As you can see by my avatar the 2000 Ducati 996S and I have lived a happy life together. Track days and short rides in the New England farm country roads were always happy times. It's really hard to say good bye to the ol girl but its time. My recent purchase of a new R1 will now serve as track day weapon which left my 996S as a garage queen. This spring the coolant overflow tank split its seam as they are custom to do with age and the idea of now plopping money into a stationary bike made me think about saying goodbye. I also have a Ducati Scrambler FT that I picked up last year that was a demo. I loved its light weight low cg and good looks. The bike is sold at a price point and it shows in the suspension and lower spec power from the 803cc unlike the wonderful Monster or SuperSport series with the same cc but two throttle bodies. I wished that the Scrambler and my 996S would mate and produce an off spring... There come the Hypermotard 939 SP. A test ride this past week on a base Hyper 939 showed me that the bike isn't as easy to ride as the Scrambler. I was a little taken aback by the step ladder height and a riding position the took a few minutes to adjust to. It felt like a KTM woods bike alright. Except the seat locks you into one position. I decided to accept the quirks and get down to business and wring the thing out. The 2nd gear wheelies took a little clutch up effort to coax them up. Unlike the 1100 EVO Hyper I test rode last year which had more low end but a lack of top end rush of the current Hyper. The smoothness of the new engine is welcome as I am getting older. The linear power deliver was predicable and easy to modulate. I didn't see any issue with power deliver and snatchy throttle response on my test ride. That may be due to the terrible fueling on the Scrambler I rode to the test ride on. That thing is really snatchy at low rev's. It's another reason I don't mind trading it in. The brakes and stock base model suspension felt good and didn't make me notice any immediate negatives. I went home and thought about trading the two bikes in for the Hyper. Would I miss the 996S? Would I take a bath on trading in a 1 year old bike. Well it all came down to the cost of the new Hyper 939 SP being $3K out of pocket with race seat and heated grips added. Trade a bike I don't use and a bike I'm not all that happy with for a $15K plus bike and only come up with $3K. DONE! Picking the bike up today. So long old friend!
Youll be a convert....once you've had some time on a hyper you cant get them out of your system...I should know I'm on my third...! welcome...as I said - I think its going to get busier in here...
Hyper in garage after 2 hour back road ride. Rear tire has 86 miles on it. Front probably has 80. Dang that's easy.
You will like it a lot specially if you have mountain roads around. I set the "sport" mode to have HIGH engine settings so as to have less snatchy (again it is just fine tuning IMO), and despite second while turning where a little clutch helps, all the rest was ok. I did 320 km and now are at 950 km so first service soon, new parts, new mapping update. Enjoying a lot.
I will miss it Chizel. That 996 was really well sorted. The power it made was well above that of the 939 in race mode. I don't know what the 939 makes at the rear wheel as I haven't pushed the Hyper yet, but my 996 made 123bhp at the rear wheel on a certified dyno. It was so light and so small yet so fast. Also it was drop dead gorgeous. Yup I will miss her but it was time to move into the modern era of race ABS, traction control and a seat that could fit someone with mid life body mass. Dang that 996 was getting tight. Take a look at the gas tank to seat space. Not built for thick rugby style body types like myself. She was always telling me to lose weight when I rode her. That photo above was from my last track day on her last Sept 2015. She treated me well and the memory will last a life time. Now it onto the R1 for track days and the Hyper for back roads and probably track days when it's slow morning sessions and late in the day when I don't feel like pushing hard on the R1. It's nice to have choices.
Cycleworld.com just posted a video of the run. Yes 99bhp and 65.5 lb-ft of torque. It's what I thought. Much tamer than my breathed on 996. Still its a fun bike on the CT farm roads I was on this weekend. These roads follow natural contours of rivers and hills of Connecticut. An hour on the 996 had me wanting to jump in the hot tub and relax the rest of the day. The Hyper was a welcome trade. It soaked up the cracked and broken pavement of New England back roads with ease. The relaxed riding position was a welcome trade from the torture rack of the 996. It do wish I had one more inch of leg length as I barely touch the ground without shifting and sliding off the seat slightly. I can tiptoe touch but that isn't really all that secure. I probably should have stuck with the base model at my 5'9" height. I do want the functionality of tweaking the shocks from back road soft to race track firm. Plus I love the new color scheme of the 16 SP. I'm now looking at dual purpose boots that have a little bit more lug height in them. I think that will be a big help over thin bottomed track focused boots I have now. To me the biggest feature of this bike is the leg room. I have nerve damage in my right knee. Folding my leg up into race tuck on most sportbikes causes a deep ache and numbness to the front of my leg and top of foot. I rode the bike all day Saturday and it was never an issue. Next time I ride I will look at adjusting my suspension before the ride for more compliance. The current settings are harsh. It's probably in need of some break-in miles.
You can opt for the Journey or low seat so you have better reach. I have the same before with my 821 with Michelin PR3it was as tall as a SP model but never had issues by sliding to either side a little to put he feet on flat (I mean how do you ride a bicycle? Also doing that right?) I have also softened all by 3 clicks keeping same preload, so it feels still very sharp fun but it takes better the bumpy roads.
I picked up a new Bianchi last fall on clearance. The Infinito CV Di2 Ultegra Disk. I absolutely love it. Hmm... I see a trend here. Relaxed geometry still using race technology, carbon fiber but tuned to soak up road rather than being race bike stiff. Sounds a lot like the Hyper.
