Big isn’t always better and, at 6ft 7ins, I should know.
I much prefer the light, agile Triumph Tiger 800 to the heavyweight 1200 Explorer, for example, and the BMW F 850 GS is just as capable of going around the world as its 1250cc big brother.
And I know which I’d rather take off-road in the burning deserts of Baluchibackwardstan.
Which leads me, naturally, to Ballymoney in Northern Ireland, where I was standing outside the Ducati dealers looking at a bunch of happy bikers making their way into Joey’s Bar across the street to pay homage to its former owner, the late great racer.
Sadly, I couldn’t join them for a pint, since I was on a mission.
I’d just been out for a few hours on the Multistrada 1260 S and I was just about to find out how its little brother the 950 S matched up.
In the all-day comfortable saddle, it’s got the same commanding riding position, wide bars, excellent mirrors and fabulous TFT full colour screen with all the information you need stylishly but clearly presented in a happy marriage of form and function.
For simpletons such as yours truly, toggling between the four riding modes – Urban, Touring, Sport and Enduro – is a doddle using a single button on the left bar.
Although, for the geeks among us who like delving into sub-menus, Ducati claims there are 400 different combinations of bespoke riding aids available, including eight levels of traction control and three levels of cornering ABS.
In a nice touch, all the buttons are backlit for finding them easily at night, and cornering headlights look around bends for you.
Ride off, and it’s full of surprises – although it’s only 5kg lighter than the 235kg 1260S and power is 113bhp instead of 158bhp, acceleration even in Touring mode is lusty enough to get you past everything on the road on four wheels and most things on two apart from a sportsbike rider heading for a hot date with a resident magistrate.
Best of all, it makes 80% of maximum torque between 3,500rpm and 9,500rpm, which gives you oodles of usable grunt where you need it most, although it’s slightly vibey at over 7,500rpm, so there’s no point thrashing it to death.
Even more surprising, though, is the handling, which even with a 19in front wheel, is significantly more agile than that of the 1260 S, allowing you to fling it into corners with point-and-shoot precision.
As you’ll know from Dr Furtwangler’s Theory of Wheel Sizes, smaller front wheels usually mean sharper handling, the one exception being older scooters with wheels the size and cornering characteristics of dinner plates.
But not in this case, particularly since I also found the semi-active suspension better on the 950 S than the 1260 S, which on a couple of occasions barrelling into corners too hot, showed a disturbing tendency to want to go straight on.
Weird, although never a real problem, with cornering ABS and both front and rear brakes having fabulously progressive bite and feel.
The S model comes with a quickshifter which, as on the 1260 S, is a work of genius, although slightly less seamless when downshifting, whereas on the standard 950 you’ll have to endure the unendurable hardship of using the clutch.
Still, it’s important to keep these traditional skills alive, although on the S, you won’t even need to be a black belt in riding off uphill from a standing start, since it’s got a clever hill-start gizmo.
On the 1260 S, I’d found Touring mode the best combination of performance and smoothness, but on the 950 S, Sport lets you make the most of the engine rather than the engine making the most of you, as it does on the bigger bike.
For touring, you should get at least 200 miles out of the 20-litre tank, and if your bladder lasts for 200 miles, I salute you.
In short, it looks as good as the 1260 S, accelerates just as satisfyingly, handles better and is four grand cheaper. Sorted.
Test bike supplied by Millsport Motorcycles www.phillipmccallen.com/
The Facts
Price: Standard £11,755; S £13,355
Engine: 937cc liquid-cooled V-twin
Power: 113bhp @ 9,000rpm
Torque: 71 lb ft @ 7,750rpm
Colours: Red; grey
