This Ducati Is The Most Powerful Adventure Bike On Sale In 2025

As the adventure bike market matures, it is pretty clear that customers are starting to care less about performance and more about versatility. Naturally, with this desire for versatility, more and more ADV enthusiasts are choosing middleweight bikes over full-size alternatives. With that, manufacturers have started marketing the more expensive bikes a little differently.

All these heavier, more powerful bikes offer riders a better on-road travel experience, and while they are not quite as capable off-road, they can still go off-road. The lines between adventure bikes, adventure touring bikes, and touring bikes started to blur. Out of this confusion, the crossover motorcycle was born. Unlike the automotive equivalent, which can be a little vanilla, motorcycle crossovers are anything but “vanilla.” Some of these bikes have transcended into something that more closely represents sport touring bikes, but others, like this impressive Ducati, are still off-road capable.

The 170-HP Ducati Multistrada V4 Rally Is The Most Powerful Adventure Bike Today

Ducati

What makes the Garanturismo V4 so interesting is the fact that it is one of the few Ducati engines developed expressly for street use. This is not an engine based on something else, or a recycled superbike engine, but rather a modern powertrain developed for Ducati’s street bike range. A few years back, doing away with desmo valves may have seemed like sacrilege to some Ducatisti, but to others it simply represented a brand moving with the times.

Specifications

Modern valve springs can handle a far greater load than those of the past, which became the driving force behind desmodromic innovation. Today, it is just an expensive, maintenance-heavy system that actually puts some potential buyers off. It still exists in several models, so it hasn’t suddenly gone away forever, either. With 170 horsepower, this is the most powerful engine currently getting situated in an adventure bike. It has also proven reliable over the years it has been in production, and without the dreaded desmo service to worry about, regular service intervals are pegged at 9,000 miles.

The Ducati Multistrada V4 Rally Is Well Loaded

MSRP: $30,595

Ducati 

Power figures are pretty clear-cut, but the definition of what constitutes an adventure bike most certainly is evolving. While the base model Multistrada V4 is most certainly a more street-oriented bike, the Rally lives up to its name and certainly has some off-road capability. For the purposes of this article, we are only considering bikes with either a 19 or 21-inch front wheel as genuine adventure bike competitors.

KTM

The most off-road oriented competitor – by some margin, we might add – is the KTM 1290 Super Adventure R. You could even chuck the S model in, while more street oriented than the R, it will still cope better off-road than most other big ADVs. These bikes offer different features that will appeal to different riders at a much lower cost than the Ducati. The LC8 V-twin could also have more power than the Ducati by simply applying the Super Duke tune, but that would only serve to help it win a spec-sheet war, and certainly wouldn’t make any tangible difference.

BMW Motorrad

Naturally, the BMW R 1300 GS Adventure is still something of the default choice in this segment. Even though it is not quite as powerful as the Ducati, it still has more than enough power to keep up with the other big adventure bikes. Triumph also offers the Tiger 1200 Rally Explorer. It has marginally more power than the BMW, and goes toe to toe with all the other bikes in terms of features. Its triple rounds out an unusual quartet, with all four brands making use of different engine configurations, and all offering a slightly different rider experience.

A Feature-Rich ADV

No Expense Spared

Ducati 

The Multistrada V4 Rally is one of the most advanced motorcycles currently on the market. It quite simply has everything one might imagine a modern motorcycle could possibly be equipped with. In terms of physical features, it has a center stand and luggage. An IMU enables cornering ABS and lean-sensitive traction control. It has ride modes, including an off-road mode which restricts power to 115 horsepower. The bike is also radar-equipped, and with that, you get blind spot monitoring and adaptive cruise control. The list goes on, but the crowning glory has to be the Skyhook suspension.

Ducati has given the big Multi a very sporty aluminum monocoque chassis, and, to go along with that, one of the best semi-active suspension setups. It adjusts to just about any surface, and reacts accordingly to maximize comfort. Like everything else, it is adjustable. Therein lies one minor gripe we have with the bike, not just with the suspension, but with the bike as a whole. This is such an advanced motorcycle that offers an almost endless list of adjustable parameters. If you don’t like “fiddling” with tech, you may well find yourself down the odd rabbit hole at inopportune moments. The more you “fiddle,” the more things can go horribly wrong with your riding experience.

Chassis, Suspension, And Weight Specifications

Ducati

​​​​​​​A motorcycle as advanced as this assumes the rider is equally advanced, and the safest bet for less tech-savvy buyers is to simply rely on the default settings if things get a little hairy. Ideally, the dealer will get the suspension setup for your weight and height before you take delivery of the bike, and at least save those settings for the suspension. If being a little too advanced is the only “fault” we can find, it is safe to say this is a pretty impressive machine, as it should be for over $30k.