Costa Mouzouris brings us the 2010 Ducati Hypermotard 796 Launch Report from Bologna, Italy, enjoying the European roads and a bit of a shower.

There’s a lot of buzz about Ducati’s upcoming Adventure oriented Multistrada replacement, but do we really have to wait? We at OneWheelDrive.Net have gotten impatient. Well, that and our 640 Adventure is waiting for parts, so can our long term loaner Hypermotard stand in?

There it is, the scrape of hard knee puck plastic against pavement – proof positive of the Ducati Monster 1100S’s prowess. At coffee shops the world over Monster owners will high-five over lattés celebrating what great riders they are, the truth is in the bike though.

The parking lot encircling the hotel was packed, despite it being a weekday. Among a sea of rental fleet specials, a leviathan tractor trailer was parked, taking up four parking slots and the adjacent lane. …

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In the tunnel a mid-90’s blue Cavalier pulls along side. Glancing to the right, through the glass, I see the driver mouthing the words, “Is that the new Monster?” I nod. He gives …

Back in 1971 Shirley Bassey was singing “Diamonds are Forever” and Ducati had just released the GT750, a product of Fabio Taglioni’s (Dr. T’s) prediction that motorcycle displacements were on the rise. The engineer …

The “236” leading to Big Basin outside San Francisco narrows from two lanes to what can generously be described as one and a half. The surface is a “squirm” of tar snakes, wetted to …

Riding into the city the dome of the windscreen reflects the Lion’s Gate Bridge’s lights in a moment of cinematic grace reminiscent of David Bowman’s face shield in Kubrick’s 2001: Space Odyssey. The clocks are …

It’s a scene from a script.  The Ducati 1098S ascends the Angeles Crest, while below a fierce wildfire consumes hectares of brush in L.A.’s Griffith Park.  Cut to news footage of residents evacuating the southern …

My shoulders are molten slag, my wrists are twin torments worthy of the inquisition, the Rocky Mountain air has taken on a hypothermic edge, and rain torrents through my perforated leathers so hard it stings …

There is power here; I felt it first riding along the serpentine asphalt that serves as the entryway to Laguna Seca.  Now, stepping out onto the pit lane the energy intensifies, the new-age types might …

Dear Ducati,
What would possess you to create a bike like the Multistrada 1000?  This is not a motorcycle so much a dopamine pump directly to the fun-centre of the brain; a two-wheeled narcotic of Hunter …

This morning, it seems, someone swapped my regular of dose of Raisin Bran with a big bowl of stupid.  The scrape of the knee-puck is official notice; I’m being an idiot and my actions are …

Kevin Davis from Ducati Canada is waxing poetic about the Supersport 1000 DS, “It’s a really good track bike.  I was doing 240kp/h down the front straight, that’s more than enough.”  Not being conversant with …

The Termignoni burble menacingly to themselves, the dry clutch issues its rattle, and while others hear a cacophony, a Ducatista hears a very special opus.  That sentence in itself could be used to describe any …

The engine is thrumming, the throttle is pegged, and I’m in the best areo-tuck 6’2” 200lbs of editorial content can manage.  The windscreen begins to vibe a bit. I bump the rev limiter in the …

After a short bit of town and freeway riding from John Valk BMW Ducati, it’s pulling out of US customs where Ducati’s Monster S4R shows it’s true nature.  A little too much gas may have …

I’ve just been through a series of corners on the Ducati 999, and I’m searching for words to describe it; heady, exhilarating, enthusiastic, invigorating, enlivening and inspired all leap to mind. Then I hit on …