Mods and Farkles 2: Multistrada Cruise Control

Cruise control for the Multistrada

The Multistrada series 2 was a revolutionary motorcycle when it came out in 2010. But the sophisticated electronics package omitted one of the most convenient rider amenities: cruise control.

When I first test rode the Multistrada back in 2010, I was blown away! It was fabulous in all respects. I was very, very tempted to buy it on the spot. It was the lack of an available cruise control that held the purchase back.

These are my issues:

1. An old shoulder injury results in rapid fatigue to my throttle arm, severely reducing riding enjoyment.
2. The state of Victoria in Australia has a 2kph speed limit grace and the most aggressive policing practises in the free world. Unless you ride with your eyes glued to your speedo, you will run afoul of the hidden speed cameras, or laser equipped, camo-dressed, hidden  traffic police. 

The solution (for me anyway) = cruise control.

My first electronic cruise control was an MCCruise on the FJR; a magnificent improvement over the crude throttle lock alternatives I had used before. (Read more about it here) This was an old-style vacuum operated unit that interfaced mechanically with the throttle linkage. It was reliable and quite effective and a great enhancement to my riding pleasure.

The Multistrada has a ride by wire system so the MCCRuise was just too inelegant a solution. Besides the componentry required (throttle interface unit and vacuum unit) could not be concealed in the Multistrada Sport with its ABS pump and other black boxes taking up every bit of space. The solution had to be digital. So as soon as I discovered that a little Aussie company called Tuneboy had developed a cruise control product that worked, I put the FJR on the market and bought the Multi. 

The Tuneboy works a treat. In the end I opted for the more expensive version that uses an aftermarket set of buttons to provide set/resume and increment/decrement speed functions, just like a car. With this, I use my GPS to give me an accurate 100kph (or whatever); set the cruise control and kill both issues above.  

Once the speed is set, it tracks to within ~2kph. Each nudge of this increment(up) or decrement (down) adjusts the speed by 1 kph. I use this all the time - even if I have a short distance to go, in the city. 
 

Accessory buttons for a dirt-bike doing sterling service for the Tuneboy cruise control
(Supplied as a kit by Tuneboy)

How Ducati let the 2013 Multistrada updated model with twin spark plugs on to the market without this feature mystifies me. A basic but quite functional cruise control function would have been literally some lines of code in the ECU and zero additional hardware. Go figure! 

The Tuneboy does more than just cruise control. It provides a complete EFI tuning system if you are that way inclined (as well as provision for a quickshifter). I used one of Tuneboy's stock tunes for my model Multistrada which cleaned up the stocker's awful cold-blooded low rpm throttle response beautifully; giving me strong, creamy power from ~2,500 rpm - at least 1,500 rpm lower than before. This is a bigger deal than you think on a large capacity twin.

Update 2016: 

I updated the map I was using, a handy feature of the Tuneboy and WOW! It pulls more powerfully than ever before. As a matter of fact, I recently have ridden the 2016 Multistrada DVT and the Multistrada Enduro. There is no doubt that the DVT engine is a lot smoother, but my bike pulls a lot harder from 2,500 - 6,000 rpm. The DVT has a better top end, no question, but you get to use the low end of the rev range much more often.