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Italian Mistress in a Red Silk Dress
by PeteG
DUCATI 750 SS
What is England to you? Rain? Crime?
Speed Cameras? For me it’s the past, it has to be because the present is
so grim and depressing. I remember days of old when the grass was greener,
bird song brighter and farm vehicles weren’t the size of a small housing
estate. A time when there was a health service, when we had a rail
transport system, when Respect wasn’t a word used by teenagers with no
conception of it’s meaning, when people had interesting things to do
rather than watch television.
Yes in those long gone days life was
much better, yeah I know everyone says that but unless my memory is
playing tricks, it really was. It was a time when you could go into the
centre of town and have a great evening in the pubs without the
requirement to pre-book a bed in hospital and even if there was a fight
the chances were that it wouldn’t be with a pathological coward carrying a
knife or a gun. Teenagers as I remember were in search of new experiences,
learning what life was about not becoming the mainstay of the countries
criminal culture.
The thrill of your first job and the
wage packet that came with it, trying to decide what best to spend it on
and concluding a bike was a priority. Actually buying your first bike and
seeing your mates jealous faces. Seeing their grinning faces when they
came to visit you when you were recovering after coming off it. Riding
past the girls waving at you looking so damn cool cruising down the high
street. Your mates grinning faces again as you recovered after running
into the back of a car because you were too busy waving back at the
girls.
Seeing your mates eventually getting
bikes, falling off, selling their bikes, buying cars, getting married and
loosing contact with you. Meeting new mates who had bikes but could ride
much faster than you. Seeing the concerned look of your new mates when
they came to visit as you recovered from the latest spill trying to keep
up with them
Wonderful times, long gone never to
return. Growing up and new jobs bringing in more money for bigger and
faster bikes. The 95 mph 250 not quick enough now, something bigger, more
powerful. Faster?
I remember passing my test, selling my
Suzuki GT 250 that would do 95 flat out, 98 with a following wind albeit
the bike smoking like a 1970’s TV cop, to buy a 1976 Norton Commando that
would do the unimaginable speed of ........ 95 mph, 100 with a following
wind. Ah, but it was the way it did that 95 that made the difference, Yeah
right. As those far off days come cascading back in a torrent of
nostalgia, thoughts of trips down the A6 to all the greasy-spoon cafe’s
along the way riding bikes with massive chrome headlights perched high
above the drooping clip-on bars. Just a speedo and the road to look at,
encased in a cacophony of sound that would tumble the walls of Jerico,
wherever that is.
Don’t misunderstand me, I love modern
bikes, they go, they stop, they corner and they are reliable. Neither do I
want to return to the kind of technology that befits a Meccano set but
they don’t have that ....... well I can’t describe it. Modern bikes aren’t
overloaded with character we’ll just say.
So, why don’t I buy myself a
Dominator, find some like minded people and go and relive those golden
days? Well for starters I’m not about to part with three or four thousand
quid for a bike built in the sixties, will do 80 flat out, with brakes
that work as well as Railtrack executives and have classic bikers
everywhere tell me that in 1963 the wiring loom ran to the left of the
head stock not the right. If I had that much paper stupidity in my pocket
I would be straight down to the nearest bike shop trying to convince the
salesman that he needed to throw in a new set of leathers to go with that
10R. Also, as the British Bike industry committed suicide many years ago
and the only option is a ‘fake’ Hinckley Triumph, I will have to forgo
that route. What I did find though was the next best thing.
The Italians make some very good bikes
these days but I’m not going to go into the politics of their bike
industry here except to say, I like to think that if the British bike
industry executives hadn’t been so greedy we could now see similar UK made
machines in the showrooms to those Ducati have on offer. Some years ago I
bought a ’94 Ducati 750 SS, simply because it was immaculate and was very
cheap. As soon as I got it back home I peered under the fairing and saw an
air cooled engine with barrels that looked not too dissimilar to a British
bike. In truth, this same engine was around in the sixties and it becomes
evident that if the likes of Triumph or BSA had chosen a development route
rather than rip-off route they could have developed twins and triples in
the same way as the Italians. Chance what you think of the Italians, they
have been successful albeit after the same kind of ambivalence as the
British set.
