MTS1200S Pikes Peak - The Amazing Skyhook Active Suspension

Nov 7, 2007
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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.

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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.
 
Dec 27, 2007
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I've heard good things about Ducati's active suspension on the new Multistrada, but I've also heard that while good, it's not a huge improvement over the already top notch Ohlins suspension on the previous model. I've ridden the Ohlins equipped Multistrada, on the crap road to Pai no less, and was amazed at the performance. Like your experience with the Skyhook Multi, the Ohlins equipped bike eats up all the bumps and ripples that would upset most any other bike. I would love to compare to the Skyhook and see how much of a difference there is.

Either way, the Multistrada is renowned for its handling, whether you've got the "analog" Ohlins or the digital Skyhook. Hope to take a Skyhook equipped Multi for a spin one of these fine days, but can't imagine ever paying the obscene Thai price for the new Multistrada...
 
Jul 8, 2011
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TonyBKK;299422 wrote: I've heard good things about Ducati's active suspension on the new Multistrada, but I've also heard that while good, it's not a huge improvement over the already top notch Ohlins suspension on the previous model. I've ridden the Ohlins equipped Multistrada, on the crap road to Pai no less, and was amazed at the performance. Like your experience with the Skyhook Multi, the Ohlins equipped bike eats up all the bumps and ripples that would upset most any other bike. I would love to compare to the Skyhook and see how much of a difference there is.

Either way, the Multistrada is renowned for its handling, whether you've got the "analog" Ohlins or the digital Skyhook. Hope to take a Skyhook equipped Multi for a spin one of these fine days, but can't imagine ever paying the obscene Thai price for the new Multistrada...
You can update the Ohlins to make it behave similar to the Sky Hook.
http://www.ohlins.com/Our-products-new/Motorcycle/Miscellaneous/Shock-absorbers/Ducati-Multistrada-Mechatronics/

I have a Standard MTS and if you know how tho setup the suspension it works very well too. Of course it is fully adjustable. Would have loved the Ohlins but from 2013 Ducati only offer Skyhook (by Sachs). Many people have problems with the Skyhook system. Including a friend of mine here in Thailand.
http://www.ducati.ms/forums/44-multistrada/223977-2013-skyhook-forks-clunking-banging-full-extension.html