Almost everybody's got one: a road that stands out in their mental Rolodex of two-wheeled experiences, a personal stretch of undulating asphalt where everything just seems to click together.

It might be a series of curves a half-hour from your home. It might be the road where you learned to ride decades ago. Or it might be states, countries, even continents away. If you don't have one yet, there's no need to get your Under Armour in a bunch. Ride long enough, and far enough, and you will.

But what, you might ask, should I ride on the way? Quite possibly one of these two all-purpose, universally capable motorcycles. 'Cause you'll need a machine comfortable and versatile enough to manage the not-so-secret roads along the way.

And when you get there-well, your mount needs to kick butt. It needs the usable power and the sportbike chassis chops to make the trip worthwhile, without sacrificing go-anywhere, do-anything range, comfort and versatility.

It's a little depressing to equate these two go-anywhere, do-anything machines with SUVs, their suburb-choking, CO2-spewing, four-wheeled doppelgangers. But two-wheeled SUVs are what the Tiger and the Multistrada are: adventure-touring motorcycles with the look and feel, if not the actual off-road capability, of much tougher, more back-country-ready machines.

OK, maybe Porsche SUVs. Because both these bikes have essentially abandoned their off-road pretensions by dint of their wide, street-spec 17-inch wheels. These allow use of the latest, stickiest rubber-and also allow expert riders to send sportbike-mounted racer boys home muttering to themselves, their tailsections tucked between their legs.

The original 1000cc Multistrada opened to rave reviews from riders, even though its funky, Pierre-Terblanche-meets-Robots-the-movie styling gave pause to some observers. It quickly became one of Ducati's best-selling models, hitting the sweet spot of casual comfort, performance, Italian cachet, tourability and usability.

There were a few medflies in the mechanical marinara, however. The original Multi's dry clutch made it noisy and quirky to ride in-town, and the high Rockwell hardness of its thin seat often made draining the 5.3-gallon fuel tank an exercise in pain tolerance.

For 2007, the fine folks at Ducati seem to have done an amazing thing: They listened, if not to us then to their legions of dedicated owners. The lovely 992cc Desmodue Dual Spark engine has been punched out to 1078cc via a 4mm bore increase, raising peak output by a claimed 3 horsepower. The real story, though, is the torque curve, where there are now an additional 8 lb.-ft. arriving 250 rpm earlier. That's a pretty substantial improvement, making an engine that was already a torquer into a real, um, monster.

The seat is pumped up in similar fashion. It's the previously optional Comfort seat, though comfort in the Ducati world is a relative thing. The conventional tubular handlebar is now rubber-mounted, helping to keep your hands and mirrors stationary when the engine is not. Speaking of hands, your left one will get less of a workout thanks to the new wet clutch, which offers a lighter pull and more consistent engagement. It's quieter, too.

Meanwhile in the other corner, the Tiger 1050 is absolutely new, from its lightweight, cast-aluminum frame and swingarm to its bodywork and 17-inch front wheel stopped by radial-mount Nissin front brake calipers. The styling is a huge improvement over its bulbous, droop-jowled predecessor, the silly tiger-stripe motif that used to make a goofy-looking motorcycle look even goofier fading into a bad memory.

The new design is crisp, contemporary and functional, with nicely faired cheek pods and a well-defined, frame-mounted fairing putting a much more attractive face on what is essentially the same upright, highly tourable riding position. The blacked-out engine's 6.4mm stroke increase puts the Tiger on par, displacement-wise, with the current 1050 Sprint and Speed Triple.A single exhaust can drops 11 bhp from Sprint spec, but Triumph offers an accessory muffler that allegedly gives back those 11 horses. The penalty in extra noise will, however, make most sensible Tiger riders keep the stock muffler-and their eardrums.

The new frame is designed for asphalt use only, and its 23.2-degree rake is much more in line with conventional sportbike practice than the previous Tiger's chopperesque 25.8-degree caster.

Both of these sit-up-and-ride machines make truly stellar urban commuters, with the visibility to see over, around and through traffic, the wide handlebars needed to make quick, cut-and-thrust maneuvers and the instantly accessible power required to fill a shrinking slot in traffic.

The Ducati's riding position feels odd at first. The tubular bar has almost no sweepback, so you feel as if you're riding on the front edge of the seat. One adapts quickly, though, and the compliant, well-sorted suspension, great brakes, sticky tires and excellent throttle response let you slither through rush-hour traffic like a rattler through a rabbit hutch.

The Tiger's riding stance feels exactly right, right out of the box. Its roomier cockpit dimensions suit a wide range of humans, its seat is one of the best we've squashed, and the stronger power from its lusty, liquid-cooled, three-cylinder engine lends it an aura of in-town omnipotence. The Nissin radial front brakes are as powerful and predictable as one could want, and the whole package has the overall feeling of smoothness and refinement more readily associated with BMW or Honda. It's a very nicely engineered piece.

There are, however, two out-of-place maggots in the marmalade. The first is suspension action: The springs at both ends are too soft for anyone but tiny jockeys with lots of time on their tiny hands. One of our test riders bottomed the fork before he even left the Motorcyclist garage, and bottoming the shock was a frequent occurrence with the stock settings. We quickly dialed up both ends to maximum preload, but the problem persisted. Even with preload all the way up, and every damping adjustment (rebound and compression up front, rebound in back) set to near maximum, the suspenders stayed loose and only marginally controlled. On smooth pavement, with a smooth rider, the Tiger showed us its potential, but if you're going to buy one and you weigh more than 150 pounds, figure on an appointment with your favorite suspension tuner.

The second glitch is a lean spot just off idle that makes opening the throttle smoothly an exercise in fine motor control. This problem was worse in lower gears, with higher revs, and it seemed to vary from day to day and ride to ride, for no obvious reason we could ascertain. It may be that the injection mapping is right on the edge of too lean at idle, so that the smallest variations in air density, humidity, etc., cause a disproportionate change in behavior. Either that, or we were hallucinating. Wouldn't be the first time...

Once free of the city, the Triumph began to, well, triumph. It's one of the best long-haul sport-tourers we've ever sampled, with a truly great seat, a smooth, vibration-free engine and near-perfect riding position. The half-fairing leaves one's head and shoulders out in the windblast, but it's a clean, turbulence-free current. Make sure you have fresh earplugs and you're golden.

The Ducati is fine here, just a little less tolerable than the Barcalounger Tiger. Vibration is well-controlled, the mirrors usable, the riding position agreeable and the suspension action pain-free. The Multi's fuel mileage would give Al Gore a chubby: We're accustomed to seeing mileage in the high 30s and low 40s, but the Ducati routinely scored in the high 40s and low 50s, and on one particularly long, frugal freeway run it racked up 58 miles per very expensive gallon. With its 5.3-gallon capacity, that means you can theoretically squeeze over 300 miles from each partially underseat tankful, and ensures you'll be able to routinely make 250 if you behave yourself.

The Tiger, with its more-common 40-mpg average, will need a drink every 180 miles or so. Like the Ducati, its electronic display measures fuel flow and predicts range, making for great fun after fill-ups. Gas it away from the station and the system predicts a 190- to 195-mile range. Keep your gear selection high and your speed and throttle opening low, and the predicted range will then steadily increase-201, 202, 203-so the farther you go, the more range you get. After all these years, Triumph has not just made a nice sport-touring bike, it's created perpetual motion!

OK. We've suffered through the city and flogged along the freeway. It's Secret Road time. Ours is a private, though publicly accessible, nearly hidden, paved accidental motocross course about 45 minutes from our Los Angeles office. Hint: It connects two roads whose first letters are K and L. If we told you any more-well, it wouldn't be a secret, now would it?

Out here, with only the red-tailed hawks watching, the Ducati simply rules. If you live for corners, this is your machine. It's precise, purposeful, smooth and brutally capable, and the new 1078cc engine is simply brilliant in any corner-rich environment below, say, 80 mph. The old-school, air-cooled, two-valve engine has always been a favorite of ours, with its amazingly usable power and nearly flawless throttle response, and the new oversized version delivers more of the same. While other, peakier engines need time to spool up coming out of corners, this one just rocks and rolls, making valuable time from the apex on.

The Triumph's extra horsepower should theoretically help its cause, and it is a wonderful, lusty, torquey mill in its own right. But the Tiger's floppy suspension lets it down here. This liquid-cooled triple weighs about the same as the air-cooled twin, but it feels much heavier in practice. And the Tiger's throttle hesitation adds one more obstacle to rapid progress.

In the quick corner reversals and transitions of our Secret Road-and just about any other twisty road we can imagine-the Ducati's accessible, rider-friendly chassis and usable power make it a real contender. Its upright, far-forward seating position works beautifully, helping to keep the front wheel down and delivering loads of feedback on corner entry. The Multi's easy-twist shock spring preload knob and full damping adjustability let you dial it in to your exact preferences quickly and easily. Its offbeat styling and upright stance gives it an aura of 40-Year-Old Virgin, but in the heat of combat it's all Boogie Nights, baby.

The Triumph, on the other hand, is more of a lover than a fighter. All the elements for a great snotty-road scratcher are present, but it needs one more round of development-certainly stiffer springs and perhaps a suspension revalve-for its potential to come through.

So, the Duc wins by a beak on the strength of its amazing all-around capability. It doesn't just do it all, it does it all as well as most specialist machines in their fields of expertise. But the Tiger is also a highly desirable motorcycle. Its top-shelf ergonomics, long-haul tourability, muscular engine and high level of overall refinement make it a very viable choice. If your riding habits tend more toward commuting and sport-touring than dragging exhaust shields on Racer Road, the Triumph may well be a better fit. It's one of those rare machines that makes you want to climb on and keep riding, hour after hour, day after day. MC

Off The Record

Jim Soldera
Age: 40+
Height: 5' 7"
Weight: 140 lb.
Inseam: 33 in.

I've got short legs, and while the Triumph Tiger has nice ergos and a cushy seat, it's a stretch to the ground. The brakes, engine and transmission feel quite refined, but I never found a suspension setting that gave me confidence in the tires.

The Ducati Multistrada fit me better. It isn't a 1098, but I had more fun on this bike in the canyons. It has easy controls, but it's also got the thinly padded seat typical of Ducatis and a windscreen that made my helmet jostle around. That wouldn't be much fun on a long ride.

Sorry to say, but as the owner of a BMW GS, I still feel I made the right choice. It's the one bike to have if you can only have one bike.

Brian Catterson
Age: 45
Height: 6' 1"
Weight: 215 lb.
Inseam : 34 in

No contest here, I'll take the Ducati. Not because the Triumph isn't a great motorcycle, because it is, with a soul-stirring (if subdued) growling/howling exhaust note. It just feels a little too refined (read: bland) for my tastes. That's been the knock against Hondas for a while, so at least the British firm is in good company.

You certainly can't say that about the Ducati. The Multistrada 1100 may feel refined when judged against its 1000cc predecessor, with a much better-acting wet clutch, but it's a hairy-chested beast compared to the Tiger. Maybe the two should swap names-they could call it the Darmah like back in the '70s.

Triumph Tiger 1050 Price: $10,699 ($11,499 W/Abs)

Hard Parts

Chassis
An all-new perimeter frame and swingarm, welded up from cast-aluminum sections, makes the new Tiger a feline of a different frequency. The head angle is pulled back to a conventional 23.2 degrees, and the fully adjustable 43mm Showa inverted fork and preload- and rebound-adjustable shock allow a reasonable amount of setup flexibility. The front wheel is now a street-conventional 17-incher, replacing the previous incarnation's slightly more dirt-capable 19-incher.Four-pistonNissin radial calipers deliver Superbike-spec velocity attenuation.

Engine
The new Tiger gets the 1050cc mill we've seen before in the Speed Triple and Sprint; its 6.4mm stroke increase cranks out more torque, but its peak horsepower production is restrained by a single exhaust can. Not to worry: The Tiger is plenty strong in its own right, 20 horses up on the Ducati, and there's an optional, high-power, high-noise can that'll give back about 10 of those ponies.

Luggage
Like the 'Strada, the Tiger can be fitted with optional hard-case bags. The single exhaust can intrudes into the right box, limiting its capacity. They're hard to figure out, but reasonably functional once you do.

Cockpit
Welcome to one of the most comfortable, user-friendly cockpits in the biz. The cushy seat is among the best ever sculpted, the wide bar puts the grips right in your grasp and the small fairing directs the air around your torso, giving you a smooth (if noisy) blast of air till the 5.3-gallon fuel tank runs dry. Speaking of which, the gauge cluster includes instant fuel consumption, average fuel use and projected range, giving you something to mess with as you inhale the miles.

Ergos
Like the Multistrada, the Tiger boasts a ton of cockpit room, including slightly more handlebar rise, a bit less set-to-bar reach and nearly 20 inches of seat-to-peg room, just .7 inch less than the Multistrada's 20.5 inches. Along with a superb seat, a butter-smooth engine and a highly effective fairing, the Tiger is a superb place to spend the day, especially with fit, finish and refinement scores rivaling those of BMW or Honda.

Tech Spec
Price: $10,699 ($11,499 w/ABS)
Engine type: l-c inline triple
Valve train: DOHC, 12v
Displacement: 1050cc
Bore x stroke: 71.0 x 71.4mm
Compression: 12.0:1
Fuel system: EFI
Clutch: Wet, multi-plate
Transmission: 6-speed
Frame: Twin-spar aluminum
Front suspension: 43mm inverted fork, adjustable for spring preload, rebound and compression damping
Rear suspension: Single shock, adjustable for spring preload, rebound damping
Front brake: Dual four-piston radial calipers, 320mm discs
Rear brake: Two-piston caliper, 255mm disc
Front tire: 120/70-ZR17 Michelin Pilot Power
Rear tire: 180/55-ZR17 Michelin Pilot Power
Rake/trail: 23.2o/3.5 in.
Seat height: 32.8 in.
Wheelbase: 59.4 in.
Fuel capacity: 5.2 gal.
Weight (tank full): 512 lbs.
Weight (tank empty): 481 lbs.
Measured horsepower: 102.1 bhp @ 9350 rpm
Measured torque: 63.0 lb.-ft. @ 4350 rpm
Corrected 1/4-mile: 11.75 sec. @ 115.37 mph
Top gear roll-on 60-80 mph: 3.15 sec.
Fuel mileage (high/low/avg.): 42/36/40 mpg
Colors: Yellow, Blue, White, Black
Available: Now
Warranty: 24 months, unlimited mi.
Contact: Triumph Motorcycles Limited
385 Walt Sanders Dr., St. 100, Newnan, GA 30265
678.854.2010
www.triumphmotorcycles.com

Dyno
You want linear power? The Tiger owns the term, with quite possibly the least-pockmarked power trace we've ever seen. The new triple makes grunt everywhere: nearly 60 bhp at 5000 rpm, 70 at 6000 and nearly 103 at the engine's 9350-rpm power peak. And with a nearly flat torque curve that shows 60-plus lb.-ft. from 3500 all the way to 9000 rpm (!), getting the most from this mill is as easy as wheelying a Speed Triple.