A
fter the debut last year of
Ducati's new family of
d e s m o d u e S p o r t C l a s s i c s
designed by Pierre Terblanche,
starting with the launch of the
Sport 1000 and Paul Smart 1000 cafe-racer
sisters, desmo V-twin fans around the
world are now being invited to look in their
rear-view mirrors once again - to the dual-
seat GT1000, the third model in Ducati's
retro-bike family.
Bearing the legendary Ducati name on
its tank and seat in period script, this more
upright and more practical everyday all-
arounder is powered by an improved wet-
clutch version of the 1000DS air-cooled
twin-spark 992cc dry-clutch motor already
used in the Smart and Sport single-seaters.
As such, it's moreover closer yet in style as
well as in spirit to the bevel-drive 90-
degree V-twin motor, which powered the
bike that it's so closely descended from -
the valve-spring 750GT, which made its
debut back in 1971, as then-Ducati-design-
guru Fabio Taglioni's first-ever model in the
long line of 90-degree V-twins.
This trio of retro-bikes conceived by
Terblanche pay tribute in a modern con-
text to the minimalist design of the first-
born members of the desmo V-twin family
conceived more than 30 years ago. Yet,
ironically, as compared to the nominally
more modern Sport/Smart duo with their
monoshock rear suspension and Y2K-rid-
ing-positioned dropped handlebars and
raised seat (in direct contrast to the more
level, stretched-out stance of any period
road burner), the apparently more-retro
GT1000, with its twin shocks and high-rise
handlebar set on 50mm risers mounted in
a forged upper triple-clamp (which is a
work of metallurgical art), is nevertheless
in many ways a more modern machine. It's
a bike Ducati needed to make to plug a gap
AUGUST 16, 2006
• C Y C L E N E W S
56
Ducati SportClassics GT1000
BY ALAN CATHCART PHOTOS BY KEL EDGE
