Mixing it up with a multistrada

We were invited to stay down the coast at Coledale with some friends for the weekend. This was my first ‘overnight’ ride and I was fretting about how much (or little!) I could pack into the very small panniers on the S1000.

As luck would have it, a friend offered us the use of his Ducati Multistrada. Much bigger panniers, so I was happy.

It also has a larger and more comfy seat than the S (I know, doesn’t everything…?) And handles!  All my dreams are coming true at once ;)

The route

Getting down to South Sydney can be pretty slow and annoying in the traffic, especially on a Saturday.

But then we turned off to the Royal National Park and found we were mostly just sharing the road with other bikes.

Zorro took it fairly easy, being an unfamiliar bike for him too. And we were only half way through when other riders began to give the signal of a speed trap ahead.

Finally, just as we came out to Otford, we saw the line of police cars and – quietly – pulled over and parked. We wandered smugly across the road to the Otford Apple Pie Shop and settled in at an outdoor table to watch the spectacle.

 

While I munched on banana bread (rustic homemade style, and almost in the shape of Australia too!) and Zorro had bacon and eggs, the cops pulled over a string of bikes, mostly checking for compliance.

Occasionally you’d hear the bellow of a bike coming over the hill who obviously hadn’t got the signal, and the cops would get themselves ready.

 

Then it was time to head south along the spectacular Sea Cliff Bridge and into Coledale.

My thoughts on the Multistrada

Yes, it was definitely a comfier bike for a pillion. But the initial comfort gave way to a few niggles on this hour-and-a-half ride.

• The leg position wasn’t ideal for me and I developed an ache, almost like sciatica
• As a pillion, it’s very hard to see past the rider as we sit almost level.
• With only about an inch between our helmets, we clonked into each other a few times (often enough that Zorro got pretty annoyed with me).
• The noise and vibration (hallmarks of Ducati) are hard to ignore.
• Its height from the ground alters the centre of gravity and felt much less secure and less nimble than the BMW

But it was still a fun ride and I enjoyed being able to compare these two very different bikes.

Avoiding the rain

There was a huge storm raced in late on Saturday afternoon. We had a brilliant view of it from the deck overlooking the ocean and it was amazing to see how quickly it changed from hot and sunny to ferociously dark and windy, then back again (with a brilliant rainbow).

Just glad we weren’t on the road at the time!

On the Sunday we headed back mid-morning, before it got too hot.

Two minutes after we arrived home, the Sunday rains came. Phew, that was close! Still feeling lucky…