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Ducati 750 Imola Desmo
- Thread starter TK4
- Start date
Cool bike. Not one I will ever own.
Direct link in case news article disappears in the future.
www.goodingco.com
Direct link in case news article disappears in the future.
1972 Ducati 750 Imola Desmo
Gooding & Company is recognized the world over as a leading automotive auction house specializing in the finest antique, classic, sports and racing cars.
www.goodingco.com
Very cool. But if I'm that flush with cash and throwing it around, I think I'd rather pay 1/10 the price and import a Vee-Two to thrash around without worrying about "originality".
www.mcnews.com.au
Ritorno powered Vee Two Imola Evo | Brook Henry
Brook Henry decided to apply his near 40 years of Ducati bevel experience to modernise the venerable bevel motor. The Western Australian employed current day materials and knowledge - while at the same time retaining its unique exterior appearance. So was born the Ritorno (Return), motor!
www.mcnews.com.au
The holy grail of motorcycling... if you're into Ducs. In case you didn't know, this bike is reason you all have heard of Ducati motorcycles, before this bike Ducs were little singles that only Italians could figure out how to make them go fast (actually this bike is the first iteration of the model. The bike that Paul Smart rode in the '72 Imola (this bike) had a Seely frame, the Taglioni frame appeared later in '72, which ran the Mille and the IOM and that was sold to the public as a Ducati imola, the '73 "green frame". The GT was released first, then the Imola, followed by the 750SS).
The story goes: In 1970 the Italian government was broke and they asked italian manufacturers to concentrate on foreign currency. Fiat owned a big part of Ducati at the time and asked NCR to develop a bike to sell to the Americans. Americans like BIG bikes. (See... Ducati did things differently from everybody else. The rest of the bike community designs a street bike, then hands it to the race department and says "race this". Ducati had NCR (their race department, that was actually a arms length separate company, un-officailly run by Taglioni... but it was Taglioni's fiefdom, he ran the show) build a racer, that they handed to the "street" department and said "Make a street bike out of that".
Ducati didn't HAVE any big bikes to sell, so in less than a year Taglioni drops this... normally it would take several years to develop a new bike... and Taglioni pulled this race winner out in record time and then won the Imola, the Mille and the IOM, the three biggest races in Europe.
That was, and still IS un-pecedented, and was the birth of modern Ducati.
I have a GT750, which shares the geometry and motor with this bike, and I have ridden a VERY faithful reproduction of a "green frame" and I'll tell you they are DIFFERENT. They REALLY take some getting used to. It's funny to watch people get off the bike for the first time: EVERY one of them has a WTF look on their face. The longest wheelbase bikes I have ridden... if you think driving a scenic cruiser bus at terminal speed would be fun, this is the bike for you. It takes real effort to make them change direction
And I'll tell anyone that THINKS they want a Bevel, You're wrong: You REALLY want a Laverda SF or SFC. It's a better bike... and a LOT cheaper (SF stands for "Super Freni" or "great brakes". Who doesn't want great brakes? SFC? Super brakes competition))
The last Duc to have any Taglioni in it was the 900SS from '92-97
AFIK these bikes were the last bikes anywhere designed by one guy, Fabio Taglioni had his name on every part of that bike, it was his baby. All other bikes are designed by committee. Fabio Taglioni is my hero. Toshiaki Kishi is a runner up... he did the 2nd gen VFR, the "baby" 400VFR and the the RC31 (but it wasn't the same dynamic)
There is a thread about bikes with "character" and I said I don't know what a bike with "character" IS... but if ANY bike had "character" this is it... and ALL the "character" can be traced back to one guy... MY HERO: Fabio Taglioni, Fabio was a CHARACTER in motorcycle developement.
And a spot of trivia: Brook Henry built the bikes for "the World's Fastest Indian" and all the stationary shots used a Indian Scout, all the action shots, with the body work on, used a Ducati bevel twin
OH... and Ducati's reputation for being "hard" to work on comes from these bikes, they were complicated, with their wierd valve train gears. All the Ducs that came after are no more complicated than a Honda. On a Honda when you screw up the valve timing, you turn the motor over 720 degrees and you're back to where you started... on a round case bevel, when you screw up the timing you have to turn the engine 4320 degrees, 12 crankshaft rotations, to get all the gears back to the original orientation. Ya get used to it.
... and Desmo first appeared on a motorcycle in 1923, on a Norton, it had a purpose in 1972, but it's just a sales gimmick in 2024
The story goes: In 1970 the Italian government was broke and they asked italian manufacturers to concentrate on foreign currency. Fiat owned a big part of Ducati at the time and asked NCR to develop a bike to sell to the Americans. Americans like BIG bikes. (See... Ducati did things differently from everybody else. The rest of the bike community designs a street bike, then hands it to the race department and says "race this". Ducati had NCR (their race department, that was actually a arms length separate company, un-officailly run by Taglioni... but it was Taglioni's fiefdom, he ran the show) build a racer, that they handed to the "street" department and said "Make a street bike out of that".
Ducati didn't HAVE any big bikes to sell, so in less than a year Taglioni drops this... normally it would take several years to develop a new bike... and Taglioni pulled this race winner out in record time and then won the Imola, the Mille and the IOM, the three biggest races in Europe.
That was, and still IS un-pecedented, and was the birth of modern Ducati.
I have a GT750, which shares the geometry and motor with this bike, and I have ridden a VERY faithful reproduction of a "green frame" and I'll tell you they are DIFFERENT. They REALLY take some getting used to. It's funny to watch people get off the bike for the first time: EVERY one of them has a WTF look on their face. The longest wheelbase bikes I have ridden... if you think driving a scenic cruiser bus at terminal speed would be fun, this is the bike for you. It takes real effort to make them change direction
And I'll tell anyone that THINKS they want a Bevel, You're wrong: You REALLY want a Laverda SF or SFC. It's a better bike... and a LOT cheaper (SF stands for "Super Freni" or "great brakes". Who doesn't want great brakes? SFC? Super brakes competition))
The last Duc to have any Taglioni in it was the 900SS from '92-97
AFIK these bikes were the last bikes anywhere designed by one guy, Fabio Taglioni had his name on every part of that bike, it was his baby. All other bikes are designed by committee. Fabio Taglioni is my hero. Toshiaki Kishi is a runner up... he did the 2nd gen VFR, the "baby" 400VFR and the the RC31 (but it wasn't the same dynamic)
There is a thread about bikes with "character" and I said I don't know what a bike with "character" IS... but if ANY bike had "character" this is it... and ALL the "character" can be traced back to one guy... MY HERO: Fabio Taglioni, Fabio was a CHARACTER in motorcycle developement.
And a spot of trivia: Brook Henry built the bikes for "the World's Fastest Indian" and all the stationary shots used a Indian Scout, all the action shots, with the body work on, used a Ducati bevel twin
OH... and Ducati's reputation for being "hard" to work on comes from these bikes, they were complicated, with their wierd valve train gears. All the Ducs that came after are no more complicated than a Honda. On a Honda when you screw up the valve timing, you turn the motor over 720 degrees and you're back to where you started... on a round case bevel, when you screw up the timing you have to turn the engine 4320 degrees, 12 crankshaft rotations, to get all the gears back to the original orientation. Ya get used to it.
... and Desmo first appeared on a motorcycle in 1923, on a Norton, it had a purpose in 1972, but it's just a sales gimmick in 2024
That's a 750SS. The GT looks like this
It looked like the one in the picture I posted, so it was the SS.
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