Introduction:
My last (and only) tryst with a Ducati was the Scrambler, a few months back, and I was pretty impressed with it overall. This September though, I am in Milan on an exchange program from MISB Bocconi, so on my weekend off, I decided to rent a bike and ride to Austria, which is a good 500km away. And the Hyperstrada was available! Rode extensively on the highway, a lot of country roads and quite a fair amount of city riding in Milan too over three days. Im going to try to put down my impressions in the next few paragraphs. I won't be quoting stats and numbers as we know all those, and I apologise for the lack of pictures. The bike had done 39,000km when I got astride. I shall also draw on comparisons with the Scrambler. Anyways, this is what I came away with....


The Look, Feel and Finish:
I expected the bike to look cool in the flesh. What I didn't expect was it to look smaller than it actually is! Standing a few feet away, I was like "wow, its barely bigger than a Scrambler". Then I sat on it, and realised it isn't. Its pretty tall too, and while both my legs reached down comfortable on the Scrambler, I could barely manage one foot on this. This height also made the bike feel heavier, and tougher to manage for a person of my height, and quite a few times I feared I would drop it! That being said, it looks absolutely stunning. The nose is my favourite. Could keep looking at it all day.
The riding posture is upright, and the handlebars are a very comfortable reach and provide good control, even under hard acceleration (unlike the Scrambler). I really loved the footpegs, which did a remarkable job of keeping the vibrations at bay. While the suspension is on the stiffer side, the seat is as comfy as it gets on a street bike! Managed to do 500km without getting off. The instrument cluster was neat and very readable, though I had some complaints. Firstly, no fuel gauge. How do you sell a bike designed for doing lots of miles without a fuel gauge man? They give a temp readout, which is very handy, but no gear indicator. While you can live without a gear indicator, I just felt when you put that much money down for a bike, you should get that too! Besides the instrument cluster, the mirrors seemed to vibrate too much once you cross 100-120kmph, which is barely highway speed. Not sure if thats with all of the bikes, or just cause mine was old.
Overall I'd say I was pretty satisfied on this front.

The Engine:
Yes, the engine. About 800cc, and it doesn't let you forget that from the word Go! Its like a slingshot, just catapulting you into space! And yes the front wheel will lift up in first gear, and the traction control indicators will light up the instrument cluster like a Christmas tree. It will cruise in 6th gear at 140kmph at 5000RPM. Wanna hit 200? Don't bother shifting down, just open the throttle and you hit the double ton without breaking a sweat. So in a way, it was the torque monster like the Scrambler, except a more powerful one. But while the Scrambler was smooth and refined, this was not. This was an angry bull, bucking and trying to kill you. Under 4000RPM, it bucks and half stutters in protest. At 6000RPM you are afraid cause you know the kick is gonna come, and then it does! The truck like roar as you hang on for dear life. Its good I was in Austria, where cars are few and far in between, and roads are super smooth. Very simply put, this engine can't be multi purpose. If you think you can ride it easy at home, and they belt it when on the highway, forget it. I must bring up the Riding Modes here though, Urban, Touring and Sport. While Urban cuts power output, and seems to ease throttle response, I didn't really notice a big difference. Touring and Sport unleashes all the power, with sport being more aggressive throttle (very noticeable) and turning off traction control (scary). So while I loved the engine on the highway, I had a very difficult time in Milan city. And this brings me to the next thing I disliked about the Ducati....

The Clutch and Gearbox:
I can hands down say this is the hardest clutch Ive used in my life. I hated it! What the hell man, how do you make a clutch a hand workout?! On the highway, with minimal shifting you don't notice it so much, but everytime you need to pull the clutch, its a massive pain. In the city, I had to pull over at times just to let my clutch hand take a break. To make matters worse, the neutral was nigh impossible to get. Never had a false neutral thankfully, but the gear shift was massive let down. Hard and clunky like a Harley, without the satisfying surety with which each harley gear clunks into place. So I pretty much disliked both, which is a bummer cause a bike like this with and engine like this should have a perfect clutch and gear man. You know how hard it is to manage a bike with a hard clutch, harder gear shift and an engine that bucks under 3000rpm? Try taking off from a traffic light.

Tires, Grip and Turning:
The tires, although a new pair, were the same ones that come stock with the bike. They had quite a bit of tread left in them.
I noticed something while turning though, the bike tries to straighten up when you turning at slow speeds. It pushes against your attempt at leaning. But the faster you go, the more comfortably it leans into a turn! It reminded me of F1 cars, where they have to go faster to get more downforce to get more grip to turn. While downforce is not into play here, it was still very noticeable. Very satisfied with the grip though. Leaning over at high speeds, it always inspired so much confidence to push it further.


Conclusion:
So do I like the bike? Well purely as a highway machine, that too not Indian highways, Id say yes. But overall? No. The power is great, but working that clutch is too much effort. The engine is brilliant but its too rough down low. Its not smooth like an inline triple or four. Its a loud and brash hooligan, and needs you to properly manhandle it. Im not the strongest or biggest guys around, so manhandling isn't my forte. This bike is for those who live the real hooligan life, and wanna do the occasional 500-800km blast. Its an arrogant, in your face feel every time you get on this, and it will attract a very specific kind of customer who knows there is no competition in the Indian market for this. Ninja 650? too soft and slow. Tiger 800XrX? Too touring centred, can't be a hooligan. So the kind of person that will be attracted to this bike, has already gone and bought one. For the rest of people like me, the hunt continues....



PS: Im sure some may say I had all the negative views as my bike was 39,000km old. I agree, that might be true. But if a bike deteriorates so much in just 4 services, doesn't that say something too?

PPS: Austria is an incredible place. If you ever get the opportunity, you must ride through it. Ive been to Switzerland, and I would recommend this over that. Doesn't matter where in Austria, just go. I went to Kitzbuhel. Lovely roads, pretty empty, very smooth, nice curves and absolutely stunning scenery. You're more likely to have an accident cause you were too distracted by scenery than an accident because of a riding error.