While my Hyper is sadly in the shop - a story for another time - a kind friend lent me his MultiStrada 1200S Pikes Peak edition to ride around on.
The bike is great, of course, as one would expect. But what's really outstanding - crazy, even - is the active suspension. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_suspension
Active suspension electronically adjusts the damping hundreds of times a second. I thought that meant that the bike would be in a perfect setup at all times, but it's actually better than that. The effect is as if all roads were smooth(er).
There's some roads I know very well, like canal road to my house. I know all the turns and all the bumps - except on the MTS, there are no bumps! It's magical. Going over bad roads - nothing moves. This bike carves along mountain curves on bad Thai roads full of potholes as if it was on a racetrack. Nothing moves or shakes, it just remains planted on the road.
Bigger bumps / holes of course are noticeable but there's no shaking or rattling either.
photo1200s by orthorim, Thank You Flickr
Active suspension is an absolute killer feature one has to experience to believe. I think there's currently only two bikes that have it, the MTS and the BMW HP4 super bike. But no question the technology will come to more bikes soon. It's such a huge difference.
The bike is great, of course, as one would expect. But what's really outstanding - crazy, even - is the active suspension. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_suspension
Active suspension electronically adjusts the damping hundreds of times a second. I thought that meant that the bike would be in a perfect setup at all times, but it's actually better than that. The effect is as if all roads were smooth(er).
There's some roads I know very well, like canal road to my house. I know all the turns and all the bumps - except on the MTS, there are no bumps! It's magical. Going over bad roads - nothing moves. This bike carves along mountain curves on bad Thai roads full of potholes as if it was on a racetrack. Nothing moves or shakes, it just remains planted on the road.
Bigger bumps / holes of course are noticeable but there's no shaking or rattling either.
Active suspension is an absolute killer feature one has to experience to believe. I think there's currently only two bikes that have it, the MTS and the BMW HP4 super bike. But no question the technology will come to more bikes soon. It's such a huge difference.