Ducati has a new motorbike, and it's celebrating this fact with a series of photos and videos so flagrantly ribald and saucy they'd be pixelated out in Japan. I mean, look at them. In fact, forget the bike, can I buy some of this guy's talent?
If you're gonna name a bike "Mono," you'd better deliver – but we'd expect nothing less from Ducati. It's nearly 20 years since Ducati decided what the heck, let's make a supermotard with a massive sportsbike engine in it and built the first Hypermotard.
The motorcycle world reeled in awe as the first press images came out, showing ex-MotoGP riding god Ruben Xaus getting heavily sideways in a corner, knee down, smoke pouring off the rear wheel, with one hand off the handlebar giving a cheeky thumbs-up.
That's how you advertise a motor sickle, people. And Ducati certainly hasn't decided to play it safe and politically correct with the latest Hypermotard either.
The new Hypermotard 698 Mono is the company's first-ever roadgoing single, featuring a brand-spankers 659-cc Superquadro Mono engine, derived from the barnstorming Panigale 1299 Superquadro engine. Its 116-mm bore, says Ducati, is the widest ever featured on a roadgoing production single, and as a result, it's able to rev up to a ridiculous 10,250 rpm, and produce a frankly silly 77.5 horsepower in stock form, or 84.5 with a Termi pipe on the back.
Your other key metric is 151 kg (333 lb) without fuel – the Mono is heavy compared to proper racing motards, but a featherweight when lined up against most road bikes.
There's Brembo and Marzocchi written where you'd expect, and the bidirectional quickshift means you don't have to sully your clutch fingers once you're moving other than to salute the sky with your front wheel. There's also traction control, wheelie control and ABS braking – which can be set in many modes, some of which you could put your grandma on and she'd feel safe, and others that are there chiefly to make the bike easier to control in a back-wheel-out powerslide, making sure the bike stays within a predetermined yaw angle so that beginners can start throwing the thing in sideways with merry abandon. What a wonderful world.
Indeed, the wheelie control system appears to be a bit of a cheat code itself, complete with a mode you can unlock in software that's actually called Wheelie Assist. "In this case," said Ducati, "the electronics assist the rider in executing and maintaining a prolonged wheelie, regulating the angle using the engine torque delivered." Um, yes please.
Enough said. You'll know if this jigger is up your alley. It certainly looks like it'd be up mine. Bravo, Ducati! Now, enjoy the video below, as well as the outrageous shots in the gallery.
Source: Ducati
