I just got back from a day of riding Ducati’s new Hypermotard 1100 EVO and EVO SP. Ducati North America flew me to Scottsdale, AZ (in a private Piaggio Turboprop: very classy) to show me the new bike and let me try it out on a surprisingly fun, twisty road not far from the sprawling Phoenix metropolitan area. I discovered a bike that really lives up to marketing hype.
Ducati is building on the incredible success of the Hypermotard, Pierre Terreblanche’s take on what he thinks is the ultimate streetbike: a V-Twin stripped to its bare essentials. The bike has little on it aside from race-quality brakes, suspension and Ducati’s signature desmodromic L-Twin. Since its introduction in 2007, the Hypermotard has proven quite successful, but there’s always room for improvement.
Improved it has. For 2010, Ducati completely re-did the motor and chassis. To mark this, the bikes are renamed the EVO: short for “evoluzione,” or evolution. The basic bike is introduced with a sibling, the EVO SP, which like the old 1100 S, is a higher-spec version. Both bikes are lighter, faster, smoother and better-handling…but the price remains the same. It’s an exciting, well-developed machine that’s a hoot to ride.
We’ll have more technical details, photos and riding impressions soon.
