2013 Ducati Hypermotard 821: FIRST RIDE
Alan Cathcart | March 29, 2013
First things first. The 2013 Ducati Hypermotard is an all-new motorcycle owing nothing more than its name and overall concept to its Pierre Terblanche-inspired predecessor. This Evoluzione version has a completely new engine, a different frame, and revamped styling compared to both the original Hypermotard 1100 and its2010 Hypermotard EVO update, let alone the smaller 803cc Hypermotard 796. Simply put, Ducati’s R&D team led by Federico Sabbioni tore up the blueprint and started again from an almost clean sheet in designing this motorcycle.
So instead of the air-cooled two-valve desmodue motors employed in the previous versions, the new Hypermotard is for the first time powered by a liquid-cooled eight-valve engine – and an all-new Testastretta L-twin design. Not the V-twin layout of the Panigale, thus confirming the assurances that Ducati boss Claudio Domenicali gave that the Testastretta motor will stay in production for some time to come.
“Not only will it remain in existence, but it will continue to be developed,” said Domenicali a year ago. “There are many areas of potential improvement. I think that we have to continue our desire to get amore mature sports-riding experience in road use. We want to be increasingly able to deliver good performance with easy access for the customer, in a safe way. So, in the case of engines, for example, we are working more and more on improving the rideability. There’s a lot of development done in the area of improving combustion and its stability at low speed and low rpm, in order to have an easier experience in using the engine. It’s using different steps of the 11º overlap concept – that’s one step, and there will be more like that in order to have an engine that, even when going very slowly, will be very pleasant to use – regular and steady, without any vibration or transmissionsnatch.”
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