Wot's the Ducati difference?

[98tls]

Well the Ducati difference to me is one has bevel driven cams and the other has rubber bands.

Sadly mine had a rear cylinder stuck on backwards with a carb designed for a car stuck in the V,wrong size wheels and discs that buckled.

[TLDV8]

Sadly mine had a rear cylinder stuck on backwards with a carb designed for a car stuck in the V,wrong size wheels and discs that buckled.

Don't worry to much Mike,they stopped making Ducati's in the mid 1980's,as long as you weren't a member of IMOCK you are ok.

1974 Ducati 750 GT, 1971 to 1974,the first production Ducati L Twin and first along the frame production bike available.

[98tls]

Don't worry to much Mike,they stopped making Ducati's in the mid 1980's,as long as you weren't a member of IMOCK you are ok.

Lol,mate i want to know what happened to all those Alazzurras?seen any lately?

[Voltaire]

Lol,mate i want to know what happened to all those Alazzurras?seen any lately?

I didn't see them at the factory museum either....hidden in the basement with the 500GTL and 860GT.
Dunno about the car carb, but the fuel injected air cooled two valver with silmoto exhausts does it for me.

Ducati is now owned by « Invest Industrial », an italian investment group.....how exciting is that......

[98tls]

Damn,must be slow interweb or something as when i read your post the pic wasnt showing Les,heartstopping, etc pic,glorious indeed.On a funny note i called into a bike shop today on the S,outside having a smoke was a guy on a 750 Paso,i exchanged hellos and went about my business,when about to leave he got yapping and in conversation he mentioned the fact that the TL was Suzukis dismal attempt at making a Ducati,no i couldnt hold back my laughter so whilst doing so put on my helmet and concentrated on keeping my spine straight as it wanted to bend over enough to let me hit the ground doubled up.Full of that Ducati character thing he was,bless him.All these years later when i see a Paso my first thought is its not raining so whys it got that ugly rain cover on.

[mikeey01]

Right E O all you pud knockers...

Ducati admit they can't compete with the Japanese on performance, price, or with some, on quality. Doesn't leave a lot.
I guess when a manufacturer is faced with such a huge discrepancy they have to invoke intangibles - eg "passion".

Ducati admit they can't compete with the Japanese on performance: umm really? Where?
Have they admitted this anytime over the last 17 (I think) years of World Super bikes? You show me where, please do.
Yeah I remember speaking with Giancarlo during a WSB manfield round back in the early 90's and he said the exact same thing, "we can't compete on performance with them jap bikes", Roche confirmed this by winning the race of course on his Ducati and Giancarlo, the wild card, he came second on his 888 if my memory serves me rightly?

You mention Performance in what respect? Handling? Ra ha ha ha.. there's a new tui bill board right there!

Price, Yeah okay so they cost a little more, big deal.

Doesn't leave a lot? Hey another famous Tui saying, Yeah Right!

Win? Win!? For nearly twice the money, they better be total fuckin annihilation, not just a mere win. Sadly, they're not.

The Ducati Corse team alone have won 14 Manufacturers’ World Championships and 12 Riders’ World Championships in the relatively short history of the WSB series. (17 yrs)

90 / 91 there's team police Ducati, Ramond Roche, Giancarlo Falappa, Stephane Mertens
more modern? Xerox Ducati, Troy Bayliss,
Shall I go on?

I'm sorry, I tried to restrain my self here...but this is the biggest load of bollox I have read in sometime.

Your right and I admit that it was a crap post :slap:, ya got me there. Sorry I'm not a word smith aye and most of the time find it hard to put stuff like that into words.

It's a motorbike, for God's sake. Yet you've imbued it with mystic powers, while (and this is the bit that got me going) saying that ..”Jap bikes don't have a soul or character".

Mystic power, nah I never said that!
Again the translation into words failed me.

”Jap bikes don't have a soul or character"
How do you know?
Have you ridden every last Jap model?

I did add one exception to classics such as Katana 1100 etc..
Ridden every jap model: Hell no, nor do I intend to.

Reading this thread, it would appear that "soul and character" can be translated to "quirkiness and unreliability", so on that basis plenty of Jap bikes have "soul and character"

Quirkiness and un-reliability, some brands suffer from this and ducati's are not alone.
Soul and character, Does a KTM 950 ADV have more soul & character than a Yamaha TT 600R or a Suzuki-dr650r Paris Dakar?

