DUCATI Darmah, 900SS and Pantah
Until recently I had a very frustrating relationship with Ducati's. Frustrating because I had never ridden one, and I can't afford one. One day.... The day came, I borrowed an ST4S from a dealer for an hour. Now I understand. It is the only bike I've ever had to stop riding for a moment, just so I could take my earplugs out!
Darmah
A long time before they made the Monster, Ducati made the Darmah. I'm afraid the meaning of the name escapes me. The bike was better than the earlier 860GTS, but less razor-edged than its SS brother. It had the same basic Desmodromic engine, and lots of torque, making it an easy bike to ride quickly. Not fast, OK, but quick, which is often better in the licence / survivability groundcovering stakes.
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Of course you could always fit the 40 mm carbs and Conti "silencers" from the SS, to liven things up a bit. Provided you didn't mind pedestrians getting sucked in as you rode past. I loved the styling, but the usual Italian design features of poor electrics and finish were still there. The black and gold version will go into the lottery collection. |
900SS
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This is the original one. Not the trellis framed one we know now, but the 70's model. When the Japanese manufacturers were looking for performance, they concentrated on the power approach. The Italians knew that big power was all very well, but you needed a hell of a lot to offset the advantage of fine handling. I think the SS developed out of Paul Smart's 750 Imola racer. There was a 750 road bike, which then grew in to the 900. Look at the pictures - It's a very simple, very light bike, and only had about 70 bhp, but that was enough, when allied with superb handling, to give it the edge over far more powerful Japanese bikes, and, for that matter, home grown competition in the form of the Jota. |
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The concept continues to be rather successful, and after a few years development has turned into the 916. Honda, Suzuki and Aprilia have paid homage with their SP1, TL1000 and RSV Mille respectively, and a certain Mr Fogarty has proved that two cylinders is all you really need to go rather quickly. Lottery cash finds me a nice black and gold 900SS like the one in the picture. |
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Pantah
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This little beaut is in here for two reasons. First, it was a stunning bike in its own time, and second, the belt driven engine was the fore-runner of the later Ducati 4 and 8 valve engines. Yet another successful proddy racer - Seeing Darmah's scrapping with Laverda Montjuich's was great, and both bikes were more than capable of mixing it with 750's. The Pantah was made as a 500 originally, then it grew to 600cc. Haven't seen one for ages, which usually means I will see one any day now. Lottery choice is the one in the picture. |
