Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Ducat; 7 5 0 Sport sio n accomplished in the nudie bike niche , Duc a ti has now turned to th e sportbike sector to try to pu ll off the s a me t rick with a back -to - basi cs m ode l whose name re ca lls the comp an y's first-eve r V-twln sportbi ke. To c rea te the mo de rn- day 750 Sport, Ducati has taken th e downs ized 750 cc version of its 900 S upers port desm o d u e mod el, in th e g uise in whic h it was upd ated th ree yea rs ago as Pierre Terb lan che 's first ta s k for the c o mp any a fte r t a kin g ove r as its Des ign Dire ctor, a nd st rip ped it down to the bar e essenti als . That means the fuel-injected 750SS engine is retai ne d , but in five -sp e ed , 100 p erc en t airc o o led fo rm in sp ite of the KTM oil rad iator fitted as sta ndard (so , not the s ix-speed , ai r/oil-cooled design of the cu rren t 900S S) , in whic h guise th e two -val ve s -p e r-c yl ind e r neo -c lassic sohc desmo V-twln produces 64 hp at 8250 rpm , at the rear wheel. In com mon with all Duc ati e ng ines now, it' s painted a n aest hetically p leasing me tallic silver, including th e ca m belt co ve rs , which c ontrasts we ll with th e metallic gunmetal tubular ste e l spacefram e in whi ch it's lo ca ted , a nd the matt blac k half-fairing . In th is fo rm, th e 750S se lls fo r $6 104, tho ugh it' s a lso ava ilable with a full fa ir in g for $6 355 - a lo t of m ot o rc ycl e for th e m on e y , who se keen pri c ing wil l s ure ly s ucceed in Bv ALAN C A T HCA RT P HOTO S BV KEL E D GE (7"'O h ere a re few grea t e r fru s t ra LJ tio ns in life on two whee ls tha n havi ng MY tastes and MZ mone y. S o for eve ry twenty-somet h in g wit h a rich da d or a yup py lifes tyle fue lled by a jo b to matc h who ca n afford a Fogarty Replica 996 Ducati , th er e a re hundreds of desmo wa nna be s unable to scrape up the down payment for a 600 Monste r - let alone the e ntry tick et to desmo spo rtb iking . Until now . In recog nitio n of th e needs of the entry- le ve l b ik er , Du c a t i h a s int ro du c ed the 75 0 Sp o rt , la u n c h e d at Int e rm ot 20 00 wit h t he u na sh a m e d inte nt of repe ating in th e desmodue ran ge's s portbike sector t he compa n y' s s u c cess in the naked ro adster m arket - a market th a t saw the M600 Mon ster pro pelled to num be r one in th e It al ian Hit Parade last year (in te rms of vo lume sa les of rea l mot or cycles , as o p pos e d to scooters ) . A g ood pa rt of the M600' s best-selling stat us ca me a s a dire ct resu lt of the d ebut of the 600 Dark , an e ntry- leve l bu dget va ria nt av ailable in any color you liked so long a s it was m a tt bl a c k , w h ic h mad e d e smo Y-tw in own ership accessi b le for th e first tim e to a who le ne w generation o f c ashstra pped conno iss e urs . So , with rnis - 16 N OVEMBER 8 , 2000 ' cue e nevws How about an entry-level Ducati sport bike ? Meet the the Ducatl 750 Sport. The bike looks the part with its metallic-silver engine and gunmetal fra me. e nt ic ing a new generatio n of d e smo s portb ike rs to a nte up . When the y do , they' ll find that, a s e lsew he re in life , yo u get wh at yo u pa y for, a nd that the 7 50 Sport is but a p a rt ia l glim p se of t h e Pro m ise d Land , witho ut qu ite re pres e nting pa ra dise fu lfille d. So wh ile t he b ik e ' s a ppea ra nce in undeniably classy , a nd it seems q uite we ll s pec 'd out in spi te o f wh at is, b y d e s mo V-tw in s ta ndar ds, a barga in-b a s ement pr ic e , a ll is not qu ite wh at it s eem s . It fee ls good wh en yo u hop a boa rd it, however - t h o u gh wh ile a t 32 .6 inc he s the seat he ig ht is n' t ex ceptional