[Edd49]

Hi,

I was kinda hoping that the Ducati factory heads are reading this forum, cause I'd really like to see a super light 400cc single Ducati geared for inner city traffic carving.

I have a Hyper 821, which I love - and feel it is somewhat caged most of the time as I spend a lot of it running around town in second and third - simply because traffic speed is too slow to get up through the gears.

I was thinking of a KTM Duke 390 as a second bike, but have been reading of a lot of build quality issues. Had a BMW 650 XCountry before the hyper and it was not as good as it could have been. Performance was great around town, great economy, but brakes squeaked like crazy and sometimes it just wouldn't idle, really annoying and dangerous.

I know the new Scrambler is going to be a big hit, but I was hoping for a supper light bike from Ducati.

Just a final note - In the Movie "Night and Day" they used a Hypermotard and a smaller lighter Aprilia dressed up to look like a Hyper for the big stunt jumps. Just saying - there is a need.

 

[Edd49]

I know there is a 400cc monster, but at 174kg too heavy, my liquid cooled 821cc hyper is lighter.

 

[Alice Breil]

30 or more years ago they built a single cylinder prototype from the Pantah, but it never went into production.

 

[pat1098]

It's surprising they didn't pursue the Supermono technology into a production bike, where they employed a 'dummy' rear cylinder on an 851 base to create a smooth single.
Its performance was world-leading in single-cylinder racing.
Presumably it cost too much to produce, or else Ducati had come to consider their identity to be built around twins by that time.
Or maybe the articulated mechanism that worked in the place of the rear cylinder was prone to wear, which wasn't an issue on the racers, but would have been on a production machine.
But BMW had a similar system on the BMW parallel twin you mentioned, so obviously it is possible.
Maybe they'll dust off the old drawings, now singles are so popular again. And the Moto3 class beckons..

 

[Edd49]

I'm thinking of finding a deep pocket and building a custom cafe racer/bobber cross out of a $400cc supermoto bike. The ones I've seen are pretty ugly. But spend enough and I could get that right. Sooner buy a Vitpilen 401 but they not real as yet !

 

[pat1098]

Many specials built along this line when there was a popular singles racing class. You may even come across an unfinished project you can finish.

Usually based on an off-road single-cylinder engine in an RGV250 chassis. Light and responsive, and ideal for inner-city riding.

But of course it has become increasingly difficult to get specials registered in this country, so you should look into that aspect before you get too excited..

Big Brother doesn't want us building our own bikes these days.

 

[Tuned]

In my eyes, there is only one fun intercity "euro" bike. That's the KTM Duke 690. It's powerful enough to have fun, it's super light, handles superbly and isn't that expensive. In Australia you can get the 'R' model pretty cheap used as well, I have friends who've spent around 8k on theirs all setup used. They're made in Austria as well, not like the 390's which are made in India.

Just an idea… but I've ridden almost all the intercity bikes and it's the one I choose and still love. I only sold it because I was gonna kill myself on it because I have no self control.

 

[Edd49]

In my eyes, there is only one fun intercity "euro" bike. That's the KTM Duke 690. It's powerful enough to have fun, it's super light, handles superbly and isn't that expensive. In Australia you can get the 'R' model pretty cheap used as well, I have friends who've spent around 8k on theirs all setup used. They're made in Austria as well, not like the 390's which are made in India.

Just an idea… but I've ridden almost all the intercity bikes and it's the one I choose and still love. I only sold it because I was gonna kill myself on it because I have no self control.

Yeah, I test rode a KTM 690 Duke, a speed triple, and the 1100 air cooled monster, before settling on the 821 Hyper. After the BMW xCountry, both the monster and the 690 Duke were too much vibration for my liking, the Duke was worse then the BMW. I tested them back to back over two days and have to say the speed triple has a super sweet urban engine, just didn't like anything else about it. Rode the Hyper from Sydney to Byron Bay and back to run it in, smooth, punchy, handles like a dream. 120kph to 170kph in a blink, I made the right choice, but now I'm looking for the little brother to do the inner city chores, just want to keep the kilometres down.