Defying First Impression
Bike India|January 2023
‘Not only did the Pantah itself revive Ducati’s middleweight fortunes, but its air-cooled, beltcam-drive desmo engine layout formed the basis of the firm’s V-twin range for decades’
ROLAND BROWN
Defying First Impression

SOMETIMES bikes just do not turn out as you expect. My first chance to ride a Ducati Pantah should have been one of the experiences of my life. Back in 1982, I was young and crazy about Italian motorcycles in general and Ducatis in particular. The new 600-cc version of the Pantah was as glamorous and exotic as just about any bike on the road.

But for me, riding it was a disappointment. For years I had been reading about big, roaring, bevel-drive Ducati V-twins. Then I finally got to ride a Pantah, shortly after starting my first job on a bike magazine. And this Ducati, with its belt-drive 583-cc engine, efficient silencers, and mediocre straight-line performance (it was slower than the pair of 550-cc Japanese fours on test at the same time), had seemed small, quiet, not particularly fast, and distinctly underwhelming.

Thus, when the opportunity arose to ride an identical Pantah, years later, I was not expecting too much. Bikes have improved so much since those days and an ageing, clean but less than immaculate 600-cc V-twin would surely seem horribly slow, unwieldy, and dull compared to a modern middleweight, let alone a new Ducati.

That, however, was not how it turned out at all. This Pantah fired up with a loud rumble from its standard-looking but distinctly free-breathing pipes. It had plenty of performance for the twisty country roads on which I was riding. Helped by a set of modern tyres, the Ducati's handling, normally the weak point of old bikes, was excellent, too. Far from being even more disappointed this time around, I enjoyed the Pantah far more than I had when it was new.

Luckily for Ducati, plenty of other people were much more enthusiastic about the Pantah following its launch in 1979. For this belt-cam drive middleweight, V-twin was one of the most important that the Bologna firm had ever built.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 2023 من Bike India.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 2023 من Bike India.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

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