Ducati

Ducati have added another fantastic bike to their already very good range. Replacing the S2R1000 the new 1100 has made use of the trellis frame and sub-frame from the 696 and the 1078cc air cooled DS engine from the existing range. Hypermotard heads mean 95bhp and 73ft lbs in a bike with a claimed dry weight of just 169kg.

Honda’s NR750 and Ducati’s Desmosedici are two of the most stunning bikes ever built. Each are worth £40,000 and both were developed from pure GP technology. There may be an incredible 16 years between them, but exclusivity this rare is timeless

Once upon a time they built unassuming bikes that were so good from the word ‘go’ that they didn’t change once during their production run

Ducati did a good job keeping this one quiet. Even when launch invitations are sent out without stating the model to be launched you can normally take an educated guess as to what bike it will be.

Calling a bike the 796 when its capacity is 803cc could be viewed as a triumph of marketing over logic, but in other respects the new Hypermotard makes perfect sense.

Let’s get straight down to it. The Hypermotard 1100 EVO has shed a shed-load of weight. The more compact engine is 5.2kg lighter and the chassis loses 1.2kg. Ducati has also upped the compression ratio from 10.5:1 to 11.3:1. The result? A net gain of 5bhp from the same 1078cc capacity as the previous model. Torque remains the same.

Ducati’s Hypermotard EVO SP costs over £1200 more than the Hypermotard EVO, but you don’t get any more power and you only save 1kg in weight. So what exactly do you get for your money?