Ducati Multistrada V4 RS Review: The Most Extreme ADV Ever?

The Ducati Multistrada range is surely the most expensive collection of bikes in the adventure touring sector. Starting with the entry-level V2, from there riders can traverse eight models, with the new Multistrada V4 RS sitting at the very top in terms of spec and price.

It’s a range that already ticks off standard touring, sports touring, true off-road adventure riding and track use via the existing Multistrada Pikes Peak edition. But if that bike isn’t quite extreme enough for you, Ducati has another option for you, the bonkers yet brutally beautiful Multisrada V4 RS.

For this track-only riding review, we headed to the wonderfully fast and flowing Donington Park GP circuit. We took part in eight 20-minute sessions on the bike, riding in both the fast and intermediate groups. Weather conditions were chilly and slightly overcast in the morning with the afternoon sessions playing out under blue skies with lots of sunshine.

Price and availability

As you’d expect, the most high-performing and premium bike in the Multistrada family isn’t cheap and comes in at £31,995. Bung on the Akrapovic full system racing exhaust (which uncorks the full 190bhp) and you’ll add another £2,919.24.

If the colour scheme you see here isn’t to your tastes, we have bad news, The RS is only available in distinctive Iceberg White design. Personally, I think it looks great, and if you’ve got the biggest, baddest adventure bike sitting beneath you, why not advertise the fact to the world with the giant ‘RS’ graphics?

While the model isn’t strictly a limited edition run, each of the RS models that rolls off the production line is a numbered bike, with a small plaque on the triple clamp making each one unique.

What’s new?

The RS version takes the Pikes Peak edition of the Multistrada and raises the bar even higher with a host of unique touches. The most prominent change for the RS is the inclusion of the 1103cc Desmosedici Stradale engine, as already found in the Panigale and Streetfighter V4 models. With a specific tune for the model, the engine produces a claimed 180hp (177bhp) meaning you get 10 more ponies than the next fastest bike in the range. The use of this engine means that the RS is the only bike in the Multistrada V4 range that features desmodromic valve actuation - all the others gain conventional spring-actuated valves.

Desmo valvetrains have been a staple on Borgo Panigale bikes since the late sixties, and they hold a number of advantages over conventional valve springs, especially in high-performance engines. The system helps to reduce valve float, where inertia overcomes the spring's ability to fully close the valve during the combustion cycle at very high RPM.

You may get more power from the engine, but you don’t get any more torque, as the RS makes marginally less twist than the Pikes Peak edition. Ducati quotes 87lb ft for the RS and 91lb ft for the Pikes Peak edition.

The unique engine is just one of a host of changes that define the model, with an STM EVO-SBK dry clutch bringing that trademark rattle, and an Akrapovic exhaust bringing the exhaust note of the bike to life. The bike is also fitted with some weight-saving features, including lightweight Marchesini forged aluminium wheels (a claimed 2.7kg lighter than cast items), a titanium subframe which is specific to the RS, and the obligatory smorgasbord of carbon fibre parts from nose to tail.

How does the Multistrada V4 RS perform on track?

As this track test is taking place in September, Donington Park is hugged by chill which means session one was a steady affair. It does though allow me to get a decent first taste of the RS, and the impact the engine has on the riding experience is obvious the moment you twist the throttle to leave the pitlane. Where the existing Granturismo V4 Multistrada bikes boom as they hammer through the low and mid-range, the RS revs much faster and much more ferociously.

The cold track and Pirelli slicks haven’t quite made friends in the first session, and the brutal delivery combined with autumnal chill has the Ducati spinning the rear wheel without too much trouble. I do though manage to get some clear laps once the tyres have got somewhere near the operating window, and my only main feeling so far is I’d like a bit more support from the suspension.

