Motodisiac

So you are one of the guys who enjoys real adventure riding. Not the one that involves all black top riding, leave that to Goldwing owners. You want to travel off the beaten path, exploring abandoned roads and riding where no roads exist at all. If you happen to live in USA, your bike choices are pretty limited. You have gigantic GS that could handle some light off roading at best, Suzuki V-Strom with similar issue or all new Ducati Multistrada that comes with 17″ wheels. You can always settle for KLR but it was designed in 80’s and isn’t much fun on the road. There are many bikes that could possibly work for you, but each one of them presents some kind of compromise. BMW F800GS sounds like a good all around choice but you want something more exciting than anemic Beemer. I think your prayers have been answered. Please welcome Aprilia Tuareg.

It has all necessary ingredients to become perfect adventure bike with the character:

Eye pleasing style
Italian designed and made
750 cc V-Twin engine that is perfect for adventure duties
21″ and 18″ wheels to handle the roughest terrain
Good suspension

It will be fun of and off the road. It will be exciting to look at. It will sound great. You will be able to take it to the most remote places on earth. Aprilia has a potential winner coming if they get few things right - fuel economy, gas and luggage capacity and wind management - white keeping the bike lightweight. If they are able to create perfect blend of necessary components, this bike will sell like hot cakes. Can Aprilia do it?

It seems like it was yesterday when I picked her up - dirty, rashed and red. Since I was already familiar with Multistrada, I had a vision what it was going to look like after I complete the transformation. I think I’m almost there.

Originally the bike was red, but I thought the contrast between white bike and red frame would look nice. So the whole bike was re-sprayed in Audi White.

Hoping to get better wind protection I added DP Max Screen. It made small difference but I’m not where I want to be yet. To me, such versatile bike as Multistrada must have top case. I chose Givi V46 because I think it complements the shape of the bike.

Dull Ducati carbon fiber was covered in quality clear coat for better looks and durability. I also added red wheel stripes to compliment red frame.

Stock seats were reskinned with grippy material similar to the one on new Multi 1200

Now my passengers can relax because they feel glued on to this:

In order to protect my hands from the elements, I installed KTM handguards. Because I easily get cold, I also installed Dual Star grip heaters (with ProGrip grips).

No Ducati is complete without signature Ducati rumble. I went conservative since I didn’t want to attract any attention or piss people off. Termignoni muffler was just the ticket for this, also providing nice boost in performance (along with DesmoPorsche ECU reprogramming)

I also installed billet fuel cap mostly because I think stock silver didn’t look right on white tank.

I also added optional stand, and it drags like crazy, scaring the sh*t out of my wife. I need to modify it ASAP to reduce the drag, the way it is I cannot ride aggressive. Perhaps I should leave it as is

Stock mirrors literally vibrated off, so I installed FAR Mirrors. Now I can actually see what’s behind me.

I also have Hypermotard footpegs that I haven’t installed yet, I find stock footpegs terrible and unacceptrable when whey get wet.

So this brings me to the end of my transformation. I’m very happy with the way the bike runs and with the functionality it provides.

There is not a chance I’m going to leave it alone though. I’m still craving for better weather / wind protection, in my opinion it’s about the only thing the Multistrada lacks. Well, that and more crash protection, along with better lighting. Then I will be done. Maybe.

A long time ago I bought Termignoni muffler for my Multistrada but I wasn’t rushing to install it on a bike. Previous owner already opened up the air box by punching out the snorkels, and bike was already getting to much air - sputtering, backfiring and even stalling once in a while. I knew that without proper mapping installing Termignoni exhaust would only make things worse. So I was desperately looking for solution.

Because 07 and later Multistradas come with O2 Sensor, getting proven Power Commander was not an option. It just wouldn’t work, with ECU getting confused with O2 sensor. Pretty much the only option was buying Ducati Performance ECU (which by the way disables O2 Sensor) I wasn’t rushing to take this route due to $500+ cost.

Once day I was browsing www.desmoporsche.com and I noticed that they offer ECU remapping for all Ducati models. A couple of very quick e-mail exchanges later, I took my ECU out and shipped it to DesmoPorsche in Texas. Bobby assured me that it’s going to be done within a day or two. I had a feeling for DesmoPorsche wizards cracked Ducati ECU code and I will have DP map loaded into my stock ECU. For $250 it was worth the try. Re-Mapping also disables O2 sensor, so I figured even if the bike didn’t run right, I could alway get Power Commander for optimal tuning.

After about a week of riding my bicycle to work, I politely sent DesmoPorsche an e-mail, requesting an update. Answer came almost immediately. Bobby had a problem with equipment and my ECU wasn’t done yet. As a small business owner I understand that problems sometimes come up, sp I decided to wait. More waiting meant more burned calories By the way Bobby offered to overnight my ECU back to me in case I need to ride.

So in another week I had my ECU back. DesmoPorsche even sent it via express mail at no cost to me. Total cost was $260 (plus $12 I paid to UPS it to DesmoPorsche) The day I received my ECU back I HAD to install it and test it. Bobby mentioned that I may have to reset TPS so I also ordeded Technoresearch tool at the same time.

First I tried it with stock exhaust just to be sure the bike runs. It fired up immediately, and didn’t sound much different. The smell however was another story. I could tell the bike ran much richer now. Good. After the Termis went on, I went for a ride. By the way the bike ran just fine without TPS reset, but I did it afterwards just in case. Now I have VDST tool

I’m glad to report outstanding results. The bike tuns smoother than ever, it revs up a lot quicker and pulls hard all the way to the redline. It seems like DP map really affected the bottom end response and added quite a few hp in upper RPM range. I think my bike runs just about PERFECT right now. Gas mileage suffered just a little bit, it seems l lost 3-4 mpg.

A word about the Termignoni. It sounds just like I wanted - not loud at all, but very Ducati like. PERFECT.

So, if you have aftermarket pipes and stock ECU, please do the right thing and re-map it. Your bike will feel completely different and you will love it even more. Thank you Bobby and DesmoPorsche.