The DB1 was the quintessential Bimota, packaging a reliable Italian powerplant into a lightweight package with excellent handling… Wait, what? Actually, in spite of what you might expect, the belt-driven, SOHC Pantah engine is very reliable when properly maintained, and can be tuned to make good power. Sure, the 75 claimed horses don’t sound like…
Built between 2002 and 2004, the Ducati 998 was the last hurrah for Tamburini’s masterpiece. It might look like Ducati simply bumped the displacement and changed the graphics, compared to the 916 and 996, but there was a subtle evolution that took place throughout production, with Ducati developing race specials with revised engines and frames that…
With its last major refreshening in 2003, the Ducati Supersport waited out the inevitable without much fanfare. Concentrating on the 1000cc variant, even Ducati’s own model archive doesn’t show the 800 SuperSport after 2004. Lightweight and simple compared to the SuperBikes, the SS models are great riders and the sculptural Pierre Terblanche design is still…
The late designer Sergio Robbiano’s upright response to his Bimota DB5, the DB6 Delirio is a motard variant, an urban sportbike based on the Ducati 992 desmodue. Factory-made but hardly mass-produced, the Delirio has inspired design, innovative solutions and superb components. 2007 Bimota DB6 Delirio for sale on eBay If the trellis frame of 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.…
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…
The Bimota DB2 is one of the more rare Bimotas. Not built in the same numbers as the YB or SB model series, the DB2 evolved from the magnificent DB1 racer and homologated road bike. Small and nimble, but packing serious desmo-twin grunt, the DB2 is a rider’s dream. However what we are looking at…
The Ducati 851 was the evolution of the Pantah-based “rubber band” motor series that paid out most handsomely for Ducati. Simultaneously adding liquid cooling, a 4-valve desmo head and fuel injection, the 851 significantly raised the performance game for the Italian brand and launched a new all-out attack into Superbike racing. This evolutionary series laid…