Many associate the Ducati brand with V-twins, but after the company released the first single-cylinder engined bike in three decades, it might be time to rethink. Sure, the configuration still thrives in the form of the Superquadro V2 and Testastretta desmos, but it’s the V4 Desmosedici Stradale R and Granturismo powerhouses that make the big numbers these days.
The release of another non-twin for the 2024 model year – another performance-focused headline maker at that – threatens to shake up not only some Ducatisti purists but also our perceptions of what a single-cylinder engine should be.
The Superquadro Mono is Ducati's first single since the 549cc Supermono racer of the mid-1990s and first production single since the bevel engines of the 1970s. Effectively one half of a 1299cc Superquadro V2 Panigale, the 659cc, four-valve desmo makes 57kW (76hp) and revs to an astonishing 10,250rpm, making it both the most powerful and highest revving production single the world has yet seen.
The first machine to receive the 698 Mono power unit (because Ducati would be mad not to build an entire platform around this engine) is the all-new Hypermotard 698 Mono: 151kg of extra-light and fast-steering fun and games, a road legal but virtually ready-to-race supermoto scalpel.
The Hypermotard’s chassis
