Ducati’s 916 bikes were built in great enough numbers, and are available for sale often enough, that it’s sometimes hard to think of them as “rare.” I mean, it’s much harder to find a nice ZX-7R than it is a 996 these days. But while we may have become a bit blasé about these former…
The Ducati 851 debuted in 1987 and featured brand-new four-valve heads and liquid-cooling, revolutionary design features for the already venerable 90° L-twin. The Pantah engine, while very durable even under racing conditions, was limited in terms of outright power by its two-valve heads and air/oil cooling. Ducati wanted to compete in World Superbike racing, and…
This weaponized Ducati Superleggera, resplendent in nuclear red paint that looks like it causes cancer to people standing near it is one of those bikes that lives up the hype. Many Ducati special editions have been a bit disappointing, unless you were looking for a living room decoration. All that carbon fiber added to the…
Well, this certainly isn’t the best-photographed Ducati Supermono I’ve come across: those pics look straight out of some grainy newsreel footage from the 1940’s, but it’s still beautiful, and this is one of those bikes we always have to post when they come along. Perhaps the very best of Terblanche’s futuristic designs, it looks obviously…
The Ducati 750 Sport was an interim model introduced in 1988 that followed on the heels of the F1. Ducati owners Cagiva hoped to capture the spirit and style of the vaunted 750SS, but buyers weren’t having it, and the bike was replaced by the long-running 900SS of the early 1990’s. The F1 was relatively…
While Ducati’s MHE and 900SS may be collectible and iconic now, they were seriously long in the tooth by the time they were discontinued, and even the Pantah-engined SS didn’t exactly offer cutting-edge performance when new. In order to keep their racing heritage alive in any meaningful sense, Ducati needed a top-shelf sportbike like the…
The road-going version their GP7 racer, the Desmosedici was a limited edition of 1500, but more limited by stratospheric pricing and long lead times. Originally offered to only Ducati cognoscenti, the $72,500 cycle was way more than could be used on the road, the spec sheet having enough of everything for two or three sportbikes.…
On the air-cooled side of the 1995 Ducati showroom, possibly back in a corner, was the 900 SS/CR. Not leading edge like the 916 or 748, not as racy as the 900 Superlight, not a new naked Monster, a nice bargain but not like the 600 or 750, the 900 SS/CR had its own gap…