Yes, I know, it has been featured before also in this blog, but what heck? It's beautiful! and its a Ducati and its a modern classic. I actually came over this article in caradisiac and I just couldn't stop at not making another post.
This Paul Smart retro tribute actually only looks retro, benaeth the awesome classic cafe look lies a modern engine and what on God's green earth can bring more happiness to a classic motorcycle fan than to retrie the memories with a machine to match and beat todaay'smodern bikes?
In one word, Charisma!, in a sentence, loads of charisma is what this beautiful Ducati 1000 Sport has. No matter whether you're a fan of this genre or not, it will draw your attention and captivate you. Just look at it! Inverted Marzocchi forks, double Sachs dampers, Brembo brakes, the 90 degree twin, up swept double exhausts, mirrors on the weights, the classic tank, the dome and how can you ignore those beautiful chromed spoke wheels... everything is so beautiful! It's just perfect!
The large and comfortable saddle will take you to the era of 60s. Look at the dashboard, those white twin pods setting atop the round headlamp, those oh-so-beautiful clip-on bars and all those chrome! This is what we mortals desire in a Cafe Racer and Ducati has played it to the gallery. Here is a clip of the beautiful exhaust note during idling and here is a clip how this LE sounds on full blown track. When the exhaust come alive its like typical blood flowing in his veins. But as mentioned, this is just not all show, with all the featured branded items, this is a true sports/road bike which can turn and take corners as beautifully as it looks.
If you are looking for something less retro in this bike, then look at the motor, a twin-L Dual Spark distribution desmodromique, 2 valves per cylinder, air / oil cooling with electronic injection. The torque is uniform thereby lending flexibility. It may not appeal the 20s something guy in terms of sheer performance, but that was never the isuue point,right? But ask any guy over 30, how he feels about the 1000 Sport, they will all be at a loss of words. And even if you look at the you tube videos or google for the owners of this model, you will find all these guys smiling from ear toearareactually more in their 50s than 30s or 40s. It's like having a piece of history which you missed upon during it's time because you just didn't knew what you missed. But history has a price too. yes, it's a LE, but at €14 000 ($22,000) although it may sound high, the price seems reasonable, come on, its a Ducati, again its a Limited Edition and thirdly it's a Limited edition Ducati :-)
The pictures posted here are from a bike belonging to a Bishop! This is not the Paul Smart version. To know about the differences in the 1000 Sport and Paul Smart LE models, here is an excellent article from Motorcycle-USA. The visual difference is that the LE has a fairing at the front which makes its easily distinguisable from the 1000 Sport. The engine is the same.
Specifications
Engine- 992 cc, L-Twin, 2 valves per cyl. air cooled desmo distribution, Electronic Injection Power- 92 bhp, 93 kgm @6000 rpm
Box & Secondary Transmission- 6-speed, Chain
Reversed Fork, Marzocchi Suspensions, AR Sachs dampers
Front & Rear Brakes- 2 discs -320 mm / 2 piston Brembo calipers & 245 mm / 2 caliper piston Front & Rear Tires- 120/70 R 17 & 180/55 R 17
Tank capacity- 15 litres (3.5 litres reserve)
Seat height- 825 mm
Weight- 179 kg
Maximum speed- 230 kph
Price- € 10 995/ $17,300 (1000 Sport) and € 13 995/ $22,000 (Paul Smart LE)
