MOTUS: New Sport Tourer built in Alabama

+1

Americans don't like naked bikes. Street fighters never sold well here. Europeans on the other hand love those. Stripping the fairing off the base bike won't do much to lower the $31000 price.

No it isn't. That's the dry weight, despite what Ducati likes to claim on their website. One of the US mags weighed one. Still a light bike...but not that light.

My SMT is that light wet with a full tank though (I've weighed it). After pushing both around I can also say the SMT is definitely lighter.

I'm with you though...I'd take either over the Motus...even though I think the Motus is cool.

The disappointment I feel, and maybe others too, is that the carrot just got pushed too far out of reach. It's a unique bike that was intriguing enough to make me think...hmm... what if they they're still in business in a year or two and the base bike is $25K? I just might be in the market. Now though, the amount that would be a real stretch at 25k is blown out of the water. I enjoy sport touring bikes and like a lightweight and powerful one. I have a Multi 1200 and love it. They charge what they have to charge to make money, but they've missed the price point to stay in business IMO. First year, yes...long term doubtful.

Still though, it's a false argument to say you can buy 3 brand XYZ bikes for this and they make as much power, or they have ABS or whatever. The guys who are in the market for this bike aren't comparing it to XYZ. The same arguments have been made in letters to Car & Driver and other mags for years when people say something like "I can buy 13 Camaros for the price of that F40, the buyers must be stupid!"

I've got a marvelous idea so these bikes will sell: Sell the rights to Polaris, paint it bright red, slap "Indian" on the side and voila! New Indian 4!

And what magazine would that be? The MS1200 has been measured all over the place in the last two years, the weight was always around 480 lbs. wet, fully fueled.

Are you sure you are not thinking of the "touring S" version with both bags, top box and center stand on? That one, also fully fueled, comes up to about the same as the MTS (claimed) wet weight.

I'm waiting for someone to report that they slide forward on the seat, right onto their SCROTUS.

And right after that, I ran over a nail and the tire done BLOWTUS.

that hotus blowtus

So the Motus thread has been reduced to Life of Brian... Bigus Dickus.

A quick search turned up these offerings on the Multi's test weight:

Owner thread on another forum: one owner measured 520lbs with full tank, incl. bracket for top-box (but no box or bags); another measured 480lbs with three-quarter tank.

Motorcyclist magazine comparison with GS: 518lbs with full tank; 486lbs with tank empty. Clues in the text suggest that is with factory panniers fitted (but empty). [The GS weighed in at 569lbs/537lbs.]

Motorcycle USA adventure tourer comparo: 561lbs wet with bags, which in the pics incl. top-box. ("Only 3 lbs lighter than the BMW", which in pics did not have a top-box, so the methodology here somewhat doubtful).

Of course, nobody has had a Motus on the scale yet AFAIK apart from the builders. Difficult to believe it is only 10-20lbs up on the Multistrada.

Yeah - that is what I thought... those are all touring versions and they have a bunch of extra metal brakets and a centerstand - remove them and you've got around 480 lbs. A whole bunch of magazines around the world tested the bike over the last two years...

When you consider everything the MS1200 S has and the Motus does not it is just damn impressive what Ducati has been able to achieve.

One more thing - I have not seen a catalytic converter in any of the Motus pics (a major source of added weight).

I remember reading their goal was to be emission-compliant without a cat in virtue of the direct injection system - now that they are doing FI are they going to have to fit a cat just to be street legal?

Yes

If I was going to blow 30 large on a bike me.

I can cruise around just fine on my 12 year old Speed Triple and I already have a track bike, so I can go either way.

Are you sure about that? Everybody is selling them here, in multiple models and sizes. I'm sure the Sport touring market here is FAAAARRRR smaller the naked bike market in the US.

Ah yes, I see your point. And it's a good one.

i was heading in a different direction. I'm a bit handicapped here by unfamiliarity with US price points, but it occurs to me that there are bikes out there comparable in price with the Motus, which seem to sell in Motus numbers.

I am thinking "R" version Ducati superbikes, the BMW HP2S, Bimotas, etc.

Or as you say, the Panigale tri at $US28K is just about there.

The observation that you could get similar performance from a run-of-the-line second-hand Japanese Superbike for a third of the price doesn't faze these buyers.

Which is fine, if that is what you are looking for.

It seems to me Motus is claiming to offer something equally valuable to people looking, to the exclusion of other options, for a sporty tourer (with comfortable pillion capacity).

Saying you'd get a Panigale instead just means you are not one of those people.

The monkey in the room being that Sport-touring is a niche-of-a-niche market.

So great the bike is relatively light, pretty sporty and pretty comfortable. Other than being made in America what sets this bike apart? I can put bags and Ohlins suspension on a ZX-14 and keep the price under 20,000 bucks and the bike will weight the same, have a 50HP RWHP advantage and be as comfortable.....and is more likely to still be in business in 10 years.

So I hope they make a fortune selling that motor to Indy Car or something. I'm not sure how they are going to sell those bikes. They are cool enough but there are too many special conditions.

Their entire model is based around finding 300 fanatical patriots that have 30 grand to throw around for the sake of exclusivity, and that enjoy sport touring.

How many Hayden's are there, again?

Maybe if they sell 200 of them in a year, they can drop the price $2-5K and sell 300, then drop the price another $2-5K, etc.

I'm holding out for this kind of thinking...

However, I can't afford one until the price comes down to less than $10K so it doesn't make a difference to me

Maybe they can cut that V4 in half in put in a smaller bike called the MOT.