For £5,000 you can own one of Ducati’s strangest modern-era bikes

Recently, we were testing the new KTM SMT 890 in the UK. Inspired by its curious and mostly successful melding of the touring and supermoto genres, we plucked a used example of the original 990 SMT from the classifieds for closer inspection. 



It’s worth pointing out, though, that for a similar price, you can buy another bike that attempted to do something similar - the Ducati Hyperstrada. Unlike the SMT, though, which is a model in its own right, the Hyperstrada was considered part of the Hypermotard range, switching the last bit of the name with the Italian word for ‘street’. 

Intended as a more road-oriented version of the Hypermotard, it had a wider, softer seat than its siblings, less suspension travel, higher bars and a tall-ish windscreen. It was very much a Hypermotard at its core, though - merely a tweaked one. 

It has the same steel trellis frame as the Hypermotard, along with its 821cc (later 937cc) liquid-cooled V-twin. That engine is good for 110bhp, and 66lb ft of torque, and is fed by a 16-litre fuel tank on both bikes. 

And that’s one of the Hyperstrada’s issues - for a bike with touring pretensions, that’s not a massive capacity, equating to a range of around 160 miles. The screen offered only limited wind protection and, although comfier than a Hypermotard, the ‘Strada was a far cry from proper tourers in terms of avoiding a numb bum. The pillion provision was pretty poor, too, and the price as new of £10,795 rather eyebrow-raising. 

It was a niche bike that sold slowly, so it’s not surprising that, while the Hypermotard is still going strong today, the Hyperstrada has long since been discontinued without a direct replacement. 

As with so many bikes, though, a bit of depreciation prompts us to take a second look and reassess. With prices starting as low as £5,000, the Hyperstrada’s compromised nature is easier to overlook. 

Perusing the Visordown classifieds, we found one for a mere £5,198. But the mileage is higher than most at around 25,000, so you may wish to spend a bit extra to get something like this £6,298 2014 example with just over 10k on the clock. It also includes the official Ducati accessory soft panniers. 

The 821 engine brought with it lengthened service intervals, so you can go 9,000 miles between services, with the major one including the valve clearances arriving every 18,000 miles. There are plenty of cheaper-to-run bikes you can get for the cash, but running one of these won’t be disastrously expensive either.  

Tempted?