The Pantah is a watershed moment in the long and storied history of Ducati. Designed as a replacement to the bevel-gear model, the new “rubber-band” motor utilized toothed rubber belts to drive the valve action – a feature that lives on to the current day. The Pantah, as a replacement to the older round case and bevel-driven valve train motors, was built to be faster: faster to manufacture and assemble, faster to adjust and maintain, faster RPMs, and generally more performance. This is the foundation for everything from the 750 F1 to the modern day Monster (super-quadro Panigale models excepted). Not too bad for 1979 when the new motor was introduced.
1981 Ducati 500SL Pantah for sale on eBay
Today’s bike is a 500SL – the first model to be blessed with the new motor. This bike also features the customary trellis frame, and uses the engine as a stressed member in the arrangement (another feature that persists to this day). This was the bike and motor combo that started a new chapter for Ducati, and this particular example looks to be a true survivor. The seller has noted some minor non-stock items, but the majority is as Fabio Taglioni originally intended – right down to the original paint.
From the seller:
Condition wise, this is an unrestored survivor bike that is probably as stock as you will find. The only non stock items are the tires, battery, fuel lines, and mirrors. The cosmetic parts I did install were either new old stock or good used parts from the era. The original Verlicchi handgrips that I installed are a good example, I was quite excited to find them! The bike is even running an original airbox. I have the tool kit and all three keys for the ignition, steering lock, and gas cap. All of the appropriate frame tags are in place including the Berliner neck tag. The bodywork fit and finish are typical Ducati from the early 80’s. There are some spider cracks in the paint on the fairing, you can see some of the lines where 2 pieces of fiberglass were joined together, there are some rock chips here and there, etc, but it is ORIGINAL PAINT. My point is, this is a bike that has been ridden but taken care of and has all of the right patina and character you would hope for in an original machine. I am sure some will notice that the right hand muffler has a few dents, fear not, I have a nice original set of dent free Conti mufflers that will go with the bike. The seat has some cracks in the vinyl, but I would rather have a couple of cracks in the original seat cover than recover it and lose the originality. The gas tank has a light amount of corrosion, but I have decided to live with it rather that try to have it cleaned and risk damaging the original paint and stickers. Original and stock were very important to me with this bike. The speedometer is in kilometers and shows almost 19k, which translates to roughly 11.7k miles.
Located in Illinois, this 500SL shows 19,000 kilometers on the clock (slightly less than 12k in miles). The bidding has not been particularly strong at the time of this writing, and the bike has not met reserve. Check it out here, as there are not many 500SL models around the US in this kind of shape. While not the more vaunted F1 model, this first generation Pantah could be a great classic bike experience in the making.
MI
The 600 Pantah was the one to get.