25 Years Ago September, 1972
25 YEARS AGO SEPTEMBER, 1972
"Preview: Ducati 750!” screamed the cover blurb on this fat, 116-page issue. The twin-cylinder sportbike marked a departure for the small Italian company, which until then was renowned for its desmo Singles. “Ducati’s new 750cc V-Twin is as animal as anything you can buy these days,” wrote Senior Editor Dan Hunt. “It sounds tough, looks tough and runs as fast as it looks.” Equipped with traditional valve springs (the desmo model came later) and twin 30mm Amal carburetors, the 90-degree V-Twin pumped out an estimated 60 horsepower at 7800 rpm, weighed just 438 pounds and sold for $1995. In red, naturally.
• Continuing with the Italian theme of this issue was a profile of Aermacchi’s new roadracers, fresh from Renzo Pasolini’s victory in the 50th Italian Grand Prix at Imola. “Watch out, Yamaha, a new 250/350 machine is on its way to AMA privateers,” warned the subtitle. Badge-labeled as Harley-Davidsons (the American giant then owned the Italian concern), these two-stroke Twins were graced with such racing-oriented components as separate crankcase and gearbox castings, the latter incorporating an easily removable six-speed cluster.
• Lastly, from the Even CW Makes Mistakes Department comes the typo we’ve all gagged on in our local newspapers: In the subhead accompanying their test of the Suzuki TM250J Champion, the editors erroneously identified the bike as a “motorcrosser.” Maybe they should have just written “MXer.”
Brian Catterson
