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Long ago, before we built roads or even drew borders, the planet was at the mercy of giants — towering, untamed, and terrifying. They roamed where they pleased, ruled as they wished, and bowed to no one. Even today, some still exist — not in flesh and bone, but in alloy frames and a pulse of combustion. We like to believe we’ve tamed them, but in their most feral — or rather, natural — form, they can still send us straight to our ancestors. The Ducati Multistrada V4 Rally is one such beast. And like the first men who stood beneath open skies and stared into the eyes of monsters, I tried to tame this one.

It didn’t take me long to understand that this is not going to be an easy one. After all, the Rally was bred for one purpose — to take down the long-standing king from Bavaria… the one that’s been casting its shadow across every continent for years. The already menacing-looking V4 now looked even more predatory — a taller and wider windscreen, longer-travel suspension, and the massive 30-litre fuel tank turned it into something that wouldn’t just conquer terrain but consume it.

It towered over me like it knew it had the upper hand. I threw a leg over anyway — maybe not entirely out of courage, but because turning back felt worse. From the saddle, it didn’t feel all that intimidating — my feet reached the ground easily, the handlebar was wide enough and I didn’t feel the 238-kg heft (wet, without fuel) even with the 30-litre fuel tank filled up. Was it going to be this easy? Of course not. Moving it around required Herculean strength, but thankfully I had the 1158cc Granturismo V4 powerhouse to do my bidding.

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And the moment the engine came to life, everything around fell silent — even with the stock exhaust, the deep grumble felt like a stern warning to the world to stay clear of its path and everyone obliged — and how!

We set off, expecting the rear Pirelli Scorpion Trail tyre to fling mud, grass and leave gnarly signs of the aftermath, but instead, the tyre just spun, struggling to chew through the grass and clay while the traction control worked overtime. This wasn’t what I expected, so I carefully passed through the grasslands leading to the rocky, hard-packed trail. While crawling to the trail, the Granturismo engine showed etiquettes of a proper trail bike. It didn’t feel jumpy or eager at sub-20-kph speeds, allowing me smoothly make my way through tightest of technical sections. And then, it was time for the second attempt.

This time, the tyre latched onto the gravely-road, the wheelie control trying its best to keep the front wheel on the ground… I was doing the same speeds that I would do on tarmac on the trail, with the bike crushing anything that dared to even exist in its path. And until I let go of the throttle, the front was barely touching the ground. In my pursuit of speed, I might have even emptied a puddle or two, but the bike showed no signs of remorse or slowing down.

All this while in Touring mode with the power set to ‘mid’. The full-power Sport mode turned it into a sportsbike on stilts flashing unspeakable speeds on the 6.5 inch TFT display. And somehow, the chassis was ready to comply with all the ‘non-ADV’ stuff I subjected it to. On the trails, the fully-electronic Skyhook suspension munched on every bump and undulations, and on the tarmac, made me feel like I was on a completely different motorcycle.

Yes, it felt a bit top-heavy at times, but the way the tank tapered into the seat made it surprisingly easy to ‘grip it and rip it’. In fact, everything on the Multistrada seemed to be built around the same philosophy — to go ballistic without worrying too much about the consequences. Take the windscreen, for instance: even at its lowest setting, it deflected windblast with ease; and at its tallest, it felt more like a car windshield, shrugging off rain and spray from vehicles ahead like it was nothing.

Then there’s the whole radar shebang — I am not a fan of cruise control on motorcycles, but the adaptive cruise control was fascinating for the few minutes I used it. But the blind-spot alert on the mirrors? That was something. I almost never had to look into the mirrors to check on vehicles around — the flashing lights on the stalks indicated who was coming too close for comfort. Of course, people couldn’t take their eyes off the Multi and those who saw the blind-sport alert mistook it for an indicator, either slowing down or moving away, giving me more room to disappear into the horizon.

And whenever I approached a signal or a car, respectful gazes were a given. But the terror? That was just a bonus. And I don’t blame them. When something that ferocious stares at you, the last thing you do is stare back. But some courageous few did come close… only to ask the wrong question — how much does it cost?

The Rs. 30-lakh price tag (ex-showroom) had them gasp, as if the sheer presence of the thing wasn’t already intimidating enough. Was it too much, though? Not for something that looks like it could outrun time zones and outmuscle tectonic plates. In the end, I didn’t tame the beast. I merely held on long enough to understand it. The Multistrada V4 Rally doesn’t demand your skill — it demands your intent. It will test how far you’re willing to go when everything around you blurs and disappears. Because this isn’t a motorcycle that just covers ground — it devours it. One continent at a time, if you let it. And the longer you ride, the more you realise: it doesn’t care who you are, where you’re from, or what roads you’ve ridden before. All it asks is one thing — can you keep up?

Long ago, men stood beneath open skies and faced monsters made of flesh and fury. Today, the monsters run on fuel and fury — and the Multistrada V4 Rally is one of the few still brave enough to carry that legacy forward.