New engine plus minor tweaks for Ducati’s streetfighting supermotard

Ducati’s Hypermotard has been one of the wildest machines about for nearly a decade now. A super-skinny, minimalist mental-moto had a simple formula when launched in 2007 – a grunty V-twin motor in a super-narrow chassis, standing proud on long-travel suspension, with road-biased wheels, tyres and brakes. The original bike would wheelie for Italy, and had a glorious lack of manners. Even the mildest of commuters suddenly transformed into an extra from Mad Max every time they got on the first Hypermotard, and the later 1100 Evo version was even more crackers.

But Ducati’s come up with an all new family of ‘motards for 2016 – the basic Hypermotard 939, a tricked-up SP version, and a touring-friendly street version, the Hyperstrada. Like many of the new bikes you’re seeing this season, the new 939 has been brought about by the latest European emissions regulations – Euro IV. That ratcheting of regs has ruled out the old (but very decent) 821 engine, necessitating a switch to a new, cleaner design. The new engine is bigger, up to 937cc, and while it puts out much the same peak power, there’s stacks more torque in the midrange. Nearly 18 per cent more according to the technical presentation in fact – a stat I was keen to explore in more detail.

Luckily, we were just about to head out on track and find out. Ducati launched the bikes near Barcelona – not on the Montmelo F1 track, sadly, but on the much-better-suited Parcmotor Castelloli circuit near Montserrat. This was good in some ways – it’s a lively little up-and-down track, ideal for testing the middleweight-powered Hypermotard, rather than the mega-fast big-bhp circuit at Catalunya. It was also designed with help from Alex Criville, Toni Elias and Carlos Checa apparently. On the other hand, the hills round Castelloli are currently teeming with rain from the torrential downpours last night. There are small rivers flowing across the racing lines, the air temperature is hovering above ‘fridge’ level at six degrees, and the forecast is for more rain all day.

Best get on with it then eh? The one saving grace comes in the form of some extremely welcome Pirelli racing wet tyres, gently broiling away under the Ducati tyre warmers. I’ve not ridden full wets for a while, but am really looking forward to having a go, especially when the warmers come off, and I stick an experimental thumbnail into the tread compound. Gorgeously soft and sticky, like a huge, black, round, Haribo, they fill me with confidence as I leap into the stupidly-high seat of the Hypermotard SP I’m riding. We’re all on SPs for the track ride – this is the taller, fancy version of the bike which comes with full Öhlins suspension, forged Marchesini rims and carbon/magnesium weight saving bits everywhere. We’ve also got optional Termignoni race silencers, so we’re giving it the full Ride of the Valkyries thunder up and down Castelloli’s hills on the warmup lap.

Sighting run over, and we’re let out from pitlane one at a time. The Parcmotor track is built on the side of a hill, and there’s a 70 metre gradient from top to bottom. It’s also got a crossover underpass, like Suzuka, meaning you get a great balance of lefts and rights, as well as fast/slow bends, and a fairly decent half-kilometre-plus back straight. It’s a decent width too, and an excellent backdrop to try out the Hypermotard.

The immediate impression is all about the Pirelli rubber though. It’s a fair few years since I let rip on a soaked, freezing track with proper wets on, and it was a revelation. Of course, the first problem is persuading yourself that it’s all okay. But the feedback and grip from the tyres is so encouraging that I’m soon into the groove: pushing hard on the brakes into bends, and feeding power in sooner and sooner on the way out. Of course, the ABS and traction control systems provide a safety net of sorts, but as one Swiss journo showed when he ended up in the gravel, there are no guarantees. Nevertheless, there’s no pulsing at the front Brembo lever, or flashing from the traction control lights, so I feel happy to keep pushing.

The grip and feel from the tyres may be faultless, but there’s a price to pay, in terms of stability. There are some bumpy sections from car racing on the Parcmotor surface, and one strip in particular coincides with a full-gas line up hill. The Hypermotard gives a good old head shake every time: not quite a tankslapper, but then not far off one either. Certainly enough to make you throttle off for an instant to let things calm down a bit. Now, I’m giving the Hypermotard a bit of the benefit of the doubt here: we’d not had time to fiddle with suspension setup to go with the wets, and the Ducati techs did reckon there was more stability on the stock SuperCorsa SP rubber. Having said that, one journo I spoke to who rode the bike on a dry day still reported the headshakes, so maybe something to watch for.

That one shaky spot aside, the rest of the track session is a proper hoot. Of course there are wheelies (although none in front of the snappers it seems, booh!) – the Hypermotard properly makes them easy. Hoisting the front on the way out of a first or second gear bend is a breeze, and keeping it up into third, fourth gear a simple task. We’ve got the engine and traction control settings on ‘wet’ for the first session, and the electronics don’t get in the way at all. On the later session, I ask for the engine setting to be changed from the medium ‘wet’ default setting to ‘high’, and there’s a palpable increase in urgency. Now the traction control is earning its corn, the little light flashing away through the fast downhill sweepers. It also seems to be more easily confused by wheelies, as if the sharper power delivery is lifting the front too savagely. A slightly gentler throttle action gets us going though, and the extra torque carries us down the whole pit straight on the back wheel. Yay.

