My brother-in-law had a 350 Sebring then a 1972 MK 3 450 single (which he still owns). I owned a 1979 Suzuki GS 750 and in 1980 or thereabouts, I heard about a local blue & silver 1975 900ss that the owner was possibly going to sell. RH gearchange, no indicators, essentially a production racer on the road. I popped round to see the owner who said he was not sure whether he was going to sell or not but offered me a spin on it anyway! It was so utterly different from an inline four. I remember it felt very long, the torque and engine-braking so alien and the sucking sound of the open bell mouth Dell'Orto's on opening the throttle wide was utterly addictive. I didn't buy it (probably couldn't have afforded it anyway to be truthful) but bought my first Ducati, a 2004 Monster S4R in 2005 as a direct result of that experience 25 years later. I now ride an 1100 Evo Monster & a Paul Smart. Not as often as I would like but I wouldn't be without them. Riding a V (or L twin) is just so satisfying compared to other configurations (when you get the gearchange just right)!
Eau rouge at spa, sat with a can of Stella 25-30 years ago in the little seating area can’t think of a better heart in mouth bend at a circuit, endurance race middle of the night lap after lap a ducati coming round sounding like on tickover but matching the screaming 4’s, you really had to be there to hear this thing or things I was in awe, 1994 at the Bol, the 916 was on display it blew my mind a thing of absolute beauty, Jamie witham going down the start/finish at Mallory doing a stoppy on a 916 after winning from memory, as said above foggy say no more...as said above too the modern ducati is not what I fell in love with, I keep bleating on about my incoming 1198 but that shape to me is where it ends, it’s all opinions and that’s only mine, performance of the latest Ducati’s might be incredible but that is not at the top of my list, a bike you can sit looking at all night with a brew is what ducati used to be but it’s changed, yes they are still lovely obviously but they are not as special not as far in front as they always were.
Poster of a black and gold 900SS on my older Brother's bedroom wall. Don't have the time or money to care for a Bevel but this is a pretty close approximation
My mate talked me into getting one....this... I kept it for a year and literally swapped it for the RSV4 i still own. In 20 odd years of biking id never owned anything with fairing. Plus, i could not (at the time) get used to the fact it sounded like the engine was going to detonate any minute (sold my gen z1000 to get this). Had a go on a mates r6 and wrote it off in just under 3 minutes (superbike magazine confirmed at the time its the quickest write of they'd ever heard of. Purely by sheer luck i found a breakers that had all the bit i needed for 1k...result...i couldnt flog the thing for love nor money but found a shop that would swap it for this... This one really clicked. I knew what they were all about and this one i flogged to get my z1000 gen4 which i still own. Ive gotta say on flogging this one and waiting for the money to transfer i was thinking it was a bad idea - the noise had grown on me and i loved the bike. For a year or so i could'nt stop thinking about the noise, the sheer grunt and the looks, so settled on this (really got it from the other half as i said i could get one for about 5k and ended up spending close to 8k on the evo sp. And here i am two years plus later, totally happy with it with a steady list of bling to add to it....bitubo 3 way rear shock next... Just fitted the black brembo calipers last week for some colour coding and back from the dyno Friday.
In the seventies when I was seventeen and in the market for my first 250 I saw a picture of one of these and was smitten, but never got to own one. I think I made some effort to find one but I can't remember if if they were even available in the UK? I ended up taking a different route, mainly Jap with odd British, but 40 odd years later I finally got to own my first Ducati...…..those wasted years Not really, in truth I have enjoyed all of my bikes in different ways. I am now however finally a very proud and happy Ducati owner!
I received a healthy inheritance in the late '90's when I was in my 20's which enabled me to move on from the ZXR's and SRAD's I was (badly) racing and buy a new 916 strada closely followed by a 955 corsa, a big country house and various four wheeled exotica. I'm divorced now and it all seems a lifetime ago. The bikes are still on the journey and I don't give two f's about the rest of the stuff as I'm a bit of a gypsy anyway. The ex-wife is fat and grey and I have a beautiful French girlfriend who is amazing in the sack. Merry Christmas everybody!
Growing up with motorcycles being the passion of my father, with various bikes in different states of build. I started riding very young, but cars for years kept me interested when I came of age to ride legally on the road. Then this rather special bike came along: Arthur Merrett’s ISDT works Vincent Series-B Rapide, one of my fathers most special bikes and it was a pleasure to ride. That helped me to restart my love of motorcycles. I always loved V-twins and the character of Ducati drew parallels for me with the Vincent’s at a fraction of the price. So purchased my first road bike a 749 dark and have never looked back since.
Ha ha, no that would have been sacrilege. It road without any issues from home down to Italy and back for a anniversary event. I try to do the pioneer run each year (weather permitting) but it’s fairly common to have some sort of breakdown, in comparison Ducati’s have Honda levels of reliability
yep....y'cant buy them anymore...infact...when i sold the evo it went with the paddock stand....i bought the paddock stand back!!
In the mid 70s me and some mates were in Bude we all had Suzuki 2 strokes there were 2 Ducati 750ss round case with German plates parked outside a pub they looked amazing and sounded even better. I was hooked had a couple of singles my first Bevel Twin was a 860 GTE pig ugly but I loved it still got it later bought a Darmah and then a 900ss both new from Coburn.& Hughes ridiculously cheap they couldn't shift them. I still have all 3 Bevel Twins there my pension fund
