Only a sportsbike can prepare you for the instant aggression of the Ducati Multistrade 1200S engine. Touring the countryside with some friends the amount of power is genuinely shocking.

The Ducati Multistrada 1200S churns and rumbles into life like any Ducati should, before delivering exactly the right measure of fuel into the hungry throttle bodies. The pick-up and delivery are the animal parts of the equation, the only weakness a refusal to hold a completely steady throttle. Fast getaways from standstill witness the torque throwing the front wheel skyward with wild disdain while you battle to stay aboard. Before you have time to draw breath it'll be hurrying you through a comfortable pocket of air at well into three figures.

The Ducati Multistrada 1200S is seriously more road-focused than say a BMW 1200GS, but the Multistrada 1200S also aims to redefine the entire genre, with car-like technology helping to make this a real multi-personality motorcycle, with the brain-stem controls at the beck and call of your left thumb.