Ducati just announced the new Hypermotard 950 RVE, a middle-of-the-range version of the high-end Italian hooligan bike.
We haven’t seen many new releases in the moto-world in the past few months. With COVID-19 wrecking everyone’s plans for 2020, manufacturers have pushed back release dates and delayed other plans for new models. Even the gearmakers have put this riding season on hold, with new jackets and other riding equipment on hold.
For that reason, it’s no surprise the Ducati Hypermotard 950 RVE is not an all-new machine, just a mix-and-match job that plugs an empty slot in the lineup.
The Hypermotard 950 RVE is very similar to Ducati’s base 950 supermoto, with a liquid-cooled L-twin making 114 horsepower—it doesn’t have the same Ohlins suspension and Marchesini wheels of the SP version. It does have an up/down quickshifter, though, allowing for clutchless gear changes in either direction. Throw in some saucy graffiti-style graphics, and you’ve got the RVE. The upgrades place it right in the middle of the Ducati 950 Hypermotard lineup; the base model is less flashy, with no quickshifter, and the SP model has the high-end chassis parts and other trick add-ons.
Ducati teased a concept very similar bike last year, at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este festival. The production version doesn’t have quite as much high-end componentry, but it’s something to excite the Ducati fanbase, and will offer buyers a chance to have an edgier version of the Hypermotard for a few extra bucks. The RVE variant is only an extra 750 euros in Italy. Canadian pricing and availability is a mystery, but we’d expect to see this machine arrive sooner or later.
