All I can say is WOW! The new Hypermotard 1100S is everything I've been looking for in a bike; it is the real deal. Let me start at the beginning though...
I put a deposit down on a HM1100S in January and the anticipation has been building since then. When the 1098 came out I briefly considered the S model, but I just didn't feel the same way about the 1098S as the HM1100S. In my opinion the 1098 looked like shit in the photographs, but in person it looks quite good. There are still some things I don't like, but overall I am in agreement with that bike. On the other hand, the HM1100S has looked good to me since day one when I first saw leaked and then official photographs.
Today I went to ride the KTM 950SM, KTM 990 Superduke, Ducati S4RS, and Ducati HM1100S, but the weather didn't cooperate at all. The first bike I took out was the KTM 950SM. Rick and I took off from the shop and made it about 25 miles before the rain absolutely began to poor. We continued on for a few more miles until we got to a fish market to eat lunch. While there we ran into our friend Rich and spent about an hour or hour and a half eating lunch and hanging out waiting for the rain to stop and the road to dry up.
Back on the road again we headed to a local race track. Okay, it is actually a parking lot to a school where the rich kids go. Rick uses it as his personal track. It was really quite impressive with a perfect surface, elevation changes, some s-turns connecting parking lots and not too much paint. Here I got to test the 950SM a little better.
The 950SM has one of the smoothest, or maybe even the smoothest motor of any twin I've ridden. The vibrations were very minimal at all RPM's. A couple of negative points stick out more than the positive however. First off, the seating position is not right for a "motard". You sit much farther back off of the tank. I'd compare the seating position to that of the Ducati Monster or Suzuki SV650. The bike also felt very heavy to me, not at all the same feeling of a motard. Granted it is a heavy bike, but so is the HM1100S and it fells so light! Very similar to my KTM 560SMR even though it is 130+ lbs. more. Another issue that really seemed to bother me is the lack of a tachometer. The bike is so quiet with stock exhaust and there is no tach so it is hard to tell when to shift. You have to do it with feel, but with such a smooth motor there really isn't much vibration to base your patterns off of.
Those are fairly minor gripes though! Overall it is a really good bike, but not one I'd own considering the other options out there. The front brake setup is similar to many EU bikes. Brembo master cylinder and radially mounted 4 pad Brembo calipers. The WP suspension felt quite good even though it was not configured for me nor was I riding very hard. As for visual appeal, well that is very subjective, but the 950SM doesn't really do it for me. It would be a fine bike to own and ride, but it is not a bike that I would go to the garage and admire. This is where the HM1100S steps in.
The weather cut the day way short so I really only had time to ride one other bike since I had to get back to an event later in the day. The HM1100S that I rode had 0 miles on it so I had to keep the RPM below 6000, which I respected and obeyed. This particular bike was outfitted with the Termignoni 2into1 full system, air filter, and ECU (which took a long time to fit without instructions!).
The strongest first impression of the bike was the seating position. It really felt like a motard! Maybe even more than my 560SMR - on the HM you really almost sit over the front wheel. It is quite strange for the first few miles, but it gets very comfortable quickly.
Once riding the first thing I noticed is how easily the bike transition from side to side. This bike handles much like a true motard. The weight is really not noticeable at all - on the road it feels light and like I said, it is amazingly nimble. The HM1100S shares the same monobloc calipers that the 1098/S has and they are quite amazing! It will stop anywhere you want it whenever you want it, just tell it what to do!
Even in keeping the bike under 6000 RPM there was plenty of power. The motor is smooth and really pulled well. I would have liked to take it above 6000, but honestly for street riding the 6000 limit was totally fine. It pulls super hard with gobs of torque from just above 4000 RPM on to some unspecified upper limit.
My bike will be the next one to arrive so I should see it quite soon, probably a week or two. I've also ordered the race seat which has arrived and is going to be a must have for the HM owner. As well I've ordered the race cams and ECU kit with the intention of buying an aftermarket full system once they become available. I like the 2into1 full system much better than I thought I would, but I still don't like the fact that it replaces the carbon fiber S side panels with plastic. Hopefully the aftermarket will come through with some great full systems in a timely fashion.
The rest of my parts should be in soon too. Some random carbon fiber and what not, but also I've already got an STM slipper, slave cylinder and titanium clutch cover.
Enough for now though... I'll share some more random thoughts later on once I get my bike!
Check out more images and larger images on my flickr act. here:
http://flickr.com/photos/desmoworks/...7600176443222/
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