Photo Story

This one is a tribute to the Ducati 900SS, a bike so controversial as a design and as a concept. It was supposed to be a Super Sport, but it had just 73hp and was only a two seater. Unlike the pre '98 SS, Ducati  never bothered to make a monoposto version like the 900SL. Just a rear seat cover from the performance parts. Like most of Terblances designs its shape was outdated. It looked contemporary the day the production stopped. Like the 999 that looks contemporary today. Put it alongside the 1199 and you can say that they are same year - different model.

These are some photos that i have collected over the years from the net, just to look at them. What a bike! Enjoy.                                                                                                         

    Of course it was my bike which, as it is obvious, i was considering the most beautiful SS in the world.

 And since i've lived with the bike for three years making some 20,000 km with it, 4,000 of them on track, i must say. It was a delight driving it at speed. Steady as a rock when braking, could stay leaned all day without the slightest effort and with a front end that was connected to the central nerve network of the driver, delivering information as if you were touching the tarmac with your palm. 

It had a perfect riding position for my 1.85m height and although i don't have the notes anymore, i can  remember that the rear set up was the stock with two more turns at the preload but the front was rather strange. I gave one more line at the preload (that is five visible lines), compression 4clicks from far right and rebound two clicks left from stock. With that set up my 80kgs could lean from side to side effortless for hours. These pictures were taken in Serres racing circuit, the only descent circuit we have in Greece. Well this is a 73hp bike and could lap at 1:34 with a good privateer (in my hands 1:38), when the 1198s can lap in 1:25 in the hands of the best racing driver with racing tires. A racer with an asthmatic engine, but still a racer.

In case you are a Ducatista and you have never owned an SS (900 or 1000), you owe it to yourself. Go and find a good one, red please, have the monoposto seat cover, paint it like that,

or like that.

 If you do the monoposto paint scheme you need the 2in1 exhaust, otherwise the bike will be historically incorrect and you will miss one of the best exhaust sounds ever. The two cylinder engine has a totally different sound when it exhales through one pipi, sorry pipe.

It's unbelievable how much respect this bike receives from every street user, including the owner.

Twice upon a time!

Have you ever heard about the parallel universe theory? It bases on the fact that elementary particles have a very strange behavior. The next moment, let's say an electron can be here (.) or here (.) or in every other possible dot on this page. That means that in every split second there are many possibilities, but in the next split there is only one actuality. Now based on this strange reality of elementary particles, some scientists suggested that there isn't only one actuality, only one universe, but an infinite number of universes that they co-exist simultaneously, with us noticing only one at a time. The electron that materialized here (.) led me writing this letter right now, but the same electron when materialized here (.) send me to bed early and now i'm sleeping......in that other universe.
Now the electron that materialized here (.) led to the Ducati history as we know it. In 1985 the Cagiva group bought  Ducati and when in 1994 came the time to replace the 888 SBK, Massimo Tamburini and Sergio Robbiano designed, in the Cagiva Research Center the Ducati 916. The bike that was about to win 4 world titles in WSBK Championship. 916 a number as iconic as the 911. Another designer that was working at the Cagiva Research Center at the time was Pierre Terblance, who, when Ducati sold by Cagiva to Texas Pacific Group, went along with the Ducati brand.
If somebody asks you to name some car designers Pininfarina,  Bertone, Porsche, Giugiaro, Shelby, Tucker are names that come to mind easily. But how many motorycle designers can you name? I guess two, Tamburini and Terblance. As a conclusion, Pierre Terblance is one of the two greatest motorcycle designers.  Now lets see some of Terblance's designs.

The 749/999. Many people will argue that the 999 was the ugliest, Ducati ever made, it didn't sale good either, but the truth is that the 999 was way ahead of its era. This bike will be contemporary in 10 maybe 20 years from now. It is like the Lamborghini LM 002, a big luxury SUV in 1986. That is 14 years before the SUV era, the 00's.

Next model the Hypermotard. This is undeniably a beautiful bike and for sure a big market success.

Another brilliant Terblance's design and best seller, the first generation Multistrada.

In my opinion the hottest motorcycle ever. The Ducati Paul Smart.

The Ducati MH 900ie, a study that became a limited production bike.

The Ducati Supermono. One of the most collectable Ducatis in any era.

The SS series '99-'07. My opinion again, the second hottest Ducati ever.

Now since Terblance has all this magnificent bikes in his portfolio, while Tamburini has only the 916, in my opinion, doesn't mean that is correct, it is just my opinion, Terblance is the greatest motorcycle designer. He created just too many great shapes.
Well there is one design that was wandering around Terblances mind for many years. The Retro styled motorcycle. It started as the MH 900ie. A modern classic

And it ended as the Ducati Paul Smart L.E. THE modern classic. And in the mean time it gave some interesting details like the Multistrada tail, or the S2R, S4R swing arm.
Now the electron that materialized here (.) led to a different Ducati history. In that other universe, the Texas Pacific Group bought Ducati 2 years earlier in 1991 and Pierre Terblance went along with Ducati and it was up to him to design the new Ducati SBK. And because a modern classic design was always in his mind, he designed the new SBK looking like a classic. Of course he had to build a SuperBike, he used the 851/888 chassis, he used the 916 engine but he felt that nothing is so elegant as a classic retro design. So his design .....in that other universe was that:

 What i want to say is this. In this period of my life i have decided to design and built (rather customize) bikes (well Ducatis, there is no other bike). Whether they will sell or not, i can't tell. The only thing i can tell is that my bikes will always be bikes that Ducati could have build if, only if, some minor itsy bitsy detail had gone the other way instead of this way. Even my first bike the 900SS, was a bike that Ducati could have build, if the project SS was taken more seriously by the factory.
So this is where my bikes live. In another parallel universe. Not better nor worst than this one, only different. Different by just a small electron that materialized here (.) instead of here(.). And you know elementary particles don't have time. They are timeless. They are the same for millions of years, but the moment they interact with another particle, time starts. 
An electron, materialized here(.), started interacting with other particles and gave an arrow of time, but the same electron when materialized here(.) started interacting with different particles, and gave a different arrow of time. So; Twice upon a time....