nikster;300007 wrote: Enter a glowing review - 6 months of Hypermotard as a city bike and some light touring, and one major trip I can say I love it. Best bike ever. 8,000km.
Positives:
- Zooms through the city like a scooter.
- Keeps up with superbikes on the highway at 200kph+ (very few roads even allow that but it does...)
- Extra stable in curves thanks to a fantastic suspension. No wobble at any speed turn tested up to 150+ or so.
- Acceleration literally will kick your ass. Twisting the throttle hard means a hard kick in the behind at nearly all speeds.
- Ride by wire no delay throttle
- Riding modes are super useful depending on mood and conditions - I switch all the time. Touring as default, Sports for highway and twisties, and urban for rain. The three riding modes are programmable so there's a lot of customization possible. Riding mode can be switched on the fly.
- Wheelies.
- Great fuel economy - same or slightly better than the Versys which has half the HP and torque
Negatives:
- Small tank capacity limits range; only 14.5 liters of the 16 liter tank are usable, light comes on at 4l remaining.
- Takes a bit of work to lean into curves which did surprise me. It's much less flickable than the Versys even though it's the same weight. I think it's due to the longer wheelbase and geometry. A trade-off for high speed stability, I suppose.
- Reliability. Sigh. Starter motor went, was replaced under warranty; then there was a short in the throttle control which introduced me to "limp" mode where the throttle doesn't work at all and the bike remains in a high idle state.
Had an interesting comparison test recently with the Versys, actually my own old Versys. Gave the Hyper to my friend to try, and used my old and now his Versys. I had no trouble keeping up and was surprised how much easier the Versys is to lean; however, the Versys also feels sloppy and vague compared to the precision tool that's the Hyper - it feels a bit like steering a boat where the Hyper feels like you're using a scalpel. There's much more feeling of control on the Ducati which inspires more confidence. Also, nothing happens when you twist the throttle