And finally, try this exercise - I've taken one of your more flowery bits of prose and substituted "Harley Davidson" for "Ducati": It works - the wonders of marketing...

Yeah right if ever, you live in your fairy tale then.
They are also the essence of unique Italian style and design. Ducatis are distinctive, functional and striking, There ya go some sales and marketing guff for ya!

Now you're being silly again... it's just a motorbike, the type of badge doesn't change that. For all the red paintwork... it's still only a Ducati. It's not like it's an MV or anything (if you see my point?)

Nope as you've implied lets all loose the bike badges, they're all just bikes aye! for all the red it's still only a Ducati, abso freckin lootley!
Hardleys sounds like hardleys, Dukes sounds like dukes, jappers sound like jappers... You can still tell what they are just by the exhaust notes!

You should take my RGV for a hoon,

No thanks to the hoon on an RGV, been there done that, put a 1000 k on a mates one running it in for him for raceing.

RGV has more 'soul or character' in its cute little motor than an old Italian shit heap.

You on drugs or just sucking on them fumes to much?
You live with that dream.

Right.... and only a Ducati will give you that experience? Puuuhhleaseeee... you need to expand your horizons.

I didn't say that at all did I?, assumptions eh!

It's a motorbike, plastic and metal... you really want character? Never will the day come that a factory can build that in... Passion comes from your own heart, you can't buy that in stores man, no matter what the nice Ducati salesman trys to tell ya

Yep Passion comes from the heart, I just love that thought each time I picture a designer in Japan putting his passion to paper and watching them Robot machines Passion building them.
Passion? Italians passion for design and building is timeless read on.....

Now you're being silly again... it's just a motorbike, the type of badge doesn't change that. For all the red paintwork... it's still only a Ducati. It's not like it's an MV or anything (if you see my point?)

Yep your right, it's just a ducati.
Could re phrase that... it's only a Ferrari, or lamborghini or Maserati perhaps something modern like the Pagani Zonda, nope no soul and passion there!
It's okay though, it's only a Suzuki.

The extra $18000 odd dollars that the 998 cost... do you wonder what Robert Taylor could do for you with that? BST carbon wheels, custom setup Ohlins Road and Track forks, and a TTX shock, that's what. Who's handling better now? Plus you won't be riding just another off the rack bike either (which lets face it, is what a 998 is).

Yep them Dukes are just another off the rack common as bike aye, ya see them every where!
Those 888's are as common as, (they only made 2000 SP4's world wide) this of course was for WSB race homologation for Roche, Dunlop (IOM), Falappa, Mertens. ( As you advised previously "they couldn't compete with them jap bikes on performance", so they won WSB for that year and the one after too)
Arr they're common as mud aye.

When I stepped off a japper and moved to a pasta machines all those years ago I found apart of motorcycling that I never knew existed, ( O hell bear with me as I'm not word smith)
Hardleys have their own scene, know what I mean?

Italian bikes really are about emotion and passion.
Guzzies are one hell of a brute of a bike, I've always respected them and their owners. I ain't got the balls to ride one though!
Aprilias are sleek and petite, quick little friggen things they are.
Ducati's I reckon are in the middle, not petite nor brutal, I dunno how to put it into words..

I've completely de-railed this thread sorry as it was surpose to be about ST's..

[98tls]

Dear oh dear,feisty fella you and good luck to you i say passion is a wonderful thing personally i still find a 78 900SS the most desirable bike on earth.The 851 you speak of can be called desirable to apart from the fact that it takes 1/2 a day to remove the shit to do anything but if thats acceptable then so be it.Quoting race results is fine but lets not forget when the rest of the world got serious Ducati constantly bought out the whaaabulance in order to give them some advantage,best thing the japs could have done is said "sweet fuck off and race Buell for some glory and we will have our own superbikes",i have a fair idea what the world would watch and the sponsers would pay for.

[mikeey01]

Dear oh dear,feisty fella you and good luck to you i say passion is a wonderful thing personally i still find a 78 900SS the most desirable bike on earth.The 851 you speak of can be called desirable to apart from the fact that it takes 1/2 a day to remove the shit to do anything but if thats acceptable then so be it.Quoting race results is fine but lets not forget when the rest of the world got serious Ducati constantly bought out the whaaabulance in order to give them some advantage,best thing the japs could have done is said "sweet fuck off and race Buell for some glory and we will have our own superbikes",i have a fair idea what the world would watch and the sponsers would pay for.

nah not feisty, just miffed!
Yep that 78 900ss, nice bike (blue & grey ?).. I'm not sure which way I'll go for No.2 yet, pantah or SD or maybe an early 90's..
Race results, arr well according to forest they can't compete with them jap bikes.
Hey I'm not knocking jap bikes at all, I've owned way to many of em (there it's out, am I cured now?) I've still got a soft spot for some jappers I use to own and a few modern ones.
lol re the 851, yeah I'm over it (times like that I miss my 750ss) and just do it.. no different to anything else which has alot it really.

