Pepe's Garage

What a day! My friend, Tim Kettering, and I head over to Munroe Motors to try out the new bikes. I was hoping for Triumph to bring in the new Tiger. Lo and behold, they did! They also brought the new twin-headlights Thunderbird, a 1600cc cruiser. To everyone’s surprise, the new brute of a machine, the Speed Triple.

Previous generation Tigers were nice looking but doesn’t live up to its’ name. They were too big, too road oriented, and ungainly off road. It should be called Triumph Hippotamus 1050 as it is still as vicious as the said name. The newest Tiger 800 and it’s taller brother, XC (as in cross country), are the real Tigers: easy handling everywhere and anywhere from Timbuktu to Nowheresville in Nowheresania, lightweight , rugged and tough, skinny, practical, and beautiful plus lethal. The Tiger 800′s main diets are dirt, snow, mud, grass, water, hills, rocks, and so forth with occasional desserts of asphalt, preferred rough New York City streets and San Francisco’s pothole laden roads.

My buddy and I demo’ed the Tiger. He on the Tiger 800 and I on the Tiger 800 XC. Sitting on it, the XC felt very tall but not intimidating. Feels the same as sitting on an actual dirt bike but only couple hundred pounds more. Wide bars gives a feel of total control, adjustable levers on both sides, good location of the dashboard plus easily readable, small stock windscreen that is not much of a bother, and good thumb controls on both side of the handlebar. The saddle’s spot on but I only put in about 6 miles or so on it. Haven’t tried to put hundreds miles on it to get the feel of the saddle but am sure it is comfy. My buddy said that the shorter Tiger, u can easily put your foot on the ground and I second that after sitting on it. He sat on the XC and it is tall. That’s a good thing since it’s height perfect for serious off roading.

The motor, oo wow, the motor is amazing. Good traction, thanks to dirt oriented gearings. I wonder what it is like with some upgrades. Surely, it’ll be fast. Possibly much faster than BMW F800GS. Note to self: test ride the Beemer ASAP. Anyway, the engine is similar to the street triple but only bigger, 125cc more. Oo, it has three cylinder. Seems like Triumph loves three more than four. Is Three their lucky number? I think so.

We took to the street of San Francisco with a group of other riders. On every bumps, cracks, holes, and dips, the Tiger loves them a lot. On a very curvy and bumpy road on Twin Peaks, it gripped to the asphalt with much confidence including near full lean. Great stopping power on both brakes. Great tires! They’re Pirellis Scorpion Trail.

I highly recommend this Tiger 800 XC. It’s the bike to cross Siberia, the bike to commute to work and back home, the bike to tear up the backroads, the bike to take a mud bath with, the bike to do anything. Oo hey, I am sure your partner would love a ride with you on it because the rear seat looks good too. Great grab handle too but get a top box and she’ll be much more happier.

I got great photos too. Took’em with my iPhone. You know what, I would love to test ride every motorcycles and blog’em online. Motorcycles are good for your health, really. It does gives smiling wrinkles on your face a lot.

My heart bleeds Ducati.

On a Saturday afternoon, I managed to demo-ride the new Multistrada 1200 S. The bike wasn’t what I expected as hyped up, heavy, or whichever opinions from my mouth that would negate the new motorcycle. This machine is the sweetest (not one of the sweetest, IT is the SWEETEST) ride of all rides. Quoting like Tolkien wrote on his famous books, this bike is the Motorcycle to Rule All Motorcycles! If you’re a good rider, it’s imperative that you must demo it or, heck, buy it.

Okay, I have list of the sweetest rides I have ridden: Honda Hawk GT650, KTM SuperDuke 990, Ducati Multistrada 1000s (which I have now), Ducati HyperMotard, BMW K1200R, Leo’s Harley Davidson FXDX and KTM SMC 640. I have ridden a lot more bikes but they never do much for me and “Yawn” factor setting were high and I am not going to list them at all. Well, if you ask me which is the worst, the list is short or which is mediocre, the list is long. The worst I’ve ridden was a Harley Davidson Classic Heritage. Possibly the worst of all worst, maybe worst than an Enfield. Okay, Ducati’s new Multistada 1200s is the sweetest of all because it does everything you want it to do for you. It’s a combo of all bikes. Like your favorite smoothie, it’s a mix of my favorite bikes, the craziest D. Hypermotard, the comfy HD FXDX, the 160hp of madness from BMW K1200R, the versatility of the old Multistrada, and the trustworthy of the fabled Honda Hawk GT. Set it to blend it and pour it in a cup, you’ll have the Multistrada 1200s. It’s that awesome!

This bike will be your Swiss Army Knife. Using your left thumb, click and hold the button five second, find a setting that matches the environment you’re at. You’re in NYC, press to Urban then the bike set itself to 100 hp, soften up the rear and front shocks. You’re on a fast sweeping Pacific Coast Highway, press to Sport, the bike growl itself to 150hp, stiffen it’s leg readying to tear the road apart leaving blistering marks. You got a hot woman wanting to go to Vegas on your hot bike as quickly as possible for a weekend of romping, set it to Touring plus two up rider with three hard luggage full of lingeries and sex toys, you two will get there in no time with no complaints. Need to escape a fat-doughnut-eating-highway cop, set it to Enduro and disappear to San Cabos Lucas. Enduro will power down to 100hp and grow long legs.

My experience with this bike is YEOW! Gas it, the rush’s a warp-zone. The seat’s a couch unlike previous Multistrada’s plank seats. The computer dashboard’s an easy read. Starting up the bike is way too easy, keyless, really! Keep your keys in your pocket, walk up to your bike after drinking a espresso and flirting with some hot gal, sit on your bike, push the button and GO! Windscreen’s adjustable, perfect! The bike center of gravity is pure perfection, easily flickable!

Okay okay, I’ll say it… the Ducati Multistrada 1200S is pure perfection!