Starting in July, Ducati will have a new Hypermotard 950 variant for you to chose from, as the Italian brand has just announced the Ducati Hypermotard 950 RVE.
The new “RVE” model is a spitting image of the Ducati Hypermotard 950 concept that we saw last year at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, which got rave reviews from us and many others.
Interestingly enough though, the Hypermotard 950 RVE is built off the base model Hypermotard, adding the unique graphics package of the concept, as well as an up/down quickshifter that comes as standard on the “SP” variant.
Ducati says that to make the “graffiti” paint scheme feasible for mass production, it had to create a whole new painting process that employed highly trained workers and extra-thin decals.
In the press materials, Ducati likens the process to that of airbrushing the graphics onto the bodywork.
The Hypermotard 950 RVE is meant to sit between the base model and SP version, and thus doesn’t have the Öhlins suspension and forged aluminum wheels from the higher-end model.
From our testing of the bike, that won’t make too much of a difference for one’s typical hooligan use, though the Hypermotard 950 SP does enjoy a little more ground clearance and lean angle, thanks to those Swedish suspenders.
There is no word on price yet for the American market, but we would expect something around $14,000 MSRP to be in the ballpark. For instance, pricing on the Ducati Hypermotard 950 RVE in Italy is set at €13,500 which is only a €750 premium over the base model there.
Call it a case of when “bold new graphics” are really bold new graphics. We were a big fan of the concept bike, so it warms our Hypermotard-loving hearts to see the bike getting a bit more playful with its graffiti livery.
There aren’t too many bikes like the Hypermotard 950 in the motorcycle industry (and that’s a crying shame), and Ducati has done a good job here of further setting apart this unique model. May your whoolies be dank, my friends.
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