Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127554
eIMPRESSION Ducati907I,E. overall styling gives the 907 the sport touring, or successful businessman, look. All that bright red plastic, combined with the white-painted threespoke wheels, and Ferrari-type air ducts on the sides of the fairing, really makes the 907 stand out in a crowd. It's definitely an eye-catcher. The gas tank holds 5.5 gallons, including 1.3 gallons of reserve, and has a removable flush-mount gas cap. The instrument panel provides all the usual information -- via a tachometer and speedometer, resettable odometer, fuel gauge and a sep .! arate low-on -fuel warning light, engine temperature gauge, oil light, and clock. The analog tach, speedo, temp and fuel gauges, and clock's numbers and needles glow a bright red against a black background. Turn the key in the ignition and you 'll know that this bike is trul y dif, ferent. Once clicked to the on position, you immediately hear humming and gurgling noises coming from the fuel- I , injection system as it goes to work. I ~ of in ese i eit By Kit Palmer oothing, primal, throaty? Those are some of the adjectives used in a recent Ducati advertisement to describe the growl of the current crop of motors that power the company's latest fleet of street bikes. Primal, perhaps. Throaty growl? Definitely. But soothing? Not. In our opinion, there 's nothing soothing about any of the big 90degree V-twin Ducati motors, especially the one found in the latest 907 I.E., like the one we just finished accumulating more than 1500 miles on. , Anything but soothing. Why? Just hit the starter button and listen. Once you hear ' the rumble of the fuel-injected, liquid-cooled, 904cc, SOHC, four-stroke powerplant your blood begins to bo il and the adrenaline begins to flow. Rev the 907 I.E. up a couple of times and you'll think you're sitting inside a hopped up 454 V-8 Chevy. At least that's how we felt. Ducati offers a grand total of five models for 1992, the 907 I.E. the only non-full-race-orientated of the bunch. The other three - the 851 Sport, and 900 and 750 Supersport models - are , for, the most part, designed for the race track, although they do make fine everyday street bikes for the more sport-minded and adventuresome riders. While ,the 907 might not be bestsuited between the green and checkered flags, it does share much of the same race technology that went into the Sport and Supersport models, S 20 such as fuel injection, liquid -cooling, digital CD! ignition, Ducati's patented Desmodromic actuation valve tra in, double cradle perimeter type frame, and dual floating .ro tor front disc brakes. The 90Ts motor is of the same basic design as the other three Ducatis but it most resembles the 851's motor, which is also water-cooled and fuel injected. 'The other two Supersport models incorporate air / oil-cooling and two 38mm Mikuni carburetors. The main difference between the 851 and the 907 motors is that the 851 ' uses four valves per cylinder via dual overhead cams, while the 907 uses two valves per cylinder via a single overhead cam. Ducati claims the 907 produces 78 horsepower at 8500 rpm (measured at the rear wheel). Maximum speed is a claimed 142 mph. A dry, multi-plate, hydraulically operated clutch is used in the 907. Only the 750 Supersport model uses a wet clutch design. All of the Ducati street bikes have six-speed gearb oxes, except for the five-speed 750. Italian Marzocchi suspension components are found at both ends. The 907 is the only Ducati street bike that incorporates a standard configuration . fork, with the sliders on the bottoml and the stanchion tubes on top . The other Ducatis use more expensive Japanese-made Showa inverted forks. A fully adjustable single Marzocchi shock and an aluminum swingarm is 'used in the back. The Ducati 907 I.E. definitely has a style all its own. The Italian-bred machine features an electronic fuel , injection system and a double cradle, perimeter -type frame, as well as a $8950 price tag. The front , blinkers and mirrors are combined. Dual Brembo 320mm disc brakes with floating rotors and two-piston gold-colored calipers handle the stopping chores up front, while a single 245mm disc brake and a fixed rotor does the trick in the rear. While the two Supersport models and the 851 feature either half or semifull fairings, the 907 certainly features the fullest fairing of them all _ the entire engine is completely enclosed with red (or black) plastic. A small opaque windscreen tapers back just , above the instrument panel, which is also red. It features a special air-duct that is designed to funnel on-coming air up and over the rider's helmet. The Hit the starter button and a few' revolutions later, the 907 fires to life and you'll immed iately notice plenty of engine noises radiating from within the cylinder and engine cases. It's a bit unnerving at first because you can't help but think that the motor is going to fall apart right then and there. Drop the transmission in to first gear, slip the clutch and you'll quickly find out that the 907 is geared extremely tall. It takes a fair amount of clutch lever work to get the 907 rolling without bogging the engine. Unfortunately, the clutch has a terrible feel. It's extremely grabby, almost to the point where there's no transi-