Road Test: Ducati Hypermotard V KTM 990SM

In the cold winter weather it takes even the most dedicated rider a fair degree of motivation to get on a bike simply for the joy of riding. It can be hard out there to extract real enjoyment from your bike – just see our Lunchtime Debate this month. A bright summer’s morning, no problem, the breakfast club riders are ready to rock. But when the alarm goes off at 6:30am and it’s still dark outside, you really want me to get out there and ride when I’m under my duvet?

But there a few bikes out there that are worth getting up early for, no matter what the weather outside is like. Bikes that are so much fun to ride they cast a warm and cosy glow over even the chilliest of mornings and make the rain an added amusement rather than an irritant. Bikes like Ducati’s Hypermotard and KTM’s new 990SM.

On the face of it both of these bikes seem a triumph of insanity over practicality. Supermotos are amongst the most impractical bikes on the planet, so why on earth create two large capacity machines in that style? Simple. Despite the limitation of a small single-cylinder motor, supermoto bikes are electric to ride over short distances, offer a tremendous grin factor and their skeletal weight means the handling is light and agile. So when you take these basic principles and add a big V-twin engine, all bloody hell brakes loose. And you’ve never had so much fun.

KTM were the first to spot the potential in a large capacity supermoto. Three years ago it unveiled the 950SM, targeted at the ‘committed rider.’ Which is marketing speak for ‘utter psycho.’ With a 950 V-twin engine the SM not only had some serious grunt, but its large size and excellent handling made it a brilliant Jekyll and Hyde bike. Dr Jekyll clinically dealt with commuting thanks to a comfortable riding position, huge steering lock and smooth engine while Mr Hyde was unleashed when the beautifully balanced chassis, strong brakes and wheelie-prone power of the motor were allowed to shine. The SM soon won an army of fans and over 10,000 are still currently mono-ing their way up and down streets all over the world. That’s as many as KTM’s GS-inspired Adventure, which shows the company must be onto something.

Well, Ducati thought so. Last year they launched an Italian take on the big supermoto, the Hypermotard. Under the banner ‘never ending fun’ the 1078cc air-cooled Ducati was radical designer Pierre Terbalance’s swan song for the company. The man who made the car-crash 999 and excellent Multistrada was in his element here. This was a bike that needed to be radical and a head-turner.

Which introduces us to the dilemma facing the big supermoto designers. Do they go radical and risk alienating the masses by creating a very niche market, or go more mainstream and dilute the look?

Having started the whole ball rolling KTM has decided on the latter route with its new 990SM, well in looks anyway. Visually the 990SM is far less aggressive than the old 950SM. The sharp angles of the tank and side fairing are gone, replaced with a more sculpted look that is designed to offer the rider more weather protection around the legs as well a larger tank range. KTM has realised that the original SM was possibly a little too aggressive to appeal to the masses, so it has softened the visuals and added some creature comforts. But, thankfully, it hasn’t softened the engine. Not by a long straw.

In harmonising its product range KTM has stuck its fuel-injected 990 engine into the 950SM’s chassis, and with it comes a whopping 15% increase in power through the entire rev range. And this is in a bike that was far from sensible in the first place! So, having got my hands on a Hypermotard S as well as the 990SM, there was only one thing for it, a morning run before work-bound commuters blocked the back roads. If we were going to get the most out of these two bikes we were going to have to sacrifice something, and it might as well be sleep.

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