News 29 Jul 2016

Review: 2016 Ducati 939 Hypermotard

CycleOnline.com.au test rides the 2016 Ducati 939 Hypermotard.

Words: Matthew Shields

It has been 10 years since Ducati released the first Hypermotard on the Italian island of Sardinia. The launch consisted of a few sessions on a short, tight circuit where I got to see first-hand World Superbike racer Ruben Xaus roll the Hyper to full lock with the back tyre, tap his knee on the deck and slide it around the hairpin corner at the end of the straight lap after lap. Awesome, yes, but more so it showed just how capable the bike was in the right hands.

Image: Alex Gobert (Foremost Media).

Available as a base model 1100 and up-spec 1100S with better chassis and brake bits, the Hypermotard was uncompromising. The seating position felt like a motocross bike, there was no weather protection and it was a tall and light machine to sit astride. It was an action-packed machine to ride, and in 2012 it had its last run as an 1100 with Ducati instead focusing the model around the more rider-friendly and useable 796 – first introduced in 2010 – but evolved it to an 821 for 2013.

The new 939 is the latest evolution of the Hypermotard platform with the 116cc capacity increase in the Testastretta 11° engine delivering 2.2 more kilowatts. Yes, it’s not a big increase but that’s the battle engineers face against ever-tightening emissions controls in Europe. The big improvement from the redesigned combustion tract comes in the form of 10 percent more torque spread over the rev range.

The Testastretta 11 is Ducati’s exciting road engine. Not as easy-going as the DVT or racy as the Superquadro, it does what a middleweight V-twin does best and is at its strongest and most enjoyable when ridden in the midrange. Ducati’s middleweight engine has all the power you’ll ever need on the road and more than enough to make trackdays fun too. Equally so, at slower speeds it is responsive and easy to use. No wonder they are bringing back the Supersport with it.

Image: Alex Gobert (Foremost Media).

The Hypermotard carries eight-stage traction control, ABS and three selectable engine maps that fettle the power characteristics to the conditions. Sport is punchy, Touring is more forgiving on initial throttle openings and so too is Urban. At the same time traction control settings are altered so you get proper wheelies in Sport, it makes you earn it in Touring and in Urban it’ll ensure you are on your best behavior.

Suspension travel is long, but brilliantly controlled with rebound and preload adjustment on the rear shock. It eats up bumps with the speed of a sportsbike, but the extra travel really seems to take the harshness out of impacts. It’s forgiving enough to be good on a daily commute, but if touring is your thing think long and hard about the Hyperstrada which is the same bike, but built for comfort and convenience.

That longer suspension travel means you get more travel hard on the brakes, but having done a lot of my riding on adventure bikes on the tarmac it’s nothing like they are. If anything, the extra 50mm it uses over a typical sportsbike makes it much better at dealing with any surface the road throws at it unlike the more abrupt deflections you get riding a sporstbike on the road. It is a highlight how easily it rides any kind of road – be it filtering through traffic or ridding over corrugations, hard on the gas out of an off-camber hairpin corner.

Image: Alex Gobert (Foremost Media).

The Hypermotard is a bike that can’t be faulted because of how focused it is at the job it does and how well it does it. It’s got an aggressive ride position, sharp handling, punchy engine and little to offer in terms of niceties. At the same time it has engine mode selectors that change the character of the bike to suit different uses, is pretty comfortable if you are just out for a fang, the handling is forgiving, engine user-friendly and it’s a striking-looking machine.

Give me this style of motorcycle as the perfect roadbike any day only because it suits my needs. I ride traffic and short trips more than I like, when I go for a ride there are no transport sections to get me to the corners, and I’m just old enough to believe that wind protection and comfort are important, but don’t want to admit it yet. As wild and narrow-focused as the Hypermotard is, it still ticks a lot of boxes that most road riders need a machine to deliver. It’s surprising there aren’t any machines quite like it.

Specifications

Capacity: 937cc
Power: 83kW @ 9000rpm
Torque: 98Nm @ 7500rpm
Wet weight: 204kg
Seat height: 870mm
Price: $17,790 plus ORC
Detailed specs: www.ducati.com.au

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