THE news that a new Ducati Multistrada V4 is coming is not new. We’ve seen the spy shots of the bike being tested and even heard the engine as eagle-eyed bike fans have caught it on film.
We haven’t though had much in the way of proof regarding the bike’s internal mechanical specs. Now though we can confirm that Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) decoding documents filed to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have confirmed the true size of the new engine.
Ducati Multistrada video review
The VIN decoder tells us that the seventh character of the tells us the size of the engine. For example, the Scrambler Sixty features and ‘A’ as the seventh character. This denotes a V-twin air-cooled lump of 399cc or more. Interestingly, the Panigale V4 features the letter ‘N’, for engines of 1,103cc or more. The most recent code added to the decoder is ‘V’, linking to an engine of 1,158cc or more and featuring four valves per cylinder.
With no other bikes in the current or future line-up that could feature the unit, it doesn’t take long to figure out that this is the new Multistrada V4 engine.
But there are other clues. According to the VIN decoder, a new model line has been added, with the letter designation ‘L’. The decoder confirms that the letter ‘L’ has the placeholder ‘1706 project’.
One thing the document does not tell us is how Ducati has achieved the extra capacity. The engine is widely understood to be an updated version of the existing Stradale V4 engine – as seen in the Panigale V4. It’s likely the search for more torque than the standard engine will push Ducati to extend the stroke of the unit away from the over-square design of the current mill. Although, for confirmation of that we will have to wait and see.
