Moore Street Luton They were Guzzi dealer's as well a mate bought a MK1 le man's from them still has it lovely bike
I remember they had a Luton branch, but yes Northampton branch £347 for a brand new dt50 twin shock white with red and blue stripes.....it’s like yesterday but I was 16
Neighbours moved out, as young lads do we went into there shed and there was a dumped monkey bike We got it started and rode it around the garden . When i was 17 I bought a rd 250 c that was 1979 . It was 916 that turned me on to Ducati , i dreamt about one, big foggy fan, nearly got one but kids got in the way made it too expensive for me. Lots of years and bikes later got a 1000ds multistrada my first Ducati. now have the 1200 touring s coming up to 5 years now
In 1990 whilst a student in London riding around on my RD 125 I was constantly drooling over the exotica I saw being ridden around the posh parts of the capital. Laverda’s and fancy modern stuff like GSXR slingshots. One day in the summer of 1990 whilst negotiating Holland Park roundabout I heard a sound like nothing before a single seat 851 rumbled past, sounding like a Spitfire. I followed it up towards Notting Hill Gate, the deep bellow from the upswept silencers bouncing off the walls. The fat 180 rear wheel on white rims looked beautiful as did the deep red fairings with the no 1 painted on the rear hump. Bikes at the time had garish multi colour paint schemes. This was just plain red, like a Ferrari. I was hooked and would see 851’s every now and then, as Simon le Bon, lord Linley and Alan De Cadenet we’re famous Ducati owners. The price of an 851 in 1990 was circa 13k. But stories of unreliability and breakdowns were notorious, I remained undeterred. Fireblades (3) and many other bikes followed until I found a mint 1990 25,000 mile bike in Sunderland. Rode it back to London and rode it to work and back for 5 yrs. As well as two trips to South of France as well as several track days. Never missed a beat. Got through a lot of tyres, never stuck to servicing routine. Always received nice compliments from other bikers/couriers. Thumbs up from car drivers. The usual comment was how great it sounded. Sold it with 75,000 miles. Biggest biking regret selling the old girl. Have tried tracking it down a few times. H348ATY. Bought another years later as well as other Dukes. Have owned loads over the years. But the 851/888 remain my favourite. It all began on one hot summers day in 1990.
When the Ducati super light first appeared I saw one in a bike shop, fell in love with the looks, decided to buy one but 10 minutes later saw a red faced rider pushing his back to the shop and thought “oh so the unreliability thing is true “ so continued with jap bikes, 3 or so years ago I was talking to a bike shop owner who’s opinion I trust, got talking about Ducati’s and he said “there’s nothing wrong with them, it’s the owners that are the problem”, a few weeks later I saw my 900ss on eBay for £1800, it was a no brainer at that price, and I’d never gotten rid of the itch to have one, bought it, love it, it’s never missed a beat, nor has my Scrambler.
Discovered that a good handling package was better than just having loads of power when I changed the standard frame on my 1980 GSX1100 with V&M tuned motor for a Moto Martin one. I took advice for my next bike from a mate who was on his 30th bike before he had reached his 30th birthday. He reckoned the 1991 Ducati 900SS was one of the best he had owned. Shortly after £6500.00 in £50 notes was transferred from my bank account into a brown envelope, counted out again on a kitchen table in Ashby de la Zouch and I was riding home on an 11 month old 1993 900SS. 160,000 Ducati miles later I have rarely ridden anything else.
Went to pick up payment for a job that was 30 miles away, customer was not in so phoned him up , he oppoligised as he was running late and was going to be another hour or so, to kill time I googled local bike dealers with the thought of doing a bit of window shopping, turned out to be a Ducati dealer, never considered a Ducati before that point, within half a hour deal was struck and deposite paid, costing me a fortune ever since.
1978......part ex of my Jota.... New bevel 900ss delivered and ridden 34yrs.....now on a 999...unfortunately not gonna be 34yrs .. Bugger
Started off 5 years back with a matte white Yamaha R125 after passing my cbt, had that for 18 months then thought the natural progression was an R6 for my first "big bike". Local group of bikers around here mostly have Jap I4's so I didn't want to just be another follower & had always dreamed of owning a Ducati after seeing the 998. Shopped around and saw thst 848's were just a tad more than an R6, went to see the bike I own now and it was love at l first sight, nothing short of it blowing up would have stopped me from buying her!
I were a fan of big suzuki's (I've owned all kinds of air, oil and water cooled suzuki's, 600's, 750's, 1100's, 1200's, gsx, gsxr, bandits etc but started dropping the amount of cylinders as I looked fur something different, went to triumph 3 cylinders (orginal speed triple, Daytona 955) Still too many cylinders, aprilia rsv 1000 next and thought ooo I like this, honda sp2 came next then my first Ducati, an 1198. Not had another manufacturer on the road since....
My first Ducati around 97/98, started on various field bikes, first road bike was a TS50ER and then too many to remember both road and track ones. Now waiting for 1st March and my 3rd Ducati.
