is that a yellow 748? I had a modified one ( 853, heads done, etc,etc) as a track bike. Traded it for my 888. Had a 96 Monster that was fitted with Keihein flatslides, flowed heads, cams, pistons. That bike would pull a wheelie for days. Traded that one for the 748. Paso. Never could bond with that one. Even though it came with a Weber carb, never could get them to carburate worth a damn. Nice bike set of bikes there. I still have the triple 8 and a 2003 ST4s. Both are fast enough anymore. RR talks about brakes on that Enfield. Don't know how much it weighs, but a bike with a single front rotor just doesn't cut it. Twin 320 mm rotors with 4 piston 4 pad calipers, that's brakes!
The yellow bike is a 2000 996 monoposto. The dealer had a red one in stock but I had them find a yellow one instead. By 2000 "Ducati red" wasn't the same as what they used in the early '90s. My '91 907 (see below) would damn near glow in the right light. My '95 900ss wasn't as impressive, in 2000 I liked the yellow better. Plus it reminded me of the 900SS/SL I should have bought but wimped out on years earlier.
Not many mods. Single injector chip and dyno tuned, it ran pretty good. The 1200S Monster could run and hide from it though, which made me question why I needed a superbike. Now I'm having second thoughts. I have been in touch with the guy who owns it now (Ducati ownership is a relatively small world) so if he ever decides he doesn't want it anymore...
That isn't a 750 Paso, it's a 907ie. Fuel injected, water cooled, 17" wheels. Against everyone's advice in the fall of 1990 I put a deposit down, sight unseen before they had been released, based on rumors and a crappy faxed picture. It was displayed at vintage motorcycle days at Mid-Ohio in 2005 and ended up in a British magazine. This bike proved the Italians could do red better than anyone. I came out of a place after lunch one day to find a guy just staring at it. I had parked next to his Corvette. He told me "I thought my 'vette was red, but... damn...." I had a little mishap and needed the mirror repainted so I sent it to the best painter I knew, a buddy of mine with compulsive attention to detail. He did a fantastic job matching the color but it took a few tries. He ended up using a pink undercoat with a red-tinted clear over it, and told me if I ever needed anything else painted on it to take it somewhere else. He also painted bicycle frames and offered people deals on "Ducati red" using the failures that led up to the final product. ;-)
That bike followed me around for a lot of years, including times I didn't have a garage and had to rent a storage space for it. But sometimes it spent the night.
And here's a shot of the bike on the end that you can barely see. A 1966 160 Monza Jr. I modded it a bit.
Not much left that's stock on that bike. 160cc of Italian horsepower. The throttle stuck wide open on it one day. I didn't bother hitting the kill switch, instead I figured out what was wrong and got it to release. Things would have been different if it was the 1200S that did that.
I want an ST4s. Well, I want the engine