Relative new to Ducs and mainly working on 907ie's right now but did pick up two very nice 90 750 sports over the last few months. Neither one of these broke the bank but didn't steal them either. I understand about the weber and the 16" tires but just curious as to why these bikes aren't more collectible considering the low numbers that were brought to the states for one year? I think they are very pretty bikes although a little tight for me. It's funny how the bikes are cheap considering but when a ebay guy breaks one up for sale they think the parts are gold plated! Thanks Arch.

Arch,
Great to have you on the site. Welcome.
While many here will tell you about the Sport and their worth, they are one of the odd Ducks from Ducati's dark days, and the prelude to their reemergence. The Sport gets over shadowed by the 851 and the Paso. Both with a lot more engineering and styling, respectively. Maybe history will be kind to the Sport, but right now, its the hot deal of Ducati's. Nice, small and light, good geometry, adequate power, and just plain fun to ride hard. Horrible in town, but once you get to the twisties its loads of fun. Lots better with 17" wheels. Fractions cheaper than an F1. Call it the happy donut hole of happiness, and enjoy the ride.

Now you just have to decide, do I keep it stock, or start down the slippery path of 17" wheels, bigger brakes, better forks, etc…
If you think history will smile on this obscure model, put it back to stock while you can get some of the parts while they are still reasonably priced.

I have 2 of them also, but both of mine were basket cases, and I got a hot rod gene, so mine are no where near stock. Not that there is anything wrong with that…..

Cheers, Phil

Welcome to the site hopefully you will enjoy the wealth of knowledge on here just remember to use the search button first and please be patient for a reply as when it arrives it will be worth waiting for...........

The Paso is what we would call here in the UK - Ducati's marmite bike you either love or loathe it !

which means it has a limited value and only to the lovers so to speak however it's rarity also means that it has a value when broken up especially when one main part - the front end used by the racing community can often recoup the purchase price on it's own.

Old Ducati's pre 1980 seam to reach silly prices now when you consider the service and care they require just to ride over a 1000 miles i know my own old 860gts was a pig to maintain but an absolute ball to ride.

Also with the 750 quite a few are now being re shaped into Cafe Racers using some of the standard parts which also means reasonable returns for the breaker.

the good news for SS and Paso lovers though is although you my see high priced spare parts on ebay and the such like they are nearly almost always on there for anything up to 18 months so they may ask a high price but they certainly aren't getting it sold at that price.

Personally I would hang on to those complete bikes or maybe pass them on at a small profit to one of those lovers out there............they will appreciate and nurture it

Welcome Arch,

I think Phil and englishstiv have covered it quite succinctly, and if you have to readies to either fix up to ride and /or store as an investment for the longer term I would think eventually people will realise just what a gem the 750 Sport is.

Being able to bring one back to standard is the crunch long term, as Phil wrote his were a bit on the interesting side to start with, I doubt mine could go back now, (well could but don’t think I’d bother) as never had the original Air Box/Webber arrangement when I bought it, and it was originally bought to play with then sell, but unless things go pear shaped again financially, it is just too much fun to ride to let go.

The Paso’s are going to be even more interesting long term, many would argue against this outside of this site, but it is one of the bikes that saved Ducati from going under, and one would hope will be recognised for that one day.

I’m even looking putting my money where my mouth is and looking into a 906 in the near future, if the bikes the right one for me, not as mechanically skilled as a lot of the boy’s on this site.

So again welcome, and enjoy the forum.

Cheers

Peter

When Ducati released the 750 Sport alongside the 851 in 1988 it was pretty obvious that the Sport was a budget buy parts-bin special, albeit using some pretty nice parts (remember - it was a year before they even gave it a proper paint job instead of blue stickers!). Contemporary reviewers made criticisms then that are still valid today: the carburation was flawed, the 16" wheels were idiosyncratic and the suspension was basic. A couple of years later, when Ducati realised the market for simple 2 valve aircooled bikes was not going away, they addressed the issues and fitted Mikunis, 17" wheels and better suspension to the new 750 SuperSport. The rest is history.

I think the troubled origins of the Sport will always keep prices low. True, it shares more DNA with the legendary 750 F1 Monjuich, Laguna Seca and Santamonica bikes than just about anything else, but the similarities will never take it into the heady £10,000 plus price range these bikes can make.

A really nice, unmolested, low-mileage 1990 Sport sold here in the UK a couple of weeks ago and made £2250. That's about the most I've seen one sell for (most make around £1500) and it probably went to someone who doesn't know about the tyre availability thing, or the Weber... I'd have loved to buy it if I'd had the space and the cash, but I'm not entirely sure how much I'd actually use it as is.

