Love it when people realise it's a girl riding it Have been photographed a few time god knows why !!! Down side people assume your loaded even if you ride an old monster
I remember the moment... Walking through Edinburgh one day about 6 years ago, I saw a red ST4 with full luggage parked up - I knew in that moment that I had to have one of my own. After 12 months with an ST2, I now have an ST4s with luggage. Looking for a project bike now - would like a bevel twin or perhaps a Pantah.
It had to be a twin, I just don't get IL4s, then styling & noise made the only choice Ducati. I still look back every time I walk away from the bike.
As a kid i was cut up by a maniac in race rep cagiva era elephant leathers on an 888..i nearly shat my pants he was so loud and so close...but i fookin loved it..didnt rate the styling that much but it looked so exotic and i never saw another one all year..then the 916 came out and i hated it out of pure jealousy..thats when i knew i would own one... I lusted after a duke when Foggy and Corser were going toe to toe in WSB's...those cans, the gold wheels...the sheer beauty of the thing...and whilst the japs were all making bikes with names like ZXRSXGRR the ducati was just 3 numbers..bang, bang, bang...clinical... i drooled over the dukes in the bike shops but they were ridiculously priced..but they looked like real race bikes...the jap stuff was just a road bike made to look sexy..the sexiness of the Duke was in its DNA...sort of like an air cooled 911 vs a Honda Civic Type R. then the odd Bip would rock up at the bike meets and there would always be a crowd, ruined only by the middle aged tool who'd swing a leg over the thing and boom off down the street on his Exotic Italian lawn mower..Now I am that middle aged tool and everyone else can kiss my arris...
I remember the MHR ads in the monthlies of the period, and something just said "one day". I was just a kid, the Z1 derivatives were king, but after seeing the MHR nothing else would do it for me.
I started riding a 250 on L plates in 81 as a penniless student in Manchester, I used to walk past Sports Motorcycles everyday though I never went in, they had a huge HD in the window with new Triumphs, jap bikes and of course Ducatis, which I knew nothing about at the time. One summers day I walked past and a couple of mechanics were working on a red racing bike, a Ducati, no idea what it was, but god the noise it made when they finally kicked it into life.. it may have been an MHR with black aftermarket pipes or even an NCR, but whatever it was it left a lasting impression. Sometime later I bought a load of old Bike magazines from a show, one of which had this article (I still that magazine, and all the others I bought over the years), it made me so want to own a Black and Gold 78 Desmo SS, well it took about ten years but I did finally get a mint 78 Black and Gold Desmo SS, the first Ducati I ever rode..
In the photos I took of the article you can read it easily, but seems to have lost a lot of detail, so I tried again, this time with just one page per photo, its worth reading I think..
Dave Calderwood wrote this 900SS article, I think, when he was the editor of Bike. Soon after that he bought a MHR with his own money (!) and used to come to the West London DOC branch at Chiswick riding it sometimes.
First Ducati I rode breifly was a bevel 900ss owned by fellow Star Rider instructor Peter Bagnall, at the time I think I was on a Z650.....I thought it was just so exotic and sounded superb, however the cost always put them out of my reach......I remember seeing my first 916, I was playing an afternoon BBQ gig at Alnmouth near Alnwick and a guy plots up on said 916 instant crowd forms and it looked fantastic.....at this time I think I was on a Gixer 1100.....anyway in year 2000 was on a 1200 Bandit, popped in to local bike shop and there was an ST2 R reg, not many miles and not stupid money, so without knowing the first thing about Ducati's a deal was done. You should have seen my face when I picked it up the next weekend, laddo started it up and I thought it was fooked, I knew nowt about dry clutches!!!! Loved that bike and had it for 9 years and only sold it cos the 2nd divorce threw up some cash and I bought the current M1100s spankers from Ducati Glasgow, just love the power delivery......and I have met some of the VERY BEST people since owning a Ducati.....
That's a really good question. For me, it was initially about the design and the fact that Ducati were different to the usual Japanese IL4's I'd been riding for years. The engine configuration, the single sided swing-arm, the trellis frame and the beautiful design. However I, like many, had been put off by talk of shoddy build quality and reliability issues. When the 1098S appeared I was mesmerised by it's beauty. I then decided it was time to see for myself what all the fuss was about. It took me about 15 seconds to realise I was hooked on Ducati and I have been ever since.
it was a 1990 Fast bike review of the SP3! never looked back, never even considered another make.. it's very unlikely i ever will! if only i could find that article!
I was at the Ace Cafe bike event at Brighton and saw the most amazing bike I had ever seen-a Ducati MH900E.I had to have one and eventually I got one.It makes me feel good when I look at it,it makes me feel even better when I ride it and hear it.It has a special place in my garage.
