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Ducati GT1000

The Ducati SportClassics were a range of retro styled motorcycles first introduced by Ducati at the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show, and put on sale in 2005 for the 2006 model year. The Paul Smart version was made for the 2006 model year only, while the Sport1000 ran from 2006 through the 2009 model years, and the GT1000 ran from the 2007 through 2010 model years.

 

They were the product of Ducati's design chief Pierre Terblanche, who said the series started with the Evoluzione MH900e replica of Mike Hailwood's victorious 1978 Isle of Man TT bike. The different variations are based on similar frames, and powered by the Desmodue 992 cc (60.5 cu in) air-cooled L-twin Ducati 1000 Dual Spark engine, also called the DS9 engine.

 

The Ducati GT1000 used a similar steel tubular trellis frame to the Paul Smart and the Sport1000, and the same Desmodue 992 cc (60.5 cu in) engine. It was designed with comfort in mind and intended for sport-touring riders. The frame differed from the Sport1000 in the addition of mounting points for twin shocks and side panels. The GT1000 had touring handlebars, mounted on the same front forks as the Sport has clip-ons: non-adjustable 43 mm Marzocchi upside-down forks.

 

While the rear end had the seventies appearance, the components were more modern. The rear suspension used twin Sachs shocks, adjustable for spring pre-load, mounted on a beefy 60 mm section swingarm. Wide Excel 17 inch chromed steel (36 spoke) rims are laced with thick 4.4 mm spokes to silver painted aluminum alloy hubs, necessitating the use of tube-type tires.

The front brakes of the GT1000 were derived from the other SportClassic models, and had two Brembo floating calipers with 30 and 32 mm diameter thermally insulated pistons. They were semi-floating discs with a diameter of 320 mm and a thickness of 4 mm. The rear brake system consisted of a floating single piston Brembo 34 mm caliper with high friction sintered pads and a 245 mm disc (bigger rear disc for two-up riders).

 

It had twin exhausts and silencers, and pillion pegs where they belong for riding any distance. The silencers (exhausts) have more of a "Silentium" look and were not designed to resemble the original 'reverse cone' "Conti" silencers that were present on the original 1970s Ducatis that inspired the GT1000.

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Uploaded on June 2, 2013
Taken on May 19, 2013