Ducati Hypermotard 1100 EVO SP first ride review
The SP version costs £10300 and that’s before you throw the really good stuff at it. It’s expensive, but more is more
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Ducati’s Hypermotard EVO SP costs over £1200 more than the Hypermotard EVO, but you don’t get any more power and you only save 1kg in weight. So what exactly do you get for your money?
The mission for Ducati with the Hypermotard EVO SP was to produce a bike far more capable on track. So by increasing rear ride height and using longer travel Marzocchi forks, they’ve generously
provided 30mm more ground clearance. They’ve also raised the bars by 20mm, aimed at giving the rider more leverage ‘under extreme riding conditions’ (it says here). Further performance assistance comes in the form of lighter Marchesini 5-spoke wheels and grippy Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SP tyres.
Now for the confusing part. See that gorgeous pipework and single Termignoni silencer? Well that’s not actually standard on the EVO SP. What you also can’t see is the race ECU and modified airbox that go with it. None of these are standard on the EVO SP and they’ll cost you an extra £1500.
So the model we tested is £2700 more than the standard EVO meaning it’ll cost you £11,800. That’s 1500 quid’s worth more than the stock EVO SP – a serious amount of money, and as far as I’m concerned it’s going to have to work hard to justify that.
Aside from the white paintwork, when sat next to the ‘standard’ Hypermotard EVO, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference. I’m a smidge under 6-foot and could sit comfortably on the EVO and the EVO SP’s extra 30mm hardly makes a difference. It’s tall but not awkward.
Just firing up the EVO SP you can feel where that extra cash has gone. The Termignoni pipe is not subtle, sounding like someone’s fired a shotgun into an oil drum when the engine first fires off the starter. It revs with more aggression, more willingly, exactly how I thought the standard model would feel with that lighter flywheel.
Heading out of pitlane, tyres pre-warmed from the sighting laps, the EVO SP sharply hoists the front in 1st gear. I put it down, hook 2nd and it does it again. This motor’s keen.
