracefully dirty) so it'll be my fault if Sunday is to be renamed 'Wetday'.
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Oh darn it, it's hot & steamy again and looks like rain sometime today....will I go or should I stay.....:unsure:

Nah, :censored:it, it's not raining at the moment, so I'm going!

So a hardy band of brothers turned out at 7 30, all sweaty but eager to get a ride in.

There were 3 V4MS, 2 V2MS, 1 real nice V2SF, 1 Munster tri-colore, 1 SS and and an ST3..... We picked up another MSV2 under the giant trees near Peachester, and headed up to Postman's Track via Stanley River Rd, picking up another monster at the turn. So we had 11 souls on board the Ducati Express to Conondale and Kenilworth.

Oops, a Harley rider had failed to make a corner in the right stuff after little Yabba creek but he was ok with lots of helpers.

We took many great roads with lots of great corners and scenery, got lost once as our leader flipped the dice and went left instead of right, but we got to the Apollonian hotel for lunch on time with no losses!

The weather looked ominous at one stage, dark sky, but it brightened up as we saddled up. My sub group of 6 made it back to Kenilworth just as the skies opened up and hit us with heavy showers.

Once down the range and into Woodford I ran into heavy rain and managed to get sopping wet for the first time in ages.....water poured out of my boots when I got home......could've had a shoe-ee pic ;) but I knew where my feet had been and no way would I drink that juice 🥵......

Anyway, it was hot and sweaty but we had a great ride and the bikes got a good wash in the storm rains. Did I mention the lightning, thunder, wind gusts thrashing the trees about, and the evil dark skies....... Now that was a 430 km adventure (y)

PS....my Serie Oro (Italian for "Gold Series" so I'm told) work brilliantly and are nicy bedded in now.

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