2024 · Adventure · Buyer's Guide
The Grand Tourer That Glides
The Grand Tour is the Multistrada V4 with the options box already checked. Underneath sits Ducati's 1158 cc V4, 170 hp and 92 lb-ft, tuned to pull hard from low in the rev range instead of making you chase the tach. Ducati Skyhook Suspension handles damping at both ends, Bosch Motorcycle Stability Control backs up the cornering ABS and traction control, and the Ducati Front & Rear Radar adds adaptive cruise with blind spot detection. Color-matched cases, center stand, heated grips, keyless ignition and an adjustable screen are all factory. It still reads as a Ducati from thirty feet away, which matters on this bike.
On the road it behaves like a big, planted grand tourer that happens to have a 19 inch front and 8.7 inches of ground clearance, so gravel roads are fair game and technical dirt is not. This is a machine for riders who cover real distance, often two-up and fully loaded. At 536 lb wet it is heavy and never feels nimble, and the 33.9 inch seat asks for a long inseam. Ownership has a footnote: the keyless system can flatten the battery in roughly 48 hours of sitting.
Spec sheets don't ride bikes, but they set the baseline.
| Power | 170 hp (125 kW) |
|---|---|
| Torque | 92 lb-ft (125 Nm) @ 8,750 rpm |
| Displacement | 1158 cc |
| Engine | V4 |
| Cooling | Liquid-cooled |
| Gearbox | 6-speed |
| Final drive | Chain |
| Front tire | 120/70-19 |
| Rear tire | 170/60-17 |
| Wheelbase | 61.7 in (1567 mm) |
| Ground clearance | 8.7 in (220 mm) |
| Front travel | 6.7 in (170 mm) |
| Rear travel | 7.1 in (180 mm) |
| Seat height | 33.9 in (860 mm) |
| Wet weight | 536 lb (243 kg) |
| Fuel capacity | 5.8 gal (22 L) |
| Fuel economy | 34 mpg (US) |
Equipment check
Chassis
Comfort
Connectivity
Drivetrain
Lighting
Safety
The named systems that set this bike apart — and what each one does for you.
Rider aids
Over the years I've kept track of what owners say about this bike, in paddock conversations, at club nights, over coffee at fuel stops, and in the messages riders send me directly. On the Multistrada V4 S Grand Tour the pattern is clear. People praise how it rides and how much comes in the box. The complaints are about living with it day to day: heat, range, luggage space and wind.
Owners bring up the suspension first and most often. Riders say the semi-active Skyhook setup is why long days on rough roads stay comfortable, and the auto-leveling gets credit too. Riders praise the V4 more for its manners than its punch. They call it refined and elastic, with usable torque arriving in the midrange and a clean, even pull all the way to redline. It doesn't come in with a sudden hit. The brakes complete the picture. Owners report strong, consistent stopping, and more than one calls the braking a treat.
Riders consistently point to how little the Grand Tour needs before a long trip. Heated seats for rider and passenger, fog lights, tire pressure monitoring and a hands-free fuel filler come up again and again. The radar package gets its own mention. When the bike arrived, riders ranked the adaptive cruise and rear blind spot detection among the best in the class.
Heat leads the recurring gripes. In slow summer traffic, owners say warmth from the engine and the catalytic converter under the seat reaches both rider and pillion. Range comes next. Mixed riding returns around 34 mpg, which owners say works out to roughly 170 to 180 miles (270 to 290 km) between fill-ups. For a bike built to cover distance, they find that short. The factory cases draw a specific complaint: exhaust packaging makes the right case noticeably smaller than the left, and owners feel that when packing for two. Riders around 5'11" also report buffeting at head level at highway speed, even with the screen at its top setting.
Engine heat on left thigh and rear/passenger seat in slow traffic
Under stop-and-go conditions and ambient temperatures above ~79°F (26 °C), heat from the rear cylinder bank and the under-seat catalytic converter is felt on the rider's left thigh and the rear/passenger seat. Ducati shipped insulated replacement seats to some affected owners as a partial mitigation. The V4 Rally received expanded cylinder deactivation (rear bank also off at low cruise) to address this; the V4 / V4 S / V4 S Grand Tour MY2024 only deactivate at idle / clutch-in and therefore retain the issue.
Intermittent surging / stutter at 4,000–6,000 rpm steady throttle
Surging or "stutter" reported at part-throttle in the 4,000–6,000 rpm cruise band. Attributed to lean Euro 5 mid-range fueling (closed-loop O2 sensor cycling) and EVAP canister purge behavior. Multiple owners report dealer attempts to resolve under warranty in early production years; partial fixes via software updates (overlapping with CR240 ECU and CR267 quickshifter campaigns), EVAP canister removal, or full Akrapovič exhaust + remap.
Parasitic battery drain on storage
Owners report battery flat after approximately 48 hours of inactivity. Cause attributed to keyless ignition system parasitic load combined with the modest OEM battery capacity. Workaround: trickle charger / battery tender. Some warranty replacements of battery or check of "always-on" loads have occurred.
Where this Ducati Multistrada V4 S Grand Tour pulls ahead of — or falls behind — its rivals on the numbers, and the typical bike in its class on character.
Power
Torque
Displacement
Wet weight
Seat height
Forget spec-sheet bragging. Here's who the Multistrada V4 S Grand Tour is actually built for.
Straight answer: no. At 536 lb on a 19 inch front, this is a road tourer that copes with gravel, and technical slickrock or deep sand will punish both of you. Ride it to Moab, not on the hard lines.
Made for Bar M / Kane Creek · Imperial Sand Dunes · Johnson Valley OHV Area
Your 200 to 400 mile days suit it well. It holds pace through open sweepers and smooths out bad pavement. Accept that tight, slow switchbacks will ask more of you than a lighter bike would.
Made for Black Hills · Blue Ridge Parkway · Cherohala Skyway
This one is built for you. Radar cruise, factory cases, heated grips, a center stand and 5.8 gallons of fuel make long two-up days simple. Just plan around the heat when summer traffic stops moving.
Made for Beartooth Highway · Blue Ridge Parkway · Going-to-the-Sun Road
If you're cross-shopping the older generation, here's what changed.
Previous generation · 2021
Four Cylinders, Zero Excuses
Compare to the previous model →If this one isn't quite the fit, these are the bikes worth riding back-to-back against it.
