My new red two-up touring bike

[Skub]

Safe travels Team Tricky.

[Supermofo]

In recent years I think I tend to run my chains slightly loose, confirmed when I checked yesterday. Manual says 2-3cm of play and I have 3.2. Doubt 2mm has made much odds though. Apparently if you are between 2.5-3 the chain just kisses the chain guard on the underside of the swingarm so that's a decent guide I'll aim for.

[Bigyin]

Hope you and Isabella have a good time and you talked the rain right up

P.S. the stone guard thing was removed first time i did the chain on mine and lives in a corner by the door to the bike shed. Doesnt seem to do much and in the words of the factory "looksa sheet"

[Couchy]

I knew someone else had one of these just couldn’t remember who, picked this 2014 up at the weekend. Full termi and only 6k miles. Just had a big service too. My review is shorter, it wheelies loads and is way too loud. Luckily I’ve got standard exhaust to go on

[636mick]

That exhaust is massive!! The standard ones tiny in comparison!
Nice bikes, loved mine.
Mick

[matt]

I knew someone else had one of these just couldn’t remember who, picked this 2014 up at the weekend. Full termi and only 6k miles. Just had a big service too. My review is shorter, it wheelies loads and is way too loud. Luckily I’ve got standard exhaust to go on

Deserves a thread of it's own , surely.

[KungFooBob]

His post is four days old, the Multi will be long gone by now.

[Couchy]

I knew someone else had one of these just couldn’t remember who, picked this 2014 up at the weekend. Full termi and only 6k miles. Just had a big service too. My review is shorter, it wheelies loads and is way too loud. Luckily I’ve got standard exhaust to go on

Deserves a thread of it's own , surely.

Nah it's just a motorbike, it's loud and it wheelies that's it

[Mr Moofo]

I knew someone else had one of these just couldn’t remember who, picked this 2014 up at the weekend. Full termi and only 6k miles. Just had a big service too. My review is shorter, it wheelies loads and is way too loud. Luckily I’ve got standard exhaust to go on

Here's a question
One of the things that would put me off a Multistrada as a touring bike is the fact that on my Diavel, finding neutral is a challenge. You can do it if you roll to a stop and slip it into neutral, or turn the engine of and go into neutral that way. But there is no chance in getting it whilst the bike is running and hot ( unless you like sapping between 1st and 2nd a million times)
Is the MS better?

[Couchy]

I knew someone else had one of these just couldn’t remember who, picked this 2014 up at the weekend. Full termi and only 6k miles. Just had a big service too. My review is shorter, it wheelies loads and is way too loud. Luckily I’ve got standard exhaust to go on

Here's a question
One of the things that would put me off a Multistrada as a touring bike is the fact that on my Diavel, finding neutral is a challenge. You can do it if you roll to a stop and slip it into neutral, or turn the engine of and go into neutral that way. But there is no chance in getting it whilst the bike is running and hot ( unless you like sapping between 1st and 2nd a million times)
Is the MS better?

Seems fine to me

[Bigyin]

Here's a question
One of the things that would put me off a Multistrada as a touring bike is the fact that on my Diavel, finding neutral is a challenge. You can do it if you roll to a stop and slip it into neutral, or turn the engine of and go into neutral that way. But there is no chance in getting it whilst the bike is running and hot ( unless you like sapping between 1st and 2nd a million times)
Is the MS better?

Never had an issue like that on either of my Multis .... combined 65000 ish miles riding and never had a problem finding neutral

[Mr Moofo]

Here's a question
One of the things that would put me off a Multistrada as a touring bike is the fact that on my Diavel, finding neutral is a challenge. You can do it if you roll to a stop and slip it into neutral, or turn the engine of and go into neutral that way. But there is no chance in getting it whilst the bike is running and hot ( unless you like sapping between 1st and 2nd a million times)
Is the MS better?

Never had an issue like that on either of my Multis .... combined 65000 ish miles riding and never had a problem finding neutral

Pehaps it is 2011 Diavel 1200 character.
It's a complete arse when you are tired at the end of the day

[Tricky]

I knew someone else had one of these just couldn’t remember who, picked this 2014 up at the weekend. Full termi and only 6k miles. Just had a big service too. My review is shorter, it wheelies loads and is way too loud. Luckily I’ve got standard exhaust to go on

Have just realised that I haven’t been in this thread for a few weeks- nice one @Couchy albeit I’m guessing it may not still be with you- is it? And if it is, have you ridden it or unbolted/bolted on anything yet?

