I believe the seller says it best in the ad for this very rare and very cool 350 Desmo:
Here is your chance to own this rare and beautiful piece of Ducati history.
Much like the Moto Morini K2 we recently posted, this Ducati is a V-twin and a mere 350cc. This makes it much smaller than the traditional four strokes collected by the readers of these pages. However RSBFS is all about the rare and hard to find, and you will not find a bike like this in any of our archives. Interested in how this little Ducati came to Tennessee? Read on.
From the seller:
Up for auction is my 1984 Ducati 350 SL Pantah Demso. I purchased this bike out of the Saltarelli collection at the RM auction in Monaco. This bike is in excellent original condition. I installed a new battery on the bike and it started right up. The Ducati runs and shifts great. Everything works as it should. The vin on the bike is DM350XL/301005.
In addition to being the lone Ducati 350 twin to grace the pages of RSBFS, this bike may be the only machine on the site to hail from Monaco. That’s right – this bike was imported from an auction in that famed principality.
What does a mini-Ducati run these days? That is a great question that will be answered in a week’s time. The price is up to $4,550 with reserve still in place with only light bidding. If you are interested and want to follow along at home, click the link and jump over to the auction. I for one wouldn’t mind adding this little gem to my stable, and I am very curious to find out how hot the bidding will become. What are your thoughts? Share them in the comments section!
MI
Ducati produced smaller bore versions of their bikes for markets with excessive taxes on displacements over 400cc. Japan in particular, which is why they’re very rarely seen or imported here. While this Ducati is lovely eye candy, the actual riding experience has to be a big disappointment- it probably makes only 35 horsepower. I’d expect bidding to be underwhelming as a reaction of that reality- it’s just not as desireable a full power, rest-of-the-world version.
The bike is listed in the rm auctions results. He paid around $4500 for it …. Not in cluding shipping to the US !
That begs the question of why he’s really selling the thing, only months after buying it and going to the trouble of an international transaction. Certainly not to make a quick profit, after paying for shipping from Monaco!
might be that he is having problems getting it past emissions
You would have to throw a 650 Cagiva Allazurra engine in it and change the stickers on the sidepanels to read 650, but you would have to pick it up cheaper to make it a worthwhile project. I have an F1 but would not have bought an F3 to bang in a bigger motor in it, too much hassle, so this one may not get the higher pricing as it too would be too much hassle, better to find a nice 600 pantah that hasnt yet risen too much in price. Still she is a rare beastie, just doesnt have the go to match the show
BTW: Love your site it is a daily read for me.
[…] is the second Ducati 350 Desmo we have had on these pages in the past few months. This bike looks to be in decent condition for […]