Where does the time go! I can't believe it is four years since I clocked 15,000 miles on my Desmosedici https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/8k-miles-in-a-year-doable.32865/ It has been tucked-up in my garage and hallway since 2016, and I've been getting my sports-bike kicks on my SP4 and my Baines Imola. Next year though either the Desmosedici or the 996SPS (which has been off the road since 2012!) are going to be pressed-back into service for road and Euro track-day duties again.
this, the SB6 (not the fatty R) and the Tesi EF. lovely lovely lovely. Funny, back in the day a newly passed his test sev was talking to a tesi owner at box hill was really friendly and a good chap, willing to chat to all and sundry. I met him years later at a Mclaren open day with his Tesi and NR750 he'd brought along. in stark comparison to... The foggy leathered 916SP/SPS/R crowd who were all ducunti sporting club wankers who looked at you like you were'nt worth the steam off their piss if you hadn't launched 50k at your bike. I've hated that lot ever since. Put me right off owning a 916 for over a decade.
In 10-15 years time an SSie will be the rarest Ducati to still exist....because no one wants to keep them alive.
No mention of 650 Allazurras? My 1st desmo in 85. Couldnt afford an F1 at 5k but the Cagiva at 3k was doable. Daily commute & club racer at weekends, big bored, gas flowed 38mm forks 900ss discs & calipers. Did 35k miles on it. Snapped a mainshaft, was fragile but loved it for 5 years. These are rare desmos.
yup - elitist nob noshers who actually do a really good job of putting people off the brand through guilt by association. They're basically cheeks of the same arse as the Harley Elitists. For many years I made a point of staying away from ducati wankers thanks to them even though I had one - I'd park up with the jap bikes instead of the Italian Island, because all I saw (literally) was red. A posse of them showed up years ago to a PB track day at Mallory. 916sps, tyre warmers, slicks, full on track day god status - which meant there was no middle ground, more than likely they were going to be Rossi himself or beyond shit. Some bloke on a tatty old Honda snotter absolutely tore him and most of the so called fast group apart. Turned out he was a courier, part time club racer and lived local to the circuit so had practically grown up on it. the bike was his courier hack. He had some wretched leathers that were held together with grime, face like a craggy cliff and smerking a tab.. Sporting club wanker walks over to him, banal pleasantries, and asks about his bike. "It's an old shitter that I know like the back of my hand and unlike you lot I just know how to ride" smerks another tab.
I suppose it depends on whether you're talking about production numbers or some other factor... Ducati were a pretty small outfit really until relatively recently. Around the time of the first 4v bikes the whole company was pretty small and the production numbers for things like the early 851s was not breaking 4 figures in some years / models. Something like a special-edition Panigale might be a very limited run, but compared to an earlier model that might have only seen a very small total production... I dunno. If we're talking about how many bikes then I guess an email to Ducati asking for production numbers will quantify "rare".