The bike is set in the Race riding mode, with the self-levelling suspension set to solo rider only, with no passenger and no luggage. I have a chat with the Ducati technician before session two and he leads me to use the self-levelling system to add in some pre-load and support. Given that the bike is fitted with class-leading Ohlins Smart EC 2.0 at both ends, we could go delving into the bike’s settings to dial in a truly bespoke set-up, but there an issue with that though. I’m sharing the bike on the day with another journalist, who is very different to me in size and shape. Clicking through a more simplified adjustment method means I can hopefully get a set-up more in line with the way I ride, without either of us ending up on a bike that’s miles away from where we need it to be.

Session two is a non-starter thanks to multiple red flags and most of it was spent waiting in the pits, so session three is where I get to sample the slightly firmer setting. It’s better but still slightly too soft. I’m also getting quite a lot of movement coming out of the faster corners, especially the exit of Coppice. Returning to the pits it became quickly evident where all the movement was coming from, because the rear tyre is completely destroyed. Sitting in the pits for most of the previous session meant the Pirelli slick got too cold. Once the session resumed the only outcome is a cold tear around the circumference of the hoop.

Despite the red flag afflicted morning on the RS, I am relishing my time on the bike. Being able to push a big adventure bike (albeit one that’s dripping in superbike-spec kit) this hard on the beautiful Donington Park GP circuit is an incredible experience. You’ve got that brutal V4 engine paired with 17-inch wheels, slick tyres, and the best suspension in the business. You can ride it hard and ask it to do things you’d never get away with on any other ADV bike. And you get all of that performance along with a roomy and comfortable riding position, front and rear blindspot detection, adaptive cruise control and all the other advancements that make the Multistrada such a good fast touring bike. Never has access to the pointy end of the track-day fast group been this comfortable, and if you have the skills you really can mix it with the track-day-ready Panigale and Streetfighter V4s.

Lunchtime sees the rear tyre swapped out for a shiny new SC2 racing slick, and while the morning was chilly and overcast, the afternoon running at Ducati UK’s Donington track day played out underneath blue skies, sunshine and temperatures much nearer to the mid-20 degrees.

Building on the morning's running, I set the bike up with more rear pre-load, although not so much to improve acceleration or braking support, it was to try and sit the bike more on its nose than it had been in the morning and improve the already impressive response to direction changes. If there is one area of Donington where the RS feels the absolute best, it's on the run down through Craner Curves and into the Old Haripin. With the bike already loading the front end the RS feels nicely sharp. I’m hoping I can replicate that feeling on the exit of Coppice.

Is a Multistrada V4 RS worth the price?

The two final of my seven sessions at Donington really are a case of saving the best till last, and with no red flags, perfect weather and the RS dialled right where I need it to be I’m being rewarded with a bike that is doing everything I’m asking of it without any complaints. I can carry otherworldly levels of corner speed down Craner Curves and take liberties on the Brembo Stylema brakes into Old Hairpin, allowing me to really take chunks out of all the fast corners at the 2.4-mile circuit. Then when I get to the Foggy Esses I’ve got a bike that’ll change direction sweetly and a chassis that provides me with all the accuracy I need to run just the right amount of kerb on the way in to allow me to straight-line the second part of the complex. And it’ll keep doing this all day long until the 25-litre fuel tank runs dry - which is around two sessions it seems…

And then, when the trackday is over or you just need to cover a big difference in the shortest amount of time possible, the RS is just another Multistrada. It is luxuriously comfortable, as easy to ride as a 200+ kg adventure bike gets, supremely well-specced and capped off by some of the most advanced electronics and rider aids in the two-wheeled world.

It is though a pricey option, being a tad over £4k more than the already superbly specced Pikes Peak edition of the Multistrada. For some riders though, the draw of having that Desmocedici Stradale engine cradled within an adventure touring silhouette will be too strong. For those that do take the plunge, they’ll be rewarded with a very unique on-track experience.

Many thanks to Ducati UK for having us along at their trackday, you can find out more information about them here.

Riding, statics and detail photography - James Wright - Double Red Photographic

Additional riding pictures - PicMan Trackday Photography

Ducati Multistrada V4 RS spec