Ducati 748sp

DUCATI 748SP

ITALY'S LATEST MASTERPIECE

You DON’T HAVE TO BE from Texas to be convinced that bigger is better, or that there is no substitute for cubic inches. A lot of us have managed to convince ourselves that top speed, max torque and peak power are all that matter. But out in the real world of motorcycling, it’s a different story, and Ducati’s 748SP is Exhibit A.

The 748SP is a smaller-engined version of the 916, universally acclaimed as one of the best sportbikes in the world. The 748, in Biposto streetbikc and SP supersport

flavors, is now appearing in European showrooms. And though customers are desperate to get hold of a Ducati, any Ducati, in time for the spring riding season, there’s a feeling among some that the 748 plays second fiddle to the firstchair 916. Biggest is best, right?

Well, maybe not. In order to extract the 101 rear-wheel horsepower and 153-mph top speed that the German magazine MO's electronic test equipment says the 748SP delivers, Ducati engineers traded away some of the 916’s midrange torque. That means the 748’s 88.0 x 61.5mm motor-Ducati’s traditional 750cc dimensions from the Pantah era onwards, compared with the 916’s 94 x 66mm-is more of a top-end power unit, revving happily to 1 1,000 rpm, while the 916 peaks out at nine grand. So you have to use the gearbox if you really want the 748SP to get moving. Ducati engineers specified a closer-ratio gearbox on the 748 than on its big sister, with the bottom two ratios the same but the top four moved closer together. Ratios are selected by a crisp, precise shift action that invites you to work at riding the bike, rather than sit aboard it and be seduced by meaty torque.

Just hopping aboard the bright yellow bike-748s come in just the one color—thumbing the starter and listening to the glorious boom from the twin silencers might make you think you’re riding a 916. But select first gear, ease the lightaction clutch lever outward, and you’re in for a surprise: The 748 is actually easier and more docile to ride at low rpm than two-valve Ducati streetbikes like the 900SS and 900 Monster.

For a start, the 748SP-different from the two-up Biposto in that it uses carbon-fiber silencers, a special EPROM chip, Brembo cast-iron discs (rather than steel), and an Öhlins rear shock instead of the standard Showa-has an unbelievably precise and light throttle feel. You find that the SP will pull cleanly away in sixth gear from as low as 2000 rpm. This is, for a sportbike, an amazing degree of flexibility, especially from an engine tuned to make top-end power. It’s true that full-whack acceleration is acceptable rather than lively anytime the tach needle is pointed at something less than 6000 rpm, but what this means is that the 748 is a very easy bike to ride in traffic.

What seems like a lack of lowdown power on the 748SP is deceiving, because you actually will surprise yourself with how quickly you can get from A to B while using a maximum of 6000 rpm. That won’t entertain you for long, though, because the 748SP’s powerband kicks in at the six-grand mark, and that’s where the fun really starts. At just under 7500 rpm there’s another big dose of power, and the “Ottovalvolina” (Baby Eight Valve) fastforwards your appointment with its 11,000-rpm power peak. Keeping it in this powerband entails using the gearbox. That just means more fun and more music as the exhaust booms out with each change and the free-revving engine picks up speed again.

If the 748SP’s peak power delivery contrasts with the take-no-prisoners torque of the 916, the two bikes are twins when it comes to handling. And why not? So identical are they that the first 748 displayed at the Cologne Show last October bore, ahem, 916 chassis numbers. Millions of words have been written around the world in the past year about the 916’s superb handling, so there’s no point adding to that except to say that the Öhlins shock on the SP definitely gives low-speed damping superior to that provided by the Showa fitted to the ordinary 916/748. And a big compliment to those cast-iron discs: Brembo still makes the best street brake systems in the world-but only as long as the rotors are cast-iron. A bike like the SP deserves the best, and that's what those Brembos are, so sensitive you can use just a single finger to get rear-wheel-lifting stopping power, but so responsive you can just caress the lever to knock off a little unwanted corner speed.

At $18,500 on the road in Britain, the 748SP might be considered an exotic-bike bargain, even compared to the $16,000 748 Biposto or the $19,000 916 Biposto. The 916SP runs a colossal $25,000, and unless you want to race it, save yourself the money-the 748SP is not only a better bike for real-world motorcycling, it’s also more fun to ride. In the European 600 Supersport race class it was designed for, the 748 is sure to add extra spice (oddly, Twins are banned in IRTA's new Thunderbikes class; and while the AMA says 750 Twins are legal for 600 Supersport in the U.S., Ducati has not applied for homologation). I suspect it will be a very even match between this Ducati and the Japanese 600cc Fours, especially on tight courses that favor handling. Here, I think the 748 Ducati’s extra ridability has a good chance of winning races for the Italian firm and its customers. On the street, it certainly will win smiles.Alan Cathcart