1990 Ducati 750 Sport

1990 DUCATI 750 SPORT

CYCLE WORLD TEST

A Duck of a different color

DUCATIS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE quirky, aren't they? Aren't they weird, as heavy-steering as trucks and as highly strung as opera singers? If that’s what you think, it’s time for an attitude adjustment, and the bike you see here may be just the tool with which to make that change.

Meet the Ducati 750 Sport, a Duck of a different color. What once may have been quirks have been molded into character, creating a mainstream motorcycle with a difference, a gorgeous piece capable of motoring along with personality and brio, which beyond anything else, are the prime elements of the Ducati legend.

Ducati’s traditional greyhound sleekness is a part of that legend, and the 750 Sport does not forsake its heritage. Nor does it go against the grain of another Ducati trait: that of going against the grain. The Sport’s highly visible tubular frame and its V-Twin engine mark it as definitely different when compared to Japanese sportbikes.

Instead of using an alloy perimeter frame as on most modern sportbikes, the 750 Sport turns to a page from the past: It has the same chrome-moly-tube, triangulated space-frame as used by the FI production racer of 1985-1987. and by 1 988’s FIS streetbike. There's a nice piece of traditional continuity here, for those who care about such things. One of the machines that made this method of frame construction famous also was Italian —the Maserati Tipo 60-6 1 of the early 1 960s. called the “Birdcage Maserati” because the frame’s wealth of tubes made it look as though it ought to contain something wearing wings and feathers.

The frame uses the bike’s 748cc VTwin engine as a stressed member, feeding loads into it through lugs east into each side of the engine eases deep in the vee between the cylinders and behind the rear cylinder. But that isn't all. The bike’s aluminum sw ingarm bolts not to the frame but to the bottom-rear of the engine eases, which have been made extremely strong by virtue of internal ribbing.

The engine, vastly oversquare with its 88x61.5mm bore and stroke, is very like that which powered the street-going FIS. The major differences are carburetion and exhaust systems that help it meet current U.S. standards, its use of a Marelli digital ignition system instead of a Japanese-built analog system, and its use of oil and air to cool its cylinders a là Suzuki’s GSX-R/Katana series. This two-valve engine, with its 10:1 compression ratio, belt-driven cams and desmodromic valve actuation, breathes through a dual-throat 44mm Weber carburetor originally designed for automotive use and used previously by Ducati on the Paso 750.

Not lifted from the Fl, or from any other Ducati, is the bike’s fork, a Marzocchi MIBB which uses 40mm stanchion tubes. This unit, which offers no provision for adjustment except for oil viscosity and level, works at a rake of 28 degrees—a half-degree more than a Suzuki GSX-R750’s— and its trail is 4.8 inches.

When it came time to select brakes for the 750 Sport, Ducati’s engineers selected Brembos straight from the 750 Paso: dual-piston calipers with 1 l-inch discs on the front, and a single-piston caliper and a 10.6-inch disc at the rear. The wheels these brakes act upon are 16-inchers, 3.75 inches wide in front, 5 inches wide at the rear, shod with Michelin A59/

M59 radiais front/rear.

First impression of this motorcycle involves its extraordinarily high level of finish. The nicely styled fairing, made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic, is fixed to the bike by 1 1 Allen-head screws and is beautifully smooth, topped with a coat of clear paint that makes the bike’s finish look permanently wet. The edges are nicely shaped and finished, and this atten-

tion to detail in both form and finish is carried through to the tail section, which contains a complete tool kit and a small amount of storage space. Cagiva’s attention to detail is further evidenced by the tie-wraps used to fasten wiring to the frame members—

red, to match the bike’s red frame. There is at least one small lapse in that attention to detail, though: In order to remove the seat to get to the tool kit, one must first remove the passenger-seat cowling using an Allen wrench that is locked inside with the rest of the tool kit.

Swing a leg over the bike, plant your butt, grip the clip-on-style bars, and the feel is GSX-R, but lighter and with better seating. The bike’s plastic-bottomed seat is—in shape, foam consistency and overall comfort—one of the best sportbike seats we’ve experienced.

The reach to the bars over the tall,

humped tank is not the switches mounted on those are easy to use and offer a reassuring feel of precision and quality. Instruments are by Veglia: a speedo on the left and a tach on the right, both with easily readable black numerals and

white faces. Not readable at all in anything approaching daylight are the idiot lights mounted in a darkfaced panel below the tach. Their glow is far too feeble for them to be of any real use. Nor did an intermittent short in the bike’s ignition switch do much for the tarnished image of Italian electrical componentry.

