My Hypermotard Riding Review

[G.Irish]

So Coleman Powersports got a Hypermotard S from Ducati expressly for the purpose of giving demo rides. The dates for demo rides were supposed to be the 29th and 30th but when I dropped by they said they won't be giving rides to customers until Monday.



I figured I should get in there as soon as possible before someone crashed the thing. So Tuesday rolled around and I had to drop my sister at the airport before heading over there. When I arrived one of the salespeople was out with the bike already. Sure enough, when he got back he had laid the damned thing down. He said he slipped on some gravel trying to make a U-turn :roll:

The drop broke the left handguard which is also where the left turn signal and mirror are mounted. They just took it off and let me have at it. They sent out a salesman on a 999S to lead the ride, and another dude brought out a Monster S2RS.

Ergonomics
The first thing you notice about the bike is the height of the seat. Really I don't think a rider much shorter than 5'8" could really ride this bike. I can stand with both feet on the ground but I'm almost stretching to do so. Then again, I saw Chris Carr (who might be 5'6") horse around a CRF450 so maybe its not a big deal.

With my feet on the pegs the riding position is rather relaxed compared to my 600RR. I never realized my legs could so free! You're sitting pretty upright on the bike but the bars are wide so you almost feel like you're holding a bar to do the bench press or something. The position made my delts a little sore but I'm sure it's something you'd get used to if you owned th bike.

The seat was fairly comfortable, but coming from a 600RR any seat is bound to feel good. I can say the seat is wider and more comfortable than a traditional dirt bike seat and if you wanted to take a passenger it wouldn't be as abusive on the buttocks (the Hypermotard has passenger pegs).

The last note on ergs was the mirrors. Seeing them in pictures I figured they'd be pretty much useless but the one mirror I did have did the trick rather well since it's at the end of the handle bar. It actually worked a little bit better in my opinion because it sits wider out than a regular mirror does.



Engine
The engine is an air-cooled 1100cc 4 valve V-Twin making about 90-ish horsepower but 76 ft-lbs of torque. I thought the bike would feel somewhat slow since it gives up about 25 hp to my 600RR but dayum! It feels a lot stronger than the 600's I've ridfen until the 600's really start stretching their legs at around 10k rpms. The Hypermotard was making strong power from the get go, so much so that I couldn't really open it all up in low gears without doing a wheelie.

Only problem with all of this power is that it is really snatchy from closed throttle. I smoothed up my roll on but it still gives you a bit of a jerk, which is a bit disconcerting when the bike is leaned over. I'm thinking it could jerk you right into a highside if it was wet outside. Probably something I'd get used to though.

With all of that power I'd say this bike would have no problem keeping up with 600's on most small to medium-sized tracks but with a big straight it'd get blown away. I think it'd be perfect for stuff like Talladega GP, Beaverun, Summit Point-JC, and maybe Mid-Ohio. Too much giddyap for a kart track though.

I have to say that I thought this thing would need more power, but really it doesn't. I'm sure Ducati will make a more powerful version one day but for now I think it has all it needs.

Handling
For a bike that weighs about what the typical sport bike does it felt somewhat like the typical sportbike, just taller. It tips over into turns nice and quick, maybe a touch quicker than the 600's I've ridden but I didn't really get the chance to really lean it over during the demo ride. And of course I didn't attempt to back it in (since I crashed many times trying to learn how to slide a bike with 84 less horsepower). I'd also like to see how the bike would do on some light trail riding but then again the bike is too pretty to get all scratched up and dirty.

All in all I had a favorable, if limited impression of the handling.

Conclusion
Would I buy one? Yes. Will I buy one? Eh, there are a lot of new bikes coming out so it'd be a tough call. For 2008 the all-new 1000RR will be coming, as well as the KTM RC8. I really like the supermoto concept but I don't know that I'd want one of the big streetmotos like the KTM950 or Hypermotard (or the forthcoming Aprilia Hypermotard competitor). I still fancy the Aprilia SXV and Husky 510 and wouldn't be opposed to picking up a street-titled CRF450SM. I'm sorta leaning towards the smaller supermotos because I can do track days at kart tracks too, but they'd be even worse at track days on normal-sized tracks (not to mention riding around town). I guess it depends on how some future demo rides go.

Like Ruben Xaus, I give this bike the seal of approval