2008–2009 · Supermoto · A variant of the Hypermotard 1100
Differences between the standard Hypermotard 1100 and the S
Italian Thunder From The Bottom
The Hypermotard 1100 S is built around an air-cooled 1078 cc L-twin making 92 hp and 76 lb-ft, and almost all of that muscle lives down low. This is a supermoto that trades peak-rpm theatrics for instant, working torque the moment you crack the throttle. The S spec sharpens the package with forged Marchesini wheels, a fully adjustable Marzocchi fork, an Öhlins rear shock, and radial Brembo brakes. The result sits at the wild end of the class: light, loud, and styled as if cost was never part of the conversation. It draws a crowd parked and grins out of you moving.
It rewards intent. The chassis settles and gets more precise the harder you push, which is exactly why a casual first lap can feel underwhelming. This bike asks you to learn it before it clicks, and riders who treat it like an ordinary supermoto tend to fight it for a while. Who is it for? Riders chasing pure back-road and track-day fun who want genuine presence and aren't bothered by a tiny tank, no storage, and a premium finish that gets expensive the moment it touches asphalt. Buy it with clear eyes and it delivers a joy sensible bikes never reach.
Spec sheets don't ride bikes, but they set the baseline.
| Power | 92 hp (68 kW) @ 7,750 rpm |
|---|---|
| Torque | 76 lb-ft (103 Nm) @ 4,750 rpm |
| Displacement | 1078 cc |
| Engine | L-twin |
| Cooling | Air-cooled |
| Gearbox | 6-speed |
| Fork | Upside-down (USD) |
| Front brake | 305 mm |
| Front tire | 120/70-17 |
| Rear tire | 180/55-17 |
| Wheelbase | 57.3 in (1455 mm) |
| Ground clearance | 7.3 in (185 mm) |
| Front travel | 6.5 in (165 mm) |
| Rear travel | 5.6 in (141 mm) |
| Seat height | 33.3 in (845 mm) |
| Wet weight | 395 lb (179 kg) |
| Fuel capacity | 3.3 gal (12.4 L) |
| Top speed | 123 mph (198 km/h) |
| Fuel economy | 32 mpg (US) |
Equipment check
Chassis
Throw a leg over and the ergonomics land right away: the tank shapes a near-perfect grip for your knees, and the position reads sporty without going harsh on you. The clutch is unusually light for a big twin, so a city crawl never tires your left hand, and it shifts cleanly in plain street boots, no dedicated supermoto gear required to feel the gearbox. There's a big air-cooled twin thumping under you, but rubber-mounted bars and damped pegs keep its buzz in the background instead of in your fingertips. The one nag is the mirrors: roll through traffic off the throttle and they blur into uselessness, then clear the instant you add revs or speed. At road pace it feels lean, alert, and already waiting to be leaned over.
The Hypermotard 1100 S (MY2007-S) builds on the standard Hypermotard 1100: the upgraded hardware, the key spec changes and where its character shifts. The full ride, specs, scoring and verdict are all right here on this page.
| Spec | Standard Hypermotard 1100 | S | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wet weight | 439 lb | 395 lb | -44 lb |
| Fuel capacity | 3.0 gal | 3.3 gal | +0.2 gal |
My own 0–100 score for this bike against the class, area by area — the marker on each bar is the class average.
Here's what surprised me most about the way this bike turns: a single quick flick won't get you through a corner. You set the lean and then keep working the bar the whole way around, adding angle by hand, especially in tight hairpins and corners where the radius keeps tightening on you. It's genuinely agile, but it doesn't drop into a corner on its own the way a pure supermoto does, and riders expecting that weightless tip-in feel the difference on the first lap. Long fast sweepers ask even more of you. The quick-flick character stops paying off, and holding a clean line at speed takes deliberate pressure plus real hang-off and body input. None of this is a flaw once you understand it. Anyone coming off a sportbike adapts to the active, hands-on style quickly. Riders arriving from dirt or conventional supermoto have the furthest to travel before it feels natural.
Where this bike really earns its keep is on the eye. Look closely and the design rewards it: the single-sided swingarm, the tank line that runs unbroken from the steering head back toward the tail, the finish work that holds up from every angle. I've watched riders fall for it on looks alone, and once that happens nothing more sensible ever quite scratches the itch again. This is a machine that does its job standing still as well as moving.
The braking hardware here leaves nothing on the table: radially-mounted Brembo calipers fed by a radial master cylinder, no weak link anywhere. The flip side of that quality is bite. These calipers come on hard and fast, and in low-grip conditions, cold tires, damp pavement, or the first few corners of a session, I rode with a constant low-level awareness that the front could grab more than I asked for. That caution fades as you learn the lever, but it takes time before you trust it fully when grip is scarce.
What defines this engine for me is how cleanly it meters power right when you need it most. Crack the throttle at the apex, with the front still loaded and the bike on its side, and there's no surge and no stumble. The delivery comes in smooth and predictable from the very bottom of the rev range on up, and that trust is what lets me get on the gas early instead of waiting for the bike to settle. Out of a tight hairpin it pulls cleanly with no clutch slip at all. You just roll it on and the drive is there. The whole character nudges you toward the low and middle of the range, not because anything up high punishes you, but because that's where the engine is most willing and most satisfying to use.