The first time I took the SS out I was
gob smacked how good it was and the amazing thing was that all the toys
that we tend to buy to make our bikes better were on this bike from
standard, including upside-down forks. All this from 1991. The bike is a
dream to ride and remember, this is a budget Duke.
It out brakes most of the opposition,
it out handles most modern sports bikes and it’s light enough to pop into
a suitcase and take it on holiday with you. Okay, it won’t hold a candle
to Japanese bikes on the straights but I have been out on one of these
with mates on Busa’s, ZX 750’s and all manner of other in-line fours and I
have never been left too far behind. Now for the big plus for nostalgia
freaks. This bike feels like bikes used to do, burbling along at a sedate
pace you could almost believe you were on an A10 or Triumph Thunderbird
but when you want it there is plenty of spirit on tap.
What I don’t understand is why
everyone hasn’t twigged this little bike and got one tucked away in the
back of the garage. They are so cheap at the moment you could buy two and
use one as a paperweight.
Yes Ducati has a reputation for lots
of break downs but to be honest I have done nothing to mine except routine
maintenance but you have to consider that the mould for the bike was a
pedigree racer, and if you look over those old pictures of 888’s and the
like winning this race and that, there is virtually no difference to the
road bike. It comes in 600, 750 and 900 so there is plenty of choice out
there but to be honest the 600 isn’t very good and the other two are
better buys.
For the test, the bike is a 1994 with
21,000 miles, Micron exhausts and Metzeler Sportech rubber. The Microns
suit the exhaust note perfectly and with the end baffles removed the sound
is awesome and you need that sound, it would feel ordinary if the sound
was muted. Out on the road the bike can be a vibrating monster if you run
in too high a gear at slow speed but why you would want to ride like that
I have no idea, but ridden correctly it has little or no vibration though
the suspension is quite stiff and pot holes are a pain. The gearbox is
smooth enough but you have to be positive with your changes or a false
neutral can result and the truth is if you don’t drop into neutral as you
roll to a halt you may have trouble finding that green light when
stationary. The engine revs well and has plenty of urge for a twin but the
engine braking is much more severe than your in-line 4, so much so that
after a long straight sitting up and letting the throttle off makes the
brakes surplus to requirements. If you have to use the brakes, beware.
Those Brembo’s are like shoving an iron bar through the wheel spokes.
Cornering is a real pleasure on this bike, the lightness and the natural,
neutral steering make it a very agile machine, and more fun than you can
shake a stick at. Yes it can seem a bit odd in some ways but nothing you
don’t immediately work with and the narrow seat and lowish height make it
easy for most people to master within a couple of miles. Some criticism
has been levelled at many Ducati models for being uncomfortable, and yes
some are. I can’t ride the 748 it’s so un-me, but the SS is fine even for
an ‘ample’ size like mine. I guess that anyone over six feet four will
struggle though.
Ultimately, it’s like an old Brit.
bike for the 21st century, it’s quicker than anything produced in those
heady days but with everything sorted, including the oil leaks and poor
handling. It’s still very Italian though, that fairing ‘draped’ around the
front like a red silk dress in a very Italian way, the white clocks and
the chunky switches all reminders of it’s heritage.
If you fancy something different but
don’t want to pay the earth for a second bike or even your only bike,
scrimp and save about a grand, scour the ads and the Internet to find a
low mileage one and buy it as your special toy, your motorcycle mistress.
You won’t be disappointed. If you already have one, you are probably
reading this with a knowing grin on your face.
Bike kindly loaned by Badger.
Text and original images copyright of
the author. © 2007 Tricky Imp Productions
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