All the Duels – Face to face Dorsoduro – Hypermotard: two very shameless Italians! – In town: easy to handle and fun

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Face to face Dorsoduro / Hypermotard: two very shameless Italians !

All the Duels - Face to face Dorsoduro - Hypermotard: two very shameless Italians! - In town: easy to handle and fun

The sun is back and the conditions are right again to (re) indulge yourself on a motorcycle! What if we saw what it looks like on two big Italian supermotards with a strong character, the Aprilia Dorsoduro and the Ducati Hypermotard? ? Face to face !

In the city: easy to handle and fun

But before drawing a final line on the category of big supermotards, we should salute the great accessibility of our machines. Despite substantial saddle heights (845 mm for the Hypermotard and 870 mm for the Dorsoduro), you immediately feel comfortable and confident on their handlebars..

Once in the saddle, the Aprilia offers a natural position and unparalleled handling. Its wide handlebars are perfectly positioned and the knees naturally find their place on either side of the thin tank.

It’s a little less good on the Ducati: while one is one with the Dorsoduro, one has more the impression of being just "posed" on the Hypermotard, because of the handlebars placed much lower than on the Dorsoduro. In addition, the saddle and the tank spread the legs significantly more.

On the other hand, maneuvers with the engine off are much easier with the 1100 than with the 750. The latter suffers from a higher center of gravity and is 7 kg more than its competitor (186 kg dry for the Aprilia and 179 kg for the Ducati), despite its smaller displacement of precisely 328 cc.

Easy and nimble, the Hypermot ‘and the Dorso’ are obviously at ease in the city where their playful side makes them particularly pleasant, although a little push-to-crime … Our two Italians let themselves be taken in the middle of caps with ease, without being as effective however as single cylinder SMs which often weigh 50 kg less.

Plus, they both suffer from the same annoying flaws once the traffic gets tangled up. The first comes from their twin, certainly full of character but also quite rough and brutal. The two mills bang energetically under 2,000-2,500 rpm and often require the clutch to maintain smooth steering.

The phenomenon eases somewhat on the Aprilia if you drive in Touring or Rain mode, the Sport being decidedly quite brutal. In the second place, the somewhat recalcitrant gearboxes in traffic jams – on the Dorsoduro as on the Hypermotard – require you to cheerfully knit the selector to find neutral at red lights.

Finally, the two machines are penalized for having too wide handlebars to slip easily between the cars. Particularly on the Ducati, the width of which, with mirrors out, exceeds 120 cm! Suddenly, in town, we only drive with the left-hand retro and it is not uncommon to temporarily fold it up to go up a line, without rear vision for once: not great for safety !

For the rest, we really have the impression of being the king of the city riding these two machines! Breathtaking view of the traffic, devastating look, devilish sound, extremely aggressive twin: success is guaranteed at all fires as well as on cafe terraces !

In addition, the two Italians have the luxury of offering very convincing turning radii, which is rare enough – especially at Ducati – to underline it! Their twin cylinders prefer off-peak hours and open streets to express themselves and do not like to heat too much in traffic, especially the air and oil cooled block of the Hypermotard..

But be careful, driving at 50 km / h in town with these two machines is a real exercise in concentration! Either we stay in second – but the engines are then quite brutal – or we cross in third or fourth on a trickle of gas – but in this case the torque propels you very quickly well beyond the legal speeds…

Stopped at traffic lights, the many information provided by the dashboards – complete and accessible from the left stalk as a bonus! – their owners will have a good time: on both machines, you can display basic information (speed, 2 trips, odometer, clock) but also many other data (average and instantaneous consumption, average and maximum speeds, engine temperatures , stopwatch, etc.).

Advantage, however, of the analog tachometer of the Dorsoduro which is much more readable than the liquid crystal barograph of the Hypermotard. Aprilia also indicates in its digital window the selected injection mapping mode: S, T or R (Sport, Touring and Rain) which can be changed using the starter button. We just regret the absence of a gear indicator engaged which would be very practical to make the best use of these two torque-fed twins !

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