I love my Sport. It had been significantly modified before I bought it and with some great advice from this forum I've made it even better. It breathes in through a pair of 36mm Dell'Ortos and out through some 900ss silencers. It's got M1R forks at the front and an Öhlins shock at the rear. Metzeler Z8 tyres adorn 17" rims and four-pot Brembo calipers bite down on to 320mm semi-floating discs. It's the best handling bike I've ever ridden and makes a great noise. I think it shows how good the basics of the original bike were with the Verlicchi frame and the Paso engine, and how you can make a "modern" classic Ducati by adding a few newer parts into the mix.

However once you start down that road you've moved away from the conventional market economy, and concepts of value become entirely subjective - my beautiful mongrel is probably "worth" less than half of what I've spent on it (and can't even claim originality) but then again I never plan to sell her!

Thanks for all the responses. Both of my bikes are very very nice, one is completely original with only 6k on it and the other has dell'ortos and ferrecci (sp) mufflers on it and sounds great. It even came with new michelin tires wrapped up, the complete weber set up and original pipes and mufflers plus a spare body kit in good shape. Actually need a basket case to do all the neat things too that some of you guys have done since I have so many spares!
I sold 15 of my older BMW airheads over the last two years to finance a old airplane but discovered after 54 years of aviation and two combat tours in Vietnam in helicopters that aviation just wasn't in my blood anymore. I then bought a sadly neglected 907 to keep me busy and out of the bars and started down the cycle path again! My wife said I failed cycle rehab in a big way! Something new is always exciting and I'm certainly learning a lot about Ducs and stuff from this and other forums. While BMW's are much easier to work on these era ducs that I've got seem to be more fulfilling. Thanks for the bandwidth, Arch.

Welcome Arch! I can appreciate your sentiment regarding aviation, (and thank you for your service to our country during your two tours) aviation isn't what it used to be when I was a kid and my dad was a pilot. Too many rules. Ironically my father always used to refer to projects as you just did. He would jokingly say "keeps you off the streets and out of the bars". I have never heard anyone else use that the phrase until you. You are in good company he was a great man.

If it makes you feel any better at least motorcycles, just like an airplane or helicopter lean when you turn them. That seems natural to me like when you're running really fast. Cars and trikes and such abominations lean in the wrong direction, and only when things are going very very wrong.

I think you will enjoy the 750 Sports very much. I like that fact that they are the odd Duc, (ha!). When they came out I wanted one so badly but it was beyond my means. I couldn't even imagine affording an 851 but even if I could it didn't appeal to me like the elegantly simple 750 Sport. Plus, the Sport had Laguna Seca wheels! It just looked right to me. And it still does and so I am now scratching my 24 year itch. Cramped? A little. Fickle? Maybe. But I have other bikes that I can ride all day if I wanted, (I don't seem to have any all days anymore) but they don't do the same for me as the little 750 Sport.

I feel that history will be kind to them because unlike the multitude of limited edition, and final edition models Ducati tried to make and wishfully claim were collectible and limited but were in most cases only paint and stickers and a badge on the triple clamp, the 750 Sport really was unique, and limited. I think it's funny that Ducati tries to create limited edition bikes which are usually just the left over models just before a product change. Paint it silver and add a plaque. Done. (The 1998 Ducati 900SS FE is the same bike as my 1991 900SS but painted silver.) Also important is you can draw a direct line from Ducati's of old to the new through the Sport. It was a transition bike. Was it perfect? No. But I argue that it kept Ducati alive (like a unit of plasma) until a injection of new models and new money became available. Finally, there were not a great number of 750's sold, and of those that did many were quickly chopped up or modified, or raced, or worse neglected, or otherwise loathed, used up and destroyed.

Rambling over.

To me my 750 Sport is priceless.

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks Gmund,even though i don't ride a lot anymore i still love just looking at my bikes and always thought a red 907 had to be one on the prettiest bikes of all time, subjective i know, and then I have the 750 sports when I want to see frames and engines so best of both worlds. Regards Arch.

Hi G.
Actually I did sell just a few more than that but kept my two oldest /2 BMW's. I think most of us realize that we are only caretakers of our machines for future owners and in a lot of cases leave them better than what we found them. My 6k bike is very nice but in some ways the 14k bike is even nicer and the difference is probably more rubbing which after reading all the posts on your paso last night makes you the KING!!
Yeah price was a big factor in my deciding to get some of these era bikes, good for buyers but not so good for sellers! I will have a paso soon since they're just as pretty to me as the 907's. I'm lucky that in selling my BMW's which were acquired over the last 25 years or so it gave me a little nest egg to pick up these duc's and work on them. If I had to take everything to the dealer I'd probably only have one! Regards Arch.