Anyway, as for mine, the Paris trip was great
As sod's law, and every trip on the bike seems to dictate, although the weather was great when we left home on Thursday morning, within 10 minutes or so of hitting the M25, it started raining....
We just carried on for 15 minutes or so in the hope that it was just a shower, but it wasn’t letting up so we dived off a junction around Reigate and put the waterproofs on, and I am glad we did as it just got harder and harder and was absolutely pissing down by the time we hit Folkestone.

We made good time though, so we managed to grab a coffee in the terminal building and get on an earlier crossing than planned.

Last time we used the tunnel on the bike we shared a carriage with some Wild Hogs, and this time it was the turn of a GS chapter- not sure what it is about going away on this bike, but we seem to end up with groups of people all on (pretty much) the same bike, rather than a mixture.



Anyway, one of them aside, who Isabella thought a complete dickhead ( for many reasons, probably too many to list here but his love of his 360 degree camera on a stick was definitely one of the reasons ), they seemed a more friendly lot than the Harley gang we had on the last crossing.
We got to Calais, and it was raining there, albeit not hard, so the boil-in-the-bag gear stayed on, and we trundled off towards Paris.
It was early afternoon when we got off the train, and we wanted to make the most of our 3 nights in Paris so we just used the A26/A1 autoroute for most of the trip down- not an exciting route, but efficient, and within an hour or so the sun was blazing so the wet weather gear went back into it's Sainsburys bag



We hit the Peripherique at approx 17:30 and a trip around there on my old ZZR1400 with a couple of mates in rush hour all came flooding back to me- the filtering “races” with all the other bikes and scooters is mad, albeit great fun, I was giggling in my helmet at times, intense is the word that best describes it I think
And the Multi is brilliant for it, even two-up with paniers- it carries its weight well and just seems well balanced whether you are flicking between cars at speed or walking pace
I reckon it would have been a very different story for most of our GS-riding Eurotunnel acquaintances with the size of their panniers, but the handlebars/mirrors are the widest things on our bike I just used that as a gauge, never hit anything or had any near misses
We’d decided that before going to our hotel we would ride down to the Arc de Triomphe and the tower for a piccie or two with the bike, and wow- I’m sure Paris traffic has got worse since I was last there- total gridlock for a lot of it, we used pavements and the tiniest gaps that we could (as all the other 2-wheelers seemed to be) and it was still hard getting through it all at times, I wouldn’t have wanted to venture in there in a car, reckon we could have still been there now



So, obligatory tourist pics were taken, and we headed for our hotel- the weather had brightened up considerably within an hour or so south of Calais, so we’d dumped the wet weather gear, and I am so glad we had as even just in my denim jeans, I was sweating for England- it was now 25 degrees ambient, and my bollocks and thighs were on fire due to the heat of the bike from all the slow running and fan being on constantly, pushing the hot air back at me.


I’d booked a hotel in the Lamark district in the 18th arrondissement, close to Montmartre and it proved to be a top choice- lovely and immaculately clean little hotel, with secure private underground parking for the bike in what turned out to be a fabulous area.



It was a complete stroke of luck rather than a deliberate choice as I don’t really know Paris, but where we were had some really lovely little laid back bars and restaurants, and was only 20 mins or so on the Metro to the centre and all the usual tourist hotspots.

We spent the next three days doing some of the usual Paris tourist things, seeing a fair few of the preparations they're making for the Olympics and mainly just having a really lovely chilled few days- the Paris weather was perfect- shorts and flip-flops and sun cream was needed, and the bike didn’t move until we headed home Sunday lunchtime.

The ride home was uneventful, it did of course rain (again ) en route, but was only a 30-minute or so heavy shower, so although the wet weather gear came out again, we took it off when we were in the tunnel and the rest of the ride how was in brilliant sunshine.

All-in-all a great trip, we had a really nice relaxed time , and without a doubt it's my favourite visit to Paris so far.



( Am suffering with Pollen / Hayfever in the above pic, beer definitely helped though )








As for the bike, well, it didn’t miss a beat and I’ve said it all before I think, but it’s perfect for us;- Isabella loves it in terms of comfort ( and looks and sound ), and from my perspective, it carries its weight very well when fully loaded and is still great fun to ride- highly recommended if you want a very comfy and capable two-up tourer that you can still ride like a big-handlebarred sportsbike if you choose

We’ve unexpectedly got a free weekend and a dog-sitter this weekend , and it looks like the weather down south will be nice so we have decided to take another little trip down to the south coast for a night or two, and assuming the weather forecast doesn’t change, we’ll be using the bike- her choice!

Oh, and @Mr Moofo - as with Yin, finding neutral is a non-issue on mine- silky smooth and never a bother whether moving or standing still