I am curious to learn from better informed Ducatists than myself which is the most important Ducati for the company. I do not mean the best, most beautiful, most iconic, fastest, sold in greater numbers or any other single specific parameter but, the bike that, in a hypothetical distant future, one would cite as the one that best and more aptly embodied the brand.
Embodied the brand, it may not have been made yet... Most important is the Monster, it saved the brand
I apologize if my post offers different interpretations but English it is not my first language...I will try to define my question more accurately. I don't mean which Ducati sold the most or saved the company or was most profitable. I am curious to find out what bike would come to mind, a 100 years from now, if bikes were to become superseded or extinct (sad future)... and one was to try to explain what the Ducati brand was all about. What bike would be the best example of the brand? The one that better embodied or characterized the name Ducati?
I am a 916 series fan but I do remember how the 851 dominated the Superbike and created the myth. This is why I asked the original question. It's like with Lamborghini: there is no doubt that it was the Miura that created the myth, the sprig board for Lamborghini's fame, but others better embody or represent the marque.
And that right there is the problem with answering this question - the answer really depends on the generation of the person answering, some could say the 1972 bike, or maybe the Mike Hailwood bike, or the first single with desmo valve actuation, or the D16R, or...
If you are a bike fan of a certain age then the 851 but to be an icon or the most memorable then you have to use a standard. Lots of android phones out there but many are different makes but everyone knows the iphone, think of an Aston Martin and most who will never have owned one will think of the James Bond db5. In that same way I feel if you were to ask those who have never had a Ducati, what is the best or most memorable Ducati you can think of, then the 916/748 would be it
916 biposto. Democratised design and beauty with competative functionality. It won races and sexy people like me own one. Its a masterpiece.
My vote: Scot Smart's Imola-winninig bike - without that there would have been no big twin race pedigree 851/888 - proved the drivebelt L-twin which meant Texas Pacific would fund the 916 916 - for being very fast and very very pretty The MotoGP bike- for racing pedigree
erm.... Monster 750SS 900SS 748 749 848 851/888 899 916 959 998 for @Tommaso 999 1098 1098R (ffs) 1198 1199 1199SL 1299 1299SL Desmocedici (race) Desmocedici (road)
