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 Like most of Terblances designs its shape was outdated.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....

Why Ducati and why Tifoso

Well the first question is sort of rhetorical, i mean the answer is obvious. It's like asking why a star is hot. Because it's a star. You can't be a star unless you are hot. Ducati is like Ferrari, only better. It has the history, the racing DNA, the red color, the stunning looks, but with down to earth prices. Driving a Ducati is a hell more fascinating and thrilling than driving a Ferrari, only due to the fact that riding  a bike is funnier and tougher than driving a car.
Also Ducati has all that old school engineering, trellis frame, two cylinders, dry clutch, desmo, occasionally air cooling, that turns every ride into a time travel.

    I mean look at that, time travel machine.

    Or that,

    or that,

    or that.
I could go on forever. I mean take a look at the 1000ss. This is a bike that was on production until 2006, that is yesterday, and it's looks is a blend of 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's. Time travel in a glance.
In my mind there is one classification with two major classes: a. Ducatis
                                                                                            b. Other two wheel vehicles
Now, why Tifoso.
Because i'm kind of obsessed with these machines. In a daily basis i need my dope. I need to hear the rattling  clutch, i need to hear the deep bass from the termis, i need to hear the dragon, breathing through the intake, i need to feel those G's of the acceleration in my butt, of the deceleration on my wrists, to see the asphalt coming closer to my shoulders through corners. I use my bike everyday, and only three days ago that i used my wives car, i felt 45. I literally spend about 3 hours weekly, just looking at her. I try to find secret places away from people, where i can take her and show her my admiration. I know that lots of you do the same things with your Ducs, i know that everything i said looks familiar. Hence the "Maniac" because i'm one of you. Because if  you drive a Ducati, you are probably a maniac, a fanatic, a Tifoso.


Up next: Twice upon a time!

Introduction

It all started there, on the track. This was my first bike, and i'm driving a bike just over three months. So, there must be something special in this bike. And its the looks. I didn't knew much about bikes, i was a car kind of guy, but every time i was cross passing an SS on the street, uhhh babe your so sexy. Any way the low mount termis gave me a low side, so we need to change something. We need to get the exhaust higher and lets make it a 2 in 1,

why not.

But then something is not right. The passenger seat and handlebar have no purpose anymore. This bike has to be a single seater. Plus we need a new paint scheme. Well the '98 and onward SS model, is derived from Terblances Supermono,

which is also the only Ducati with a single exhaust, so....

meet the DUCATI 900SS Edition SuperMono. Or as from today DUCATI TIFOSO 000. The complete package had a carbon fiber open clutch cover, chain guard and front mud guard, a Hyper Pro steering dumper, red billet preload adjusters and of course,

a PCIII with custom made map. The result from the 2 in 1 exhaust and the custom map was a smoother low rev function but a crazy non stop high end revving. You could see 9000 rpm in the counter in a split second. When accelerating from stand still, the steering dumper was earning his money.
But in a weekend trip i had a side-front collision with a goat (me front, she side) that left me with a bad knee and a promise never to ride a bike again. So buy buy babe...

But as they say in Greece "you can't turn blood into water" , my right hand had a permanent itch. But this time i haven't had racers in my mind, i had "cafe racers".

                                                           










That's nice,....

























                                                                 That's a good one too,....

Baby, you are hot, and then something caught my eye,

Do i know you from somewhere? Your face looks familiar. But of course, it's a Monster. Then all of a sudden everything made sense. It should be a Ducati cafe racer. Let's see; Google images, Ducati cafe racer..............................................................yes!

                                                                   








































Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmm, NO! Sorry!

                                                            That's a good one.

Now for some strange universally oriented reason, when you type Ducati cafe racer in google chrome, that A.I.  software gives you a lot of Sport Classics,

 and lots of ST based Radicals.


























Well, the ST series has a superbike frame, if it is the ST4 has a superbike engine, the S version has also superbike suspension, the two bikes (ST and SC) have similar dimensions, lets cross breed them and see the result. This web found photo was the canvas,

                                               











 And that was the first Photoshop sketch.

                                                       
                                                             One of the early sketches,

 

                                                                     The final plan

And please welcome the DUCATI  TIFOSO  944 CS (Cafe Sport)

                                                 










 The Ducati Tifoso 944 CS (Cafe Sport).
I don't know if it is necessary to mention it, but everything in this modification was made by me. Front and rear sub frames paint job, seat, designing, everything. I will upload details and pictures about the modification process, today it is just the presentation.

 Now, why are we here? I don't mean why are we here in this world, the obvious answer to that is to mate and die, i mean why are we here in this blog. Well you are because you like Ducatis or motorcycles in general and i am here because i like to modify them. That is why i named this bike 001. Because there's going to be a 002, 003 and hopefully a 999. The sketches are ready, i mean i have ready blue prints for at least 10 more bikes, sorry i'm not going to publish them cause i want to be the first to materialize them. I hope that up until April the e-bay shop and online shop will be ready, with original parts to modify your own Ducati into something sexy as hell. For more information about the Tifoso 944 Sport Cafe you can contact me in ducatitifoso@hotmail.com

Up next: Why Ducati and why Tifoso.