Picture this: You come around a blind corner at a good lean on wet asphalt and a deer jumps out in front of you. You grab all the front brake you can and come to an impossibly quick, safe stop. You’ve also managed to trail brake the rear, firm up the suspension, and hold your line—missing oncoming traffic by not running wide. Impossible? Not anymore.

“Act like you’ve been there before.” Some good words of advice that recently settled in my helmet. Ducati and Bosch have a new Motorcycle Stability Control which will help give the impression that you do, in fact, know what you’re doing out there.

Bosch’s Motorcycle Stability Control (MSC) enhanced-cornering ABS is the governing body of the above mentioned scenario. Ducati’s integration of this system into the Multistrada 1200S—a major upgrade to the Multistrada 1200—will revolutionize motorcycle safety and performance.

After thoroughly testing this bike on a skid pad at the Bosch laboratories, the only way I can sum it up is that it’s nearly impossible to crash by panic braking at any lean angle—wet or dry. In addition, the Multistrada trail brakes the rear for you so that the forces of braking don’t stand the bike up.

Bosch’s ABS 9.1 ME unit not only relieves brake pressure for ABS and rear wheel lift mitigation, but builds pressure for the MSC and Ducati Wheelie Control. Bosch’s Internal Measuring Unit is a five-axis accelerometer that acts as the nervous system of the bike. They designed this system to completely avoid interference with the riding experience. With 60% of motorcycle crash casualties being ABS and MSC related, Bosch believes that 41% could be avoided all together. Further, if every motorcycle had this technology, four out of every 10 fatalities wouldn’t have occurred. Let that sink in….

The bike offers Touring, Sport, Enduro and Urban modes. Within those modes is the ability to change the levels of traction control, ABS, wheelie control, throttle response and suspension specific to each mode.

Enduro mode de-tunes to 100 hp along with 6.7 inches of suspension travel set up for gravel and off-road surfaces. The front wheel has ABS in place for the “Oh crap, I’m going to overshoot this gravel corner” moments, while still being able to slide the rear wheel.

Touring mode delivers a smooth 160 hp from the new Desmo Variable Timing (DVT) equipped engine. The DVT makes an upgrade like high-performance camshafts obsolete while also allowing the engine to run smoothly at the bottom end of the RPM range.

Want to feel like a rock star? Hold the throttle full open over a steep crest and, as you wheelie down it, don’t let off the throttle—just let the DWC do all the work. It will gently bring the front tire back to the road with the front suspension ready for touchdown and you’ll look like you’ve been there before. Then in Sport mode, with all 160 hp trying to separate the front wheel from the earth, you’ll get the impression that this bike is a jack of many trades.

Could the Multistrada 1200S be the only one to have in your garage? It’s a good start. Will this bike make you a touchdown-scoring, supermodel dating, boardroom heavy hitter? Well… at least when you have new, challenging experiences on this motorcycle, you’ll look like you’ve been there before. Ducati.com

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