HALF-PRICE HEROES
2017–on 113bhp 71lb·ft 810mm 210kg
Classic Ducati V-twin charisma in a compact, sweet-handling chassis with an emphasis on the sporty side of sports touring
NEW £15,795 USED £8299 -48%
Look at it. I mean, just look at it. How could anyone in their right mind object to opening the garage door every morning and seeing a baby-red Ducati SuperSport S sitting there looking back at them?
The V-twin won awards for its styling when it was launched, and rightfully so – it’s a pretty bike, well ‐proportioned, looking sporty but not uncomfortably racy. From the single-sided swingarm, Y-spoked rear wheel, neatly ‐waisted tail unit, gold Öhlins shock and double-barrelled exhaust, to the sleek slab of fairing and those gold Öhlins at the front with radial gunmetal Brembos hanging off the end – there’s not a design mis-step in sight. Compared to the raft of angular, insectoid styles coming from Japan, in 2017 the SuperSport was a breath of conventional fresh air – and it still looks classily fabulous today.
The SuperSport has at least half a wheel in sports ‐tourer territory – the riding position is compact, balanced and canted forward, but it’s not a race replica and is closer to the riding position of something like a Honda CBR650R than a Panigale. It’s an everyday practical sportsbike – as capable of riding across France, Belgium and Germany with panniers and a tank bag (and a 140 ‐mile range from the 16 ‐litre tank) as blending corners at Cadwell Park on a trackday. And it’s equally as good at both.
The motor is Ducati’s versatile 937cc Testastretta V ‐twin, also found in various states of tune in the Hyperstrada, Monster and Multistrada V2. In the first-gen, Euro4 SuperSport S – the bike we have here – the motor makes 113bhp and 71lb·ft of torque; a new Euro5 SuperSport S is 109bhp and 69lb·ft, which means our older bike feels slightly peppier than a new one. And it’s a romping, gutsy power delivery, chugging at lower revs and charging forward at the top end, loaded with performance but wrapped in what was, in 2017, an uncharacteristic civility.
And it still is, because the SuperSport motor is a smooth, tractable, flexible unit; one of the first of a fresh generation of Ducatis that cleaned up all the clattering, recalcitrant rough edges of previous Bolognese V-twins, and instead brought a new veneer of refinement to the power delivery and powertrain.
The SuperSport is still loaded with unique, thumping V-twin character (which no amount of Japanese and Austrian parallel twin 270° crankery can ever authentically replicate), but it’s easy to use and forgiving – you don’t have to worry too much about finding the right gear. Just open the taps and let the motor yowl as it pings from apex to apex, banging through