We’ve only got half a day on track sadly, so after lunch it’s time to hit the roads (not literally). The too-tall SPs are replaced by bog-stock base Hypermotard 939s, although I wave my stumpy legs at the techs and demand an optional low seat. The thing is still a bit too high for me, but I’ve got a fighting chance of reaching the deck for U-turns and the like now.
Sadly, the techs can’t sort us out some better weather. We’ve been fortunate with the track riding, but our luck’s run out, and the rain starts lashing down, followed by an icy blast of hailstones. The smart LCD dash is reading five degrees air temp, and as the Ducati guide leads us up to the roads round the Montserrat monastery, I’m losing interest a little. The Hypermotard does its best of course – the smooth throttle response aids control, and the traction control and ABS systems are most welcome help. But the Pirelli Diablo Rosso II tyres can’t offer much in terms of grip on the soaked, frozen, polished Spanish road surface. There’s little in the way of wind or weather protection of course (we need the touring Hyperstrada version for that), so the 50-odd mile ride is a bit of a battle of attrition, more than a decent road test of the bike.

Still, steady-away gets us to the top of the mountain for a quick tourist stop, before we head back to the track for tea and tiffin (well, coffee and tapas, but you get the idea). Once I’d changed out of my damp riding kit and warmed up a bit, I had another look at the Hypermotard family, parked up in the steady drizzle. They’re handsome machines, no doubt, and if I was looking for something posh to commute through the big city on, it’d definitely be a contender. An SP, with the Termi can would look and go like the bomb, but I’d want it lowered in the same way as the ‘Strada version, and those wee panniers and windscreen would be dead useful too…

Meet the family
There are three new bikes – the Hypermotard 939, the Hypermotard 939 SP and the Hyperstrada 939. None of them are 939cc – the engine is a 937 in fact, but the firm just likes the 9x9 moniker apparently. The SP gets Öhlins all round, magnesium engine covers, carbon body panels, forged Marchesini rims and a taller seat and setup. You also get a ‘race’ setting on the riding modes menu.
The Hyperstrada gets a windscreen, centrestand, lower touring seat, pillion grabrail, semi-hard panniers and Pirelli Scorpion Trail Tyres.

Specs

Engine
New Testastretta 11°, L-Twin cylinder, 4 valve per cylinder, Desmodromic, liquid cooled
Displacement
937 cc
Bore x Stroke
94 x 67.5 mm
Compression ratio
13.1:1
Power
83.1 kW (113 hp) @ 9,000 rpm
Torque
97.9 Nm (72.2 lb-ft) @ 7,500 rpm
Fuel injection
Magneti Marelli electronic fuel injection system. Throttle bodies with full Ride by Wire system
Gearbox
6 speed
Final drive
Chain, Front sprocket 15, Rear sprocket 43
Clutch
Wet multiplate clutch mechanically operated, self-servo action on drive, slipper action on over-run
Frame
Tubular steel Trellis frame
Front suspension
43mm USD forks (48mm Öhlins on SP)
Front wheel
10-spoke in light alloy 3.50” x 17”
Front Tyre
Pirelli Diablo Rosso II, 120/70 ZR17 (SuperCorsa SP on SP)
Rear suspension
Progressive linkage with adjustable spring preload and rebound damping Sachs monoshock. Aluminium single-sided swingarm (Öhlins shock on SP)
Rear wheel
10-spoke in light alloy 5.50” x 17”
Rear tyre
Pirelli Diablo Rosso II, 180/55 ZR17 (SuperCorsa SP on SP)
Front wheel travel
170 mm (6.7 in)
Rear wheel travel
150 mm (5.9 in)
Front brake
2 x 320 mm semi-floating discs, radially mounted Brembo monobloc calipers, 4-piston 2-pad, axial pump with adjustable lever, with Bosch ABS as standard
Rear brake
245 mm disc, 2-piston calliper, with Bosch ABS as standard
Instrumentation
LCD display with Dot Matrix area

Dry weight
181 kg (399 lb)
Wet weight (KERB)
204 kg (450 lb)
Seat height
870mm (34.2in)
Wheelbase
1.493 mm (58.8 in)
Rake
25.5°
Trail
104mm (4.1In)
Fuel tank capacity
16l - 4.2gallon (US)

PRICES
Hypermotard 939 - Red £9,995
Hypermotard 939 - White £10,195
Hypermotard 939 SP £12,595
Hyperstrada 939 £11,195

www.ducatiuk.com/bikes/hypermotard/index.do