Is Ducati working on a V4-powered version of the Multistrada adventure bike? According to the Facebook video below, the answer seems to be “Yes.”

Given Ducati’s love for recycling technology, this isn’t surprising. Nothing gets thrown away with Ducati; the Bologna plant is somewhat like a sausage factory, in that respect. The old air-cooled L-twin engines are still powering the Scrambler and Monster lines, and that pattern follows all the way through to its newest engines. As soon as an engine debuts in a Ducati superbike, you can expect it to trickle down to other models in due time. The V4 has already been confirmed for a new Streetfighter model (Carlin Dunne was racing a prototype when he crashed at Pikes Peak). It’s unsurprising that Ducati would also want to put it into its halo adventure bike.

So what would a Multistrada V4 look like? Aside from the visuals seen in the footage above, we could likely expect some changes to the engine tuning. The Panigale V4 makes 215 hp, and it’s hard to imagine Ducati wanting to pack that power into a machine that’s intended for use on rough roads or possibly even gravel. Expect the power delivery to focus more on torque, less on high-end horsepower. It’s even possible Ducati could change the displacement (the Panigale version of the V4 has 1,103 cc displacement), but that’s hardly a certainty at this point.

Ducati would likely keep some form of V-twin Multistrada in the lineup, with an emphasis on more offroad capability for that machine. The new V4-powered bike would instead be likely to compete with the likes of the BMW S1000XR or Kawasaki Versys 1000, as a machine with minimal adventure capability, but plenty of long-distance comfort.

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