MotoUSA.com reruns a piece by it's contributing editor, Frank Melling, entitled "Memorable Motorcycles - Ducati Silverstone Super".
Forget being a cowboy out on the range, or a Spitfire pilot battling the Nazi hoards over the English Channel. I went to bed every night dreaming of riding a Ducati in the TT and receiving a kiss in the winner’s circle. I was a very confused nine-year-old.
The reason was simple: Pre-Japanese, lightweight motorcycles were dull, dull, dull. Little bikes were for beginning riders, or the poor, or stupid, or those with no taste. Real men rode BSA Gold Stars and Velocette Venoms and Triumph T110's. Bikes which went grrrr and bared their teeth if you looked at them the wrong way or knocked their oil cans over at the bar.
But as always, history is not straightforward. In Italy, lightweights were anything but boring or mundane – purely and simply because of the Italians’ love of racing.
Fabio Taglioni designed a bevel drive, SOHC engine which appeared simultaneously in 100cc and 125cc forms to give Ducati two chances in the multi-class Moto Giro. The bike bore many of Taglioni’s trademark design traits. In reality, it was a very conservative concept that broke no new ground.
Norton in particular had been racing bevel drive engines since the 1920's with incredible success. Unit construction engines, where the engine and gearbox are one item, had also been in production since before the First World War. What Taglioni did was to put all the best of known engineering practice into one, unified, package. The result was a neat, reliable and very beautiful, motorcycle.
The engine was a typical Taglioni design. The heart of the Sport was an oversquare (62 x 57.8mm) high-revving, SOHC motor. As with all Taglioni’s motors, the cam was driven by a shaft and the wet sump kept the oil low in the chassis and the engine simple. In standard trim, power was a class-leading 14 hp at an astonishing 8,000 rpm. This gave an 85mph-plus performance – comparable with many 500's of its day.
The race bike carried the exotic name “Silverstone Super”. Ducati provided a hotter cam, bigger carburetor, race exhaust and rev counter. A small pilot, glued to the fuel tank and with his knees tucked in, could expect to see a genuine 95mph, which was Grand Prix performance.
Then there was the detailing. The razor thin saddle was designed for the rider to stretch right back, tucked into a racing crouch on the track – and looking cool on the road. The gas tank came complete with clips ready for a chin pad.
So, clearly, the Sport is a bike every enthusiast would want to ride every day? Well, no. The rock hard suspension, narrow seat and low bars make for a very committed riding experience. The motor vibrates and the left-hand side kick start, mounted high on the engine case, is very much an acquired taste. In short, this is not a bike for the long relaxing mountain ride.
But, man, it would look good in my garage.
Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk
