Ducati stylists must’ve had a poster of the 1973 750 Sport on the wall when they were preparing the Sport Classic 1000 for production. Today’s example shares the 1973 color, low bars, unfaired monoposto formula, but with a generation’s newer engine and components.
2006 Ducati Sport Classic 1000 for sale on eBay
Though the bevel driven cams of the ’73 were iconic, the new dual-spark 992cc engine has been called one of Ducati’s best ever. The two-valver has electronic fuel injection and claims 91 hp, plus 67 ft.-lbs. torque. Ducati classic designs like the trellis frame and dry clutch are only natural, but current suspension and brake technologies were safety-related. Spokes hold the 17-inch alloy rims, and truncated single seat fairing ends way before the long dual exhausts and fender.
This Canadian auction has just a few pictures and a short comment, but luckily the Sport Classic itself carries the day. Bar risers are a nice addition, and the stainless pipes look great. Belts are new and it’s hard to imagine a mechanic-owner not setting the valve clearances. Tires might need to be addressed before the end of the season. From the eBay auction:
Excellent condition and owned since new by adult mechanic –
Ducati bar risers (20mm) and Keihan exhaust (sounds amazing).
The three Sport Classic varieties had a limited run, and actually came to be better appreciated after it ended in 2010. Not sure there’s much support for this starting bid, but a seller has to start someplace. Somewhere in between the Paul Smart commemorative and the two-up GT1000, the Sport Classic 1000 had the makings of a perfect Sunday morning. Some would say the stratosphere is no place for a Sport Classic but it’s another thing they’re not making any more of.
-donn
Mmmmm, those pipes are too Gabriels Trumpet for my taste. They just overpower the rest of the aesthetic presented by the rest of the bike.. stock pipes being provided with the sale would be a salvation, IMO.
Am I the only one who thinks this whole series of Ducati retro bikes are pure fugly?
Their values are now huge, yet they were basically a sales flop when first released.
The originals upon which they were based were very beautiful things, but the later iteration with the huge tank and lumpy seat, well they dont float my boat. That said I dont doubt they are marvellous bikes and function far better than the 70s bikes, but then again they should shouldnt they?
Modern tyres/suspension/brakes and particularly electrics are a universe away from the stuff coming out of Italy back in the day.
Thats before we get to the subject of chrome and paintwork.
I have owned both a GT 750 and an earlier Sport 750, and both bikes were brilliant to ride on country roads, after you replaced the electrics with stuff that worked – sold the Sport in order to stop myself carrying on at the Classic racing lark, and the GT went when prices grew silly and my personal circumstances cried out for an injection of funds. Still, I have a Moto Guzzi V11 to console myself with so mustnt grumble.
It saddens me to see so many old Italian bikes end up in glass cases-the open road is where they belong.
You’re not alone Locky. The Sport Classics, like the weird looking M900E that precedes this one on the site, are the work of Pierre Terblanche. His designs for Ducati, which include the 999, which almost sank the ship, and the Multistrada are often referred to euphemistically as “controversial” – the only Ducatis ever to have been considered ugly by some of us. Retro designs sell, of course, HD wouldn’t exist without them, and overstyling now seems routine, both in bikes and cars. Uncle Pierre also drew my Hypermotard, a bike I really enjoy, but it’s really a design mimicking something else.
we are approaching the next “Rubenesque Era” boys.
characteristic or reminiscent of the paintings of Rubens, especially with reference to his voluptuous female nudes.