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The Hypermotard is Ducati's V-Twin, 1100cc take on the supermoto concept. As such it's been designed to offer all the excitement of a conventional supermoto, but with added style, practicality and usability. Bold claims, maybe, but in the flesh it's all this and more. The first time you clap eyes on it, it simply stops you in your tracks.

Up close, the Hypermotard is more muscular and purposeful than it seems in pictures. It's also much smaller, more compact and has many more beautifully-detailed touches than you expect, too; things like dinky lever span adjusters, an LED-encrusted rear spoiler-cum-grabrail and 1098-style radial Brembo brake calipers. Two-wheeled jewelry of the highest order, the lot of it. Even the Hypermotard's color (you can have any you want as long as it's red) seems even more blood red than you expect.

The total effect of all this is to imbue the Hypermotard with a classy, expensive, even exotic air that stablemates such as the Monster or Multistrada have never quite managed. But here's the best bit: the Hypermotard is also an affordable Ducati. It'll cost a quite mouth-watering €7750 ($11,495 U.S.) when it hits showrooms in June. While the 'S' version is here at the end of the month and is €8999 ($13,995 U.S.).

Ok, that may sound a lot for a supermoto, but the Ducati is much more than just a cut-and-shut. If it's fun, style and attitude you're after, the Hypermotard will keep you amused long after you've got tired of that single-cylinder supermoto gathering dust in your garage.

At 10 a.m. on Sunday morning we set off on what turned out to be the ultimate Sunday ride-out: an epic 60-mile route winding through glorious Sardinian mountain roads, and an afternoon at the track messing about with World Superbike nutter Ruben Xaus on the 'S' version. As if this wasn't enough, Ducati insisted we first sit down to watch the MotoGP from China before we set off! Lucky for all of us Casey won and all at Ducati were beaming all day.

That said, the first few miles on board the Hypermotard are an alien experience. You sit very tall and are perched well forward. Aside from the LCD multi-functional racing dash, there's very little bike in your peripheral vision. It's like you're looking down from a window ledge on top of a skyscraper and initially it freezes you in the same way - you daren't brake or corner too hard for fear that you might fall over the edge. But that feeling soon goes away as you start to get to grips with what is the most exciting Ducati this side of a 1098S.

Around town the Hypermotard is a joy, mainly due to the how incredibly smooth the big V-Twin engine is. The throttle response is peachy too, the gearbox slick and just like a supermoto it's super-agile.

Best of all are the mirrors that fold out from the end of the handlebars. Although when extended they make the bars seem really wide (look at the pictures to see what I mean) - like those cow-horns you used to see on pushbikes as a kid - they work brilliantly and don't vibrate. Alternatively, you can tuck them right out of the way when playing at being a dispatch rider through the traffic or when visiting the track. Ok, it's a bit gimmicky, but it is a really good idea, too. If you're not keen, you can buy a pair of stalks and mount the mirrors in a more conventional way.

The Hypermotord also has a decently-proportioned seat, which is comfy for all day riding, while rubber-topped pegs and rubber handlebar mounts keep vibes away from the rider. The clutch action has been lightened by 30% compared to the 1100 Mutistrada, which makes life easier, too.

Ducati chose this air-cooled twin-spark, two-valve 1078cc V-Twin engine compared to say, the old 999 lump, for a number of reasons. The 'DS' motor is light to begin with, and thanks to a number of tweaks, including a dry clutch it's another 1.6 kg (3.58 lbs) lighter. It produces a whole heap of torque at just 4750 rpm too. But there is a fine line between this 90-hp DS engine being a smile-igniter and a disappointment, and that's all down to how much weight it has to push along.

In the relatively heavy Multistrada 1100 it never really delivers - there's a blast of low-down stomp then it fizzles out and fun-time is over. But as we discovered last year, when fitted in something super-light, such as the BMX-like Bimota DB6, it is truly electrifying. I'm pleased to say the Hypermotard is light enough to take full advantage of this burbling V-Twin engine.

So the Hypermotard certainly isn't just a Multistrada with different clothes. It weighs a full 17 kg (37.48 lbs) less thanks to many of its components being honed, tweaked and lightened. At just 179 kg (394.62 lbs), the tank-empty weight is less than a road-going Supersport 600.

But there's no point in revving this engine, instead you need to ride the torque. Once you've scrubbed off speed with the Ducati's incredibly powerful twin radial Brembo set-up, the trick is to tip into the corners with around 4000 rpm showing on th

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