in sportbike terms . In fa ct, it m igh t be tall e no ugh to seem a littl e intim id a ting t o fir st-time sportb ike rs o f reduced stature , o r women , who a re a likely target cu stomer base for t h is bike . Th e ste el cl ip -o n s bolted t o th e non -adju stabl e 43mm up s ide -down Sh owa for ks (a bove the rather p lainloo king upper tr iple cla m p) are quite steep ly dr opped a s well as fairl y fa r pu lled ba ck , wh ich com b ines with th e highi sh sea t to put a fa ir amou nt of weight on yo ur wrists , wh ich c a n ult i- matel y be come tiring a s you clock up the miles . But the instrum ent clu ste r rath er tha n a d a s hbo ard , wh ic h ' it really isn 't - looks cobby, (e ven if it's a s hame yo u don ' t g et a classic wh ite -faced Yegli a t a ch o n a Duca ti a nymore the se da ys ), and the seat is pr etty comfy, with good s p a ce fo r a passenger, whos e foo t pegs aren't too high , e ithe r. And the seat p ad on the ba ck of the fuel tan k both looks good a nd is a pr actical touc h, too. So far, so good . Bu t thu mb th e s ta rte r, and a fter the 90 - degree Y - tw i n motor has boom ed into life and sett le d down to t he tr ade mark lilt fr om the tw in s ile n c e rs, th at 's when th e budg et nature of the bike be comes apparent. The fue l-inje cted e ngi ne is crisp a nd re s p on s iv e on th e th rott le, with a s mooth bu ild in power as t he revs m o unt - but in 7 50 c c gu ise , pe rfo rm an ce is le is ure ly ra the r than gutsy , not he lped by th e fact th at this s mall e r va riant of th e desmod ue family ha s o ne le ss gea r ratio in the five -speed 'box tha n its 900SS big brother. That's fine if we ' re ta lki ng about M7 5 0 Monste r m o d e - b ut a s p o rt b ike needs to be rowed a long a little ha rd e r, a nd the m iss ing ra tio is ve ry not ic eab le b y its a bse nce , whic h is n ot a c ri t ic is m I ever e xp e ct ed t o ma ke abo ut a V-tw ln desmo eng ine . But t h e 75 0 S p ort 's moto r seems d is tin ctl y fla c c id in terms of perform a nc e , with ju st 44.3 foo t-ponds of tor qu e a t 6000 rp m . It re all y ne e ds to be re vve d hard to give us e ful perfo rma nc e , a nd if yo u try to accelerat e be low 3 0 00 rpm , be prepa red for a su rpr is ing am ou nt of tra ns mi ssio n s na tch . But ga s it u p h ard betwe e n 4 000 a n d 7000 rpm, a nd th er e ' s re a sonab le re s ponse , acco m pa nied by a gr e a t ex h a u s t not e - j ust no t very fas t a ccele ra t io n : a Su zuk i Ba nd it 600 o r even a Honda CB5 0 0 costing le s s money see ms q u icker. Get th e Du c ati e ng in e t h u n d e r ing a li t t le hi gh er , cl o s e r to the 8 250 r p m pow er p e ak , a nd pe rfo rma nce p ick s up , a c com pa nied by s ome inc reas e d vibr atio n - bu t that's when yo u need the extra gear for a cl oser- ra t io cl us ter , to ke e p th e engine o n t he boil. Wh e n y o u d o u s e it t o ma inta in m om e nt u m , t he 7 50 Sp ort ' s ge a rshift is quite prec is e , thou gh th e clutc h is a s stiff as ever a nd doesn 't like be ing sli pped fo r a fa st ta keoff. It p ro te sts no is ily. You rea lly ha ve to wor k on wresting pe rfo rmance from th is b udget eng ine - but it isn 't so m uc h fun to do s o a s it is o n, s ay, the 748 d e srn o quattro compared to th e 996 , which is actua lly a m o re sa t is fying bike to ride on the street th an its big brother. Han d ling is a s good a s a ll th e Supers p o rt famil y , w it h t h e we ll- prov e n s pacefra me c hassis g iving a planted yet nimble fe el with th e Dun lop rub be r fitted as sta nda rd, with a contro lla b le r esp on s e wh en th e s k in ny

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