Another factor that detracted from the bike’s otherwise thoughtful design and assembly was that the engine oil filler is located waaay down behind the fairing. If you expect to add oil, bring a very long funnel. Another detraction is that since the bike has no centerstand, checking the level in the oil-sight glass is a twoman job.

One distinctly European feature which takes some getting used to is that as you stand the bike upright, its spring-loaded sidestand retracts itself. You must remember to toe the thing into place, and hold it there, before you lower the bike into resting position.

But this bike does not encourage rest. Roll open the choke, switch on the ignition, thumb the starter button, roll the throttle just a little, and the V-Twin coughs to life with an absence of vibration but with a feel, through the grips, pegs and seat, of just enough combustion impulse to tell the rider he’s on something other than a Universal Four. As far as power delivery, there’s not much below 3000 rpm. Torque peak is at 6350 and horsepower peak is at 8500, and this falls off quickly past 8800 rpm. So, the most-usable range is between about 5000 and 8800 rpm. This is mostly flat power, not the peaky sort found in some Fours, though there is a nice surge when the tach needle swings past 7000 rpm.

The fly in this otherwise excellent ointment is that particularly at low rpm, the engine, at least the one powering the CW test bike, stumbled briefly when the throttle was opened after being fully closed. This was particularly noticeable in the higher gears because the engine revs through this flat spot very easily in first and second gears.

With the bike’s tall first gear, three grand and some clutch slippagecomplete with some juddering from the dry, multi-plate clutch assembly—is needed for launch. Shifting up through the gears finds the bike’s clutch-lever action very light. Shifting action is equally light and precise, though less-than-firm pressure on the short-throw shifter will reveal a false neutral between third and fourth gears. This is worth noting because for fast sport riding, third and fourth are the gears of choice: Third can be used from about 55 mph through 90; a shift to fourth brings a drop of about 1200 rpm and speeds high enough to put you in jail. Shifting to fifth brings a further 400 rpm reduction, most useful for droning along in a steady-state cruise.

But never mind steady-state cruis-

ing; bending corners is what this bike is about, and here its heritage as the development of a production racer asserts itself. The slow, heavy steering so characteristic of yesterday’s Ducatis is nowhere to be found. In its place is a lightweight quickness which encourages instant direction

changes. So effortless is the handling and so willing is the bike to change lines, even after being committed to a corner, that it seems to follow the rider's vision, going precisely where he looks, when he looks there. Smoothness really pays off here, because the bike is light enough that any roughness in steering input or weight shifting upsets the chassis.

The fork is quite firm in its action and displays the stiction typical of Marzocchi units. But the rear suspension. which is adjustable for preload and rebound damping, delivers a

taut, comfortable ride and excellent control. The damping knob, at the bottom-left rear of the shock, has positions numbered from one through six, with intermediate marks between those numbers. We found the best combination of ride and handling with the knob set on three: any more was too firm, any less allowed the rear of the bike to move too quickly.

sportbikes—pays off in dividends of snappy speeds that can be sustained for long periods of time. You don’t have to shift much, and you don't have to brake much, either, as the engine’s relatively light flywheel and high compression knock the edges off your velocity as soon as you roll out of the gas. It's very easy to flow along at an 8/10ths pace on the Ducati, as no dramatics are required to maintain momentum and get strong drives out of corners.

The only caveat to this predictable, neutral handling involves the bike’s brakes, which in feel and in action are positive and progressive. But because the Ductati rolls on wide, 16inch tires, braking into a corner will make the bike reluctant to fall into the lean it must assume, and braking while leaned over will make the bike want to stand up. These forces are not so powerful that they can't be dealt with, but they are present and they must be gotten used to.

The great fun available from the Ducati 750 Sport will be limited in its availability: Cagiva's estimate is that about 400 750 Sports will be brought to the U.S. this model year, and it ought to be easy to find 400 riders sharp enough to appreciate what this bike offers. Sure, it has to be classified as a limited-production piece. And. yes, as the bike ages, could be there'Í1 be the occasional problem finding parts. And, all right, $6700 for a 750 sportbike may be a bit steep. But hey. trust us: Ride one of these and you won't care. The Sport is a Ducati almost devoid of accustomed quirks, yet one that retains the Ducatis charisma. And if that makes it less of a traditional Italian motorcycle. well, so be it, because that also makes the 750 more of a desirable, modern sportbike.

Call it a Ducati for the next decade. ga

DUCATI 750 SPORT

$6700