2022 Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak

You’ve got to give it to Ducati – since the heady days of the bonkers Yamaha TDR250, nobody but KTM has been able to quite nail the road/offroad combo nutter market until Ducati started building the Pikes Peak version of their Multistrada. Yep, the first powered by a twin was mad enough, but this bad ass with a 1,160cc Panigale derived lump? Sheesh…

Yes indeed, you want a modern TDR250 and this thing is probably as close as you can get short of a KTM SuperDuke (of any cc…), but with a few extra kilos and oh, an extra 120bhp or so! For more proof, just go look for the the promotional video of this weapon and you’ll see what we mean. It’s like the baddest of bad ass roadsters, and partly because they developed it around a 17-inch front wheel, which means you can fit the best, stickiest rubber around on those lightweight forged aluminium Marchesini wheels, which help towards an overall saving of 4kg over other ‘stradas.

Of course being Ducati the rest of the chassis spec’ list is top drawer, with Ohlins 2.0 electronic kit doing the suspension work front and rear. Stopping the lot comes courtesy of Brembo’s finest Stylema calipers and gargantuan 330mm discs. And it needs those awesome anchors because that motor can make this thing shift at an incredible rate, and if you’re buying a Pikes Peak option in the first place, it’s not because you want to go touring…

Claimed the most powerful within its class, it makes peak power of 170bhp and 125Nm of torque, at around 8,750rpm, while breathing through its carbon/titanium Akropovic can.

Yes this lump revs nowhere near as much as the sportsbike it hails from, but by doing so Ducati are able to pack a huge whallop into a relatively short amount of space: translation – it goes like stink.

It also, kinda obviously these days, comes with a full Ducati Corse derived electronics package sporting everything from traction-control to anti-wheelie, various riding modes and suspension adjustment options, to name but a few of the highlights, all run through a swish 6.5-inch flash dash that can also display navigation, entertainment or even filthy grot. Probably…

Adorning the upright nutter is a spiffing Pikes Peak inspired paint scheme, which is also inspired by their own 2021 MotoGP livery. A mish-mash, if you will, splattered across plastic and carbon-fibre on a bike which is, in many ways, the big and very stupid version of their Hypermotard we’ve always hankered after. Well, we first got it a few years ago, and it’s only getting stupider, especially with this one – perfect!

On the boring (but handy) side of things, there is a 4-year warranty available, which is of the unlimited mileage variety, and the first ones to hit UK dealers in November will be in ‘Radar’ trim, packing both front and rear radar safety systems. Damn, we remember getting excited about flip-up number plates – what a biking world we live in now!