PERSPECTIVES

PERSPECTIVES THE THINGS WE DO...

BY MITCH BOEHM

It’s often said you need to be disciplined when checking Cycle Trader online after you have one of those little “bike-want” cravings, ’cuz it can cost ya. Well, I’m here to tell you there’s a reason that little bit of advice continues to make the rounds.

I went riding with some buddies last weekend, one of whom owns a bike I’ve lusted after badly since it debuted in 2013: Ducati’s Multistrada 1200S Pikes Peak edition. Every time I see one I get shaky and goosebumpy all over, and when Reed showed up on his, well, it happened again.

So what did I do? Yep, I logged onto Cycle Trader that evening and…well, you can probably imagine the rest.

Long story short, a few days later I found myself backing my pickup out of my driveway at 3 a.m., my female Doberman Jade ensconced in her crewcab doggie zone and a pile of tie downs — and my handy Baxley front-wheel stand — in the bed.

Where was I headed? To Colorado Springs, Colo., of course, where my newest buddy Billy lived along with his pristine Pikes Peak-edition Ducati, which had just short of 9,000 miles on the clock and a load of extras, including a Termignoni titanium exhaust, two sets of hard bags, fresh Pirellis, heated grips — and an apparent desire to live in the great state of Utah.

Doing 1,200 miles in a single day isn’t fun, but the excitement of very possibly buying a bucket-list motorcycle, along with the trepidation of buying it sight-unseen, kept me from nodding off at the wheel. Would it be as clean as it looked in the photos? Was Physician’s-Assistant-in-training Billy as honest as he seemed? Were there hidden mechanical issues I’d only discover later?

Luckily, the Ducati was that clean, and Billy was that forthright, and so far, at least, I’ve got nothing to report, though it’s only been two days since I got home, and I’ve only done a few short rides on the thing. One was to Reed’s to gloat and get the owner’s-rundown on things like the bike’s Skyhook suspension and its info-center instrumentation. The others were proper rides up Big Cottonwood Canyon and Guardsman Pass, which leads to Park City and Midway, the latter via a freshly paved rollercoaster-of-a-road that simply has to be experienced to fully appreciate.

I have ridden, tested and raced hundreds of motorcycles in my nearly 40 years of work in the motorcycle industry, but I have to say that I have never experienced the incredible combination of all-around function, visceral feel and stunning aesthetics that this Multistrada offers.

I can already tell it’s going to be long-haul friendly, with non-buzzy vibes, plenty of luggage, roomy ergos, good range and what feels like a decent seat. Reed has toured extensively on his and agrees.

It’s also a backroad beast, with a 150-horsepower Testastretta V-twin that feels like it came off one of Ben Bostrom’s World Superbike Ducatis, and agile, surefooted handling that puts an instant smile on my face. Reed does track days on his, and loves it, and if you want to just putt around town, the Ducati engine’s hefty low-end and precise fueling is a Mitch Boehm is the perfect companion. editorial director of the AMA

The kicker to all this, though, is what the Italians do better than

A new baby caused the sale of Billy’s Multistrada, but I was happy to give it a good home.

anyone: meld function with form. Everything about this motorcycle is utterly beautiful, from the paint job, to the many carbon bits, to the beautiful alloy castings, to the forged Marchesini wheels, and nearly everything in between. Every time I look at it I find something new to marvel at, and when I open the garage door and see it sitting there, all red and ready and carbon-black, the goosebumps appear in force. It took some doing to get here. The 21-hour trek. The buying-sight-unseen worries. The fact that my ZRX1200R is going away. The hit to my savings account. But I have a sneaking suspicion about two very important things: One, I’ve found a bike that really does do it all (or mostly so), and in such a viscerally and aesthetically powerful way. And two, I now own a bike that I want to ride every single day. Who says you gotta be on guard when you log onto Cycle Trader?

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