On reliability my standout note is the rubber. The S comes on Pirelli Diablos, and that tire suits this chassis far better than what the standard bike wears. Under sustained cornering load on track, where lesser spec rubber starts to give up and go greasy, the S's rear keeps hanging on well past that point. If you're going to push this bike the way it wants to be pushed, that consistency is worth a lot.
The detail I keep coming back to on comfort is how Ducati got the clutch so light. They added plates to the pack to cut the spring force, and the result is a lever softer than anything else I've pulled across their range. That sounds like a footnote until you spend real time on the bike. An engine this big and a machine this aggressive have no right to feel this undemanding over a long stint, and the soft action is a large part of why. It tells you something about the intent behind the bike. This is a Hypermotard meant to be used, not babied, and the effort Ducati spent making the controls effortless is what lets it pull double duty without wearing you down.
Practicality is where you pay for the rest. Start with the tank, which is small enough that you plan your day around fuel stops rather than the other way around. There's no give anywhere else either. Then there are the mirrors. They fold flat for the track and honestly look sharp doing it, but in their full street position they make the bike awkwardly wide for tight town work. The good news is this one's fixable. Ducati's accessories catalog has narrower mirrors, and on a bike you'll ride in traffic that swap is the first thing I'd do. Go in knowing the Hypermotard asks you to give up some everyday convenience for what it is, and none of it lands as a nasty surprise.
This isn't my own test ride. It's what I've gathered over years of listening to riders: long conversations in the paddock, chats with owners who have lived with the bike, and the steady stream of emails and messages that land in my inbox. For the Hypermotard 1100 the pattern comes through clearly. Riders fall hard for the engine and the handling, then agree almost as firmly on where the bike asks them to suffer for it.
Riders consistently put the air-cooled L-twin at the center of the appeal. They describe a thick wall of torque the instant they get on the gas, with enough low-rev pull to bring the front wheel up at will, and a raw, throaty sound that many call addictive. The praise for handling runs just as loud. Owners talk about how agile and flickable it feels, quick to change direction yet settled enough to stay stable as the speed climbs, and trustworthy when they lean it deep into a corner. A good number add that the riding position clicks right away, the wide bars and slim waist leaving them feeling in full command from the first corner.
The complaints are just as consistent, and they gather around comfort and range. Riders point to the complete lack of wind protection: with no screen or fairing to sit behind, fast highway work turns tiring and stops being any fun. The suspension earns the same recurring note. Firm and track-minded, it goes harsh over bumps and gets unsettled in town and on broken back roads. The small tank rounds it out, with owners reporting roughly 100 miles (160 km) of range and economy around 32 mpg US (7.4 L/100km) before the next fuel stop.
Number plate holder bracket cracking
The support bracket of the number plate holder may crack, causing the plate to detach and potentially entangle the rear wheel. This is a safety recall (NHTSA 07V-597) affecting 2008 Hypermotard 1100/1100 S models produced before 10/09/2007.
Clutch wear and hydraulic issues (slip, drag, slave cylinder leak)
Clutch plates can wear rapidly, causing slip under hard acceleration or drag when hot. Leaks from the clutch slave cylinder are also reported, leading to fluid loss and gear engagement problems.
Starter sprag clutch squeak/failure
A squeaking noise when pressing the starter may indicate a worn sprag clutch. If not addressed, it can lead to starting difficulties.
Speedometer and dashboard failures
The multifunction LCD dashboard can fail, with the speedometer blanking out, requiring replacement of the entire instrument cluster.
Flaking paint on engine cases
Exposure to road dirt and poor cleaning can cause the paint on the engine cases to bubble and flake, especially around the clutch slave cylinder area.
Throttle hesitation at low mileage
Higher-mileage examples can develop a lean stumble off idle due to fouled throttle bodies or degraded injection components.
Where this Ducati Hypermotard 1100 pulls ahead of — or falls behind — its rivals on the numbers, and the typical bike in its class on character.
Power
Torque
Displacement
Wet weight
Top speed
Seat height
Forget spec-sheet bragging. Here's who the Hypermotard 1100 is actually built for.
This is your weekend weapon for Angeles Crest: light, urgent, and happiest carving with intent. Just respect that the front brakes bite sharp on cold tires early in a run.
Made for Angeles Crest Highway · Coronado Trail / US 191 · Highway 1 / Big Sur
On tight, ever-changing Tail of the Dragon corners it darts between transitions beautifully. It wants steady bar pressure over a quick flick, so give it a few sessions and the technique clicks.
Made for Back of the Dragon · Blue Ridge Parkway · Cherohala Skyway
For Hill Country weekends it's pure fun and a head-turner at every BBQ stop. But the tiny 3.3 gal tank and no storage mean you plan your fuel and pack light on longer loops.
Made for Austin / Texas Hill Country · Twisted Sisters · Austin / Handbuilt Motorcycle Show
If this one isn't quite the fit, these are the bikes worth riding back-to-back against it.
Any price note compares both bikes at the same age — the youngest age both have on the used market — against this Ducati Hypermotard 1100. “cheaper/pricier” is what that bike costs second-hand, not how worn it is.
