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October 28, 2007
Latest Addition to the Stable
The early 90's Ducati 750 Sports did not interest me until fairly recently, when I began to appreciate them for their clean lines and relative (to the 4-valvers) simplicity.
My 851 is not much of a commuting bike, since it barely reaches running temperature in the 4.6 miles to the office, and one can use but 2 of its six gears on the local surface streets. I have been tempted from time to time by the 907 Paso, but I still cannot overcome my initial aversion to the fully enclosed motorcycle. However, the Paso is one of the two parents of the 750 Sport, and I have found the people at DucatiPaso.org very welcoming and helpful. The other parent to the 750 Sport is the 750 F1, who shares the same Verlicchi frame, aluminum swing arm, and convertible seat. As readers here will note a couple entries down, F1's are too rich for my blood. The major difference between the F1 and the 750 Sport is that the latter has the rear cylinder reversed so that the inlet ports face each other in order to use the Weber carb. Most folks swapped out the difficult-to-tune Weber out for Dell'Orto's or Mikuni's.
The 750 Sport only lasted a couple of years, from 1989-1990. In 1991, Ducati altered the bodywork, added a gear (to six), and dropped a disk (from double fixed discs to a single floater). By the time they added the second disk, the 750's had too much of a modern look for my tastes.
In all honesty, now is not the best time for me to acquire yet another motorcycle, but I know that I would regret passing this up if I did so there you have it. Another rationalization for this impulsive purchase is that when friends come visit we can ride Ducati's together. I would not ask someone to learn the left hand gear shift routine of the Morini and I on the Morini would fall behind the 851, humiliated .
[Added 12-28-07] I have since discovered that the 750 Sport is no more of a commuting machine and in some ways less of one than the 851. Neutral is hard to find, which tends to make intersections a bother. Furthermore, the 750 Sport is if anything more cold-blooded than its larger stablemate.
In any case, it does make for a nice guest bike.
Posted by Underblog at October 28, 2007 9:48 AM
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