New Ducati Hypermotard V2

[Lightcycle]

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As expected, with Ducati's release of their new Euro5+ compliant L-twin slowly making its way into their line-up, the new powerplant is going to show up next in 2026 in the next iteration of the Hypermotard.

A German magazine leaked some spyshots of a prototype on the streets:

Erlkönig: Ducati Hypermotard V2 – Zweizylinder-Supermoto

Ducati ersetzt seine Mittelklassemodelle schrittweise durch neue V2-Versionen. Nach Multistrada, Streetfighter und Panigale folgt nun die Hypermota...

www.motorradundreisen.de

highlights:

- 25kg lighter than the outgoing Hypermotard 950, 55 lbs!
- 120 hp is 6 hp more than the old model
- double-sided swingarm instead of single

The official unveiling will probably be at EICMA 2025 in Milan at the end of this year.

Personally, not a fan of the double-sided swingarm, but 25kg lighter is intriguing. Also, design elements like undertail exhaust vs side-mount and SSSA vs double-sided swingarms seem to swing (pun intended) from one direction to the other every few years. The 999 went DSSA and then each SBK after went back to SSSA. New Panis are now DSSA once again, but it's just a matter of time before SSSA are considered new and radical all over again.

I haven't read a lot of comparisons between the 937cc Testastretta 11° and the new 890cc non-desmo V2, but magazine reports have stated similar feel in max power but wider powerband as opposed to peaky output from the old engine, which bodes well.

New motor still needs to be proven, as the outgoing 937 engine has been around forever and most of the bugs have been ironed out by now.

 

[Relax]

Personally, not a fan of the double-sided swingarm

Neither was I at first, but I can live with it now that I've seen this video. This guy gets on my nerves, but it's a great demo of the design of the DSSA that makes wheel changes almost as quick as a SSSA:

 

[Lightcycle]

Neither was I at first, but I can live with it now that I've seen this video. This guy gets on my nerves, but it's a great demo of the design of the DSSA that makes wheel changes almost as quick as a SSSA:

Oh man, that *is* slick!

I have done several wheel removals on the DSSA on my DesertX and I wish it were as simple as that new V4...

However, I still think the SSSA looks sik as fook! Would take that anyday over the DSSA just based on aesthetics!

 

[Hardwrkr13]

Power/performance is so great now that having more of it isn’t worth paying new prices for as it can’t be used by 99% of the buyers. Sure there’s bragging rights in owning it but that fades as you get older/wiser (and maybe grumpier?).
Bikes and cars need something to intrigue new buyers and one way is through styling and personality. SSSA and other things may not perform better but we’re at/near the point where buyers don’t care, just give them something different and unique which to me is better than being able to say “Sure my bike looks just like yours but it’s 5lbs lighter”.

 

[NuggyBuggy]

Neither was I at first, but I can live with it now that I've seen this video. This guy gets on my nerves, but it's a great demo of the design of the DSSA that makes wheel changes almost as quick as a SSSA:

I appreciate that the guy got right down to the topic at hand. All the extra fluff edited down whereas others would take every opportunity to milk something to make more money from my eyeballs.

 

[Lightcycle]

Power/performance is so great now that having more of it isn’t worth paying new prices for as it can’t be used by 99% of the buyers. Sure there’s bragging rights in owning it but that fades as you get older/wiser (and maybe grumpier?).
Bikes and cars need something to intrigue new buyers and one way is through styling and personality. SSSA and other things may not perform better but we’re at/near the point where buyers don’t care, just give them something different and unique which to me is better than being able to say “Sure my bike looks just like yours but it’s 5lbs lighter”.

The manufacturers have to keep selling bikes to survive, especially to a shrinking pool of riders as they age out of the hobby. The replacement rate is nowhere near the dropout rate.

The topic of why people buy new (or new to them) bikes is very interesting to me.

From my own point-of-view, I approach buying a new bike as an entry to a new kind of riding.

Can my streetbike do track days or do I need something lighter, with more horsepower, a committed riding position that I can easily move my body around on, fairings to duck behind at 250 km/h, etc. Sure, I can solve some of this with a pipe+tune, aftermarket bolt-on plastics, clip-ons to replace the handlebars, higher rearsets, stiffer suspension with more adjustability, blah blah. But at a certain point, it's just easier and cheaper to get a sportbike that's already got these features as standard.

Can my streetbike ride single-track off-road, or do I need something lighter, with larger diameters wheels, an up-right riding position... you get where I'm going with this.

But a lot of other people only ride street, so why do *they* buy new bikes? Most of the time, they just want something different. Maybe the cost of fixing or maintaining a very old bike is worth just biting the bullet and getting a newer model. Maybe they need to change the ergos because of body parts failing - need a shorter bike to throw a leg over, DCT because left hand hurts, cruise control to let right hand rest, etc. For many of my friends, they base their annual purchase on whatever's on the cover of all the current motorcycle magazines. It's exciting buying the latest and greatest and showing it off at the coffee shop parking lot.

From the manufacturer's standpoint, how do they entice these buyers into upgrading or stealing customers from another brand?

One of the ways is speeds+feeds. Riders *love* to benchrace. Look at that guy who came on here last month with his modded FZ6. No way he could have exploited 100% of the base bike's capabilities, but people love to have the best. Even if they can't ride as fast or as well as the next guy, their bike certainly can! It's basically the motorcycle equivalent of, "My dad can beat up your dad!"

Another way is design. Case in point with the Hypermotard, they've changed the formula over the years with high-mount side-pipes, low-mounts, undertail exhausts. Everything old becomes new again, and if someone doesn't like the look of the new design, the manufacturer will probably re-capture them with the next iteration.

I'm a bit miffed that desmodromic valves and dry-clutches will probably never return to Ducati streetbikes. My current Hyper has most of what I was looking for: desmo, trellis, SSSA, undertail exhaust, but wet clutch was the only concession.

However, will SSSAs make a return to Ducati's lineup? I hope so. I keep my bikes for a long time, but I hope when I've miled-out my current ride and it comes time to upgrade, they or some other manufacturer will have something that will appeal to me.

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