Ducati Hypermotard

Ducati Hypermotard
Manufacturer	Ducati
Parent company
Production	2007-
Predecessor
Successor
Class	Supermotard
Engine	1100 cc Dual Spark, Desmodromic
Top speed	125mph
Power	90hp
Torque
Transmission
Chassis	Steel trellis
suspension
Brakes	Front: 2 x 305mm discs, 4-piston radial Brembo pistons Rear: 245mm disc
Tires
Rake trail
Wheelbase
Length
Width
Height
Seat height
Dry weight	177kg or 179kg
Wet weight
Fuel capacity
Related
Similar

The Ducati Hypermotard is a Ducati motorcycle designed by Pierre Terblanche and was first seen at the November 2005 EICMA trade show in Milan. The Ducati Hypermotard was awarded "Best of Show" at EICMA and has since won other show awards.

The Hypermotard has a 90hp, 1078cc Dual Spark 'Desmo' aired-cooled L-Twin engine, weighs approx. 180 kg (396 lb) and is capable of speeds in the region of 200km/h or 125mph. Despite the large capacity engine, it is essentially a bike made for having fun at speeds of up to around 80mph; the upright riding position of such 'Supermoto' motorcycles makes speeds of 100mph+ difficult for the rider, mainly due to the lack of protection from wind blast.

The rigidly triangulated Trellis frame wears 50mm Marzocchi R.A.C. upside-down forks, and has a Sachs/ Öhlins remote reservoir shock attached to a strong, single-sided swing arm. The Marchesini racing wheels wear dual radially mounted Brembo four-piston, two-pad brake calipers matched with 305mm discs up front, with 245mm discs and two-piston calipers at the rear.

History

There had been rumours for many years that Ducati would produce a Supermotard class bike, as it had been a growing sector of the market for some years before the launch of the Hypermotard. The eventual unveiling of the Hypermotard was done via a dedicated mini-site, linked-to from the main Ducati website in March 2006. This apparently caused outages of the whole Ducati website, such was the interest in this distinctive-looking motorcycle.

The website asked readers to complete an online survey giving their thoughts on the Hypermotard as well as voting on configurations such as engine size, brakes and their favourite features. The bike was still in a concept form and production of the bike was not guaranteed at the time, but a post to the online Blog of then Ducati CEO Federico Minoli on the 31st March 2006 confirmed that it would indeed go into production and also gave some details of the survey results.

Very few changes were made to the prototype to create the first production version, and quirky features such as the 'duck bill' front fender and handguards which incorporate LED indicators and folding mirrors made it to the final version. Later Blog entries featured some of the concept drawings and these too are incredibly close to the finished machine.

Model Revisions

2007 The first MY07 Hypermotard was available in two configurations: the base '1100' model and the higher specification '1100S' model. The latter model - approximately 15% more expensive - featured a durable low friction DLC (diamond-like carbon) black coating to the front fork sliders, an Öhlins remote reservoir rear shock, the same Brembo Monobloc calipers used on the 1098, lighter forged Marchesini wheels with a red pin-stripe, Pirelli tyres, plus carbon fibre fork protectors, timing belt covers, front fender and tail/ exhaust side panels. These upgrades made for a 2kg weight saving over the base model; 177 kg versus 179 kg.

2008 The MY08 specification remained the same for 2008, but a new colourway of black was introduced for the 'S' model only, making it the first non-red Hypermotard available.

Custom Hypermotards

2007 In November 2007 NCR announced the production 'Leggera', essentially a highly-modified Hypermotard which is over 30 kg lighter and has around 40hp more than the standard bike. It costs several times the asking price of the standard Hypermotard 1100S.

2007 In December 2007 Roland Sands of Roland Sands Design (RSD) was commissioned by Ducati North America to build a custom Hypermotard. The modifications made were mainly cosmetic.

External links

• 2007 Hypermotard at Ducati.com