BikeTest/Ducati Hypermotard 1100S:The Hypermotard comes into its own on country roads and the track, writes Conor Twomey
Never was a bike so aptly named as the Ducati Hypermotard 1100S. We all expected the Italian company's first-ever supermoto to be something special but I don't think anyone was prepared for this. It is the single most hyperactive, exhausting and exhilarating bike I can ever remember riding.
So what is it about the Hypermotard that makes it so hyper? Everything, basically. The throttle response, for example, is electric, with a whole lump of the 1078cc Desmo V-Twin's 104Nm of torque available at little more than tickover (maximum torque is available at just 4,750rpm).
Apply a little too much throttle before letting out the hair-trigger clutch and you'll end up on your back wheel where the Hypermotard is happy to stay for a surprising amount of time.
A mere touch of the 1098's four-piston monobloc Brembo brakes is all that's required to haul it down from big speeds and it's so sensitive you have to acclimatise yourself to their sharpness, lest you start pulling involuntary stoppies.
The rear brake is a lot less sensitive but no less effective at locking the wheel, making lurid slides easy to achieve.
Riding the Ducati Hypermotard is a surprisingly physical undertaking, requiring the rider to slide up and down the saddle to put weight where it's needed.
Approaching a corner, the rider slides forward into the tank, hanging a cheek off the saddle and maybe poking a foot out to tip the bike in.
On exit he slides back again to help get the weight over the rear wheel or, alternatively, he can stay where he is and crack open the throttle to break the back end loose.
My test bike had its pegs adjusted to suit track riding, which meant I spent most of my time pressed against the tank fighting for rear wheel traction in the wet.
It's not that it's unpredictable or uncontrollable - anything but - it's just that it's absolutely exhausting to ride hard. You have to be ready to respond every single time you make any kind of input because there aren't many bikes quite so sensitive to actions of the rider or the road beneath.
To be fair to the Hypermotard, it has one of the most communicative chassis in all of bikedom.
It's a long time since I can remember riding a bike that was quite so lucid in describing how it and the road surface were getting along.
Even in the wet, you know exactly where the limits are and just how much you can push it, although that also has the effect of causing a surge of adrenaline when the rock-hard Marzocchi shocks (again, these were on their stiffest setting for track riding) skip over a bump and throw the bike off course by a couple of centimetres.
It never gets out of shape, you understand. It's just that you feel every single micron of movement, even the not-so-enjoyable stuff other bikes normally filter out.
In the mundane stuff, the Hypermotard is really no fun at all. Sure, it zips through traffic very effectively but it doesn't have much steering lock and the bars are a smidge too wide for carving through traffic. It doesn't help that the mirrors are tacked on to the ends of the bars, but there is a kit available to move them to a more conventional location.
On the motorway, too, the Hypermotard is tiresome, leaving the rider battered by the elements and bobbing along on its stiff suspension so much he can never relax. It's also a bit breathless at higher revs and very prone to crosswinds.
But on a good country road or, better yet, the track, the Hypermotard is in another league, bucking and sliding and kicking about like nothing else I've ever ridden.
It's a bike that takes a lot of time and/or a high degree of skill to get the most from, but for those riders who love these types of bikes, it doesn't get any better.
Personally, while I acknowledge that it's great at what it is, for me it's just too focused for everyday use and too much work on our slimy, poorly surfaced roads.
While it exhilarated and enthralled me every second I was on it, it also sapped me of all my energy and left my nerves a little frayed, too.
Ducati's own description of the Hypermotard probably sums it up best: "The Ducati Hypermotard 1100S. When too much is what you need."
Factfile
ENGINE:1,078cc air-cooled, 2-valve, four-stroke V-twin
PERFORMANCE:top speed: 198km/h; output: 90hp @ 7,750rpm, 104Nm @ 4,750rpm; transmission: 6-speed gearbox, dry clutch
FRAME:Tubular steel trellis frame
DIMENSIONS:length: 2,120mm, wheelbase: 1,455mm, seat height 845mm
WEIGHT:177kg dry
SUSPENSION:front: 50mm USD adjustable Marzocchi forks; rear: aluminium single-sided swingarm, adjustable Öhlins monoshock
WHEELS:Marchesini five-spoke alloy wheels, 17" front and rear
TYRES:Bridgestone BT014: Front 120/70 ZR17, Rear 180/55 ZR 17
BRAKES:4-piston Brembo calipers, double 305 mm front discs; 2-piston Brembo caliper 245mm single rear disc
PRICE:Hypermotard 1100S €15,500 (Hypermotard 1100 €13,500)