[imdying]

Ducati admit they can't compete with the Japanese on performance: umm really? Where?

Every time they insist in WSB on having special rules for them that allow things like Ti con rods for one?

The Ducati Corse team alone have won 14 Manufacturers’ World Championships and 12 Riders’ World Championships in the relatively short history of the WSB series. (17 yrs)

Right... I'll remember that when I've $250,000 to buy a WSB

Mystic power, nah I never said that!
Again the translation into words failed me.

Deary me... how dare he add a little soul and character into his words...

Yep Passion comes from the heart, I just love that thought each time I picture a designer in Japan putting his passion to paper and watching them Robot machines Passion building them.
Passion? Italians passion for design and building is timeless read on.....

Phones for you... it's Tadao Baba, he says 'You're mistaken' (in case you don't know, he's the guy that designed the Blade... the same crazy bike nutter that would give each journalists a set of clocks for the bike at new model launches... he was always so proud of each new design You should check out the welding on the RC45 tank if you want hand crafted... the reality is though, you can't produce bikes in economical numbers without robots... the Wops would do it to if they could figure out how to make robots go... They tried, but apparently had trouble with the electrics?

Yep them Dukes are just another off the rack common as bike aye, ya see them every where!

Interesting the number of results returned on trademe when searching for GSXR1000 and then Ducati 999...

nah not feisty, just miffed!

No need to get miffed mate, it's not like you've got a vag or anything

[vifferman]

Quoting race results is fine but lets not forget when the rest of the world got serious Ducati constantly bought out the whaaabulance in order to give them some advantage,best thing the japs could have done is said "sweet fuck off and race Buell for some glory and we will have our own superbikes",i have a fair idea what the world would watch and the sponsers would pay for.

That's the crux of it.
The RC45 would've cleaned up, were it not for the WSB owners deciding to allow Ducati a capacity advantage and a severe bending of the rules just to suit them. Granted, they still mostly cleaned up once Honda developed their own v-twin, but on the other hand, Honda were playing catchup and fairly limited development time compared to Ducati (albeit a much larger budget).

You don't really need to bring out Ducati's race record in justification. We get it: Ducatis are sexy, look and sound nice, and have something other bikes don't have. Thank goodness for that - the world'd be boring if we didn't have Italian, Mrkn and English bikes. Oh - and them funny orange ones too.
Shame that many of the marques of yesteryear (like the French ones) have gone down the gurgler.

[johan]

Every time they insist in WSB on having special rules for them that allow things like Ti con rods for one?

They (Ducati) should homologate their v4 and race it in WSB with the same rules as every one else. That would be something to watch!

[imdying]

They (Ducati) should homologate their v4 and race it in WSB with the same rules as every one else. That would be something to watch!

It would be, but it would be the end of them I'm afraid... they'd go broke if they produced 1500 D16RRs and tried to flog them for $135k each :'(

It may be missing the spirit of the WSB class a tiny bit though... I mean, I'd be a bit pissed if Honda brought their RC211V to WSB

[johan]

It would be, but it would be the end of them I'm afraid... they'd go broke if they produced 1500 D16RRs and tried to flog them for $135k each :'(

It may be missing the spirit of the WSB class a tiny bit though... I mean, I'd be a bit pissed if Honda brought their RC211V to WSB

I'm not saying take the GP bike to WSB. They should produce a road v4 999cc engine and start a new generation v4 road bike.

It would be a big step from their old traditions, but look at their latest prototype in motoPG. It doesn't have a twin nor the trellis frame. So obviously they don't mind taking a different route if they are forced to.

But I don't expect to see any changes any time soon...

[imdying]

I'm not saying take the GP bike to WSB. They should produce a road v4 999cc engine and start a new generation v4 road bike.

Wouldn't even need to be a V4, although having a parallel to the GPx lineage would be cool

[Taz]

In the end race results mean nothing on the road......