Motorcyclist

Sumo Supermoto - Motorcyclist Comparo


Forget what the brochures say. These aren't supermoto bikes. Not supermoto as in supermotard, as in the French fusion of roadracing and motocross run on go-kart tracks with some dirt and a jump thrown in to keep things interesting. For the most part, they're crafty exercises in niche marketing. Naked twins dressed up to emulate the sort of thing Benny Carlson and Mark Burkhart back into corners for a living.

With the notable exception of Aprilia's SXV550 (see page 101 for more on that angry little animal), our lightest big-bore twin is nearly 200 pounds heavier than a proper supermoto racebike, and infinitely more civilized. This is a good thing, since something like Mr. Carlson's '07 AMA Supermoto Unlimited Championship-winning 550 has all the warmth and charm of a 12,000-rpm, 78-horsepower Insinkerator. Slideways fantasies notwithstanding, let's just say a real supermoto bike with lights is a bit too focused for 99.44 percent of the street-riding populace.

Meanwhile, our quartet of big twins serves up supermoto for the rest of us. More biased toward city streets and twisty back roads than the average broadband standard, they offer a sit-up alternative to the ubiquitous plastic-wrapped supersport. But BMW's HP2 Megamoto, Buell's XB12STT Super TT, Ducati's Hypermotard 1100 and KTM's 950 Supermoto R use decidedly different trajectories to hit that target. To figure out who comes the closest, we ran all four through a post-modern urban decathlon of surface streets, freeways, diabolically twisty backroads along with some fast bits, then capped it all off with a day at the racetrack. What happened? There's only one way to find out...





Click here for complete article