This bike was raced extensively by Dave Cartwright between 1978 and 1980. He achieved excellent results in British short circuit racing and completed three Formula 1 TT’s finishing 16th in 1978 – the year of Hailwood’s famous victory - 14th in 1979 and 18th in 1980. With a best lap time of over 100MPH, this bike is no slouch. Dave was sponsored by Mick Walker and he is pictured in Mick’s book “Ducati Desmo – The making of a masterpiece” on pages 107 and 108. Original Borrani rims are fitted. Please note that this is not a concours bike and shows signs of being raced (e. g. welded up foot rest). There is a considerable history file with letters from Mick Walker and Dave. Everything works although there is no MoT as I have not been using it. I am only selling this bike because I am now unable to kick start it! This would be a pefect bike for anyone wanting to do the proposed parade lap at the Manx this year. The price is £26,995.
Lovely. I would say that is a great bike with provenance at a very reasonable price. Bikes without such history fetch more. That would be in my garage if funds allowed. GLWS I doubt it will hang around for long.
Paul, I knew you would approve, in fact I was going to forward you the link in case you hadn’t noticed it already. Standard 900ss bikes with no history are selling for mid 20’s. This has to be a bargain for someone. Paul, shall we go halves?
I think I would look very good riding it on the Manx parade lap. Not sure there would be room for two of us though
SP4S. There is some suggestion that the headers were modified to increase ground clearance but I cannot be sure.
They're definitively not OEM headers, they've been changed or modified for better ground clearance. The LH header looks like the OEM pipe fitted to the latter '79 onwards MHR's. The fuel tank is probably correct? But back then there was an option for a GRP larger IMOLA tank, the RH gear change was only on the '75 SS, The steel tank is from a latter '76 onwards bike and the crankcases are from a later (late) '77 onwards "Bosch" ignition model. So it's a "Bitsa" cobbled up to go racing back in the day. I remember watching it being raced around the TT course. Steve R
This bike is pretty much unchanged from when I previously owned it in 1989. It has been a race bike most of it life with some road use when I owned it before but I don't believe it has been raced since Dave Cartwright's days. It is 1977 in the V5. The tank and gear change are as per the pictures in Mick Walker's book. This is not aimed at anyone wanting an "original 900SS". This is a road race bike which has seen some life but has a really nice story to go with it. Bitsa? Cobbled? Depends on your point of view. Thats all I have to say on the subject and if anyone is interested, please PM me.
