By Jeff Pamer
Discovering the Ducati 1000
We all have things with certain bikes. There can be a list, but it’s usually pretty short. The bikes that give you the Fizz James May talks about on top gear(please forgive the homophobic undertones, it was a different time), but without even riding them. Just the sight of them gets us dreaming of owning one. One of the bikes at the top of my list first made its way into my ocular nerves while watching Tron Legacy in the theater Christmas time 2010. I was mesmerized. What a thing. I went home, sat right down and my computer, and like a Pulitzer Prize level investigative reporter typed in to google; Tron, motorcycle. My tireless sleuthing payed off, because I immediately found out it was the Ducati, Sport 1000. Take a quick look at the opening scene featuring the now iconic bike.
The Sport 1000 was part of the Ducati Sport Classic line that was launched originally at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2003. The genesis of the line was the 2001 and 2002 MH900e. The bike designed by Pierre Terblanche was a limited run tribute bike to the one that Mike Hailwood rode in the Isle of Man TT in 1978. Ducati made the move to sell the MH900e over their website direct to the consumer. There would be a limited run of 2000 hand-built bikes, 1000 being sold in the year 2000, and another 1000 in 2001. On January 1st, 2000 at 12:01 am the first 1000 bikes went on sale for 15,000 Euros, and much like general admission tickets to a Rage Against the Machine reunion concert pre Covid, they were sold out in 31 minutes.
2003: The Ducati Sport 1000 Launches
Hot off the heels of this success, Ducati decided there may be a market for a retro styled motorbike, and with that announced the Sport Classic line at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2003. Kicking the line off in 2005 for the 2006 model year was the Sport 1000, and for that model year only, the limited-edition Paul Smart edition. The Paul Smart Ducati is inarguably one of the prettiest motorbikes ever produced. Prove me wrong.
The Ducati Specs – Inspiration, Speed, and How the Design Evolved
The Sport 1000 was inspired by the 1973 Ducati 750 Sport. There were two versions, one being produced for only a year in 2006. It was a single seat version with double stacked exhaust on the right side of the bike. It also had a mono shock set up leaning on the more modern side of design. This version is known as the Monoposto, or single seat Sport 1000. In 2007 Ducati released an updated version of the Sport 1000 known as the Biposto, which had a removable cowl that hit a second seat. The exhaust exited on both sides which made room for passenger foot pegs. It also featured a more retro dual shock set up, replacing the mono shock from the previous year. Powering all of these bikes was Ducati’s air-cooled, fuel injected 992cc 90-degree V-Twin. It produced 91 horsepower, and 67 ft-lb of torque, powering the bike to a top speed of 135 mph. Pretty incredible numbers when you think the competition. A 900cc Triumph Bonneville was only putting out about 55 horsepower making the Ducati almost double the horsepower. So quite literally like whensomeone though to add another horse in front of carriage.
This makes the choice between the two a bit of a no brainer, except for one thing; you can still go to a Triumph dealership and buy a Bonneville, but not so for the Ducati Sport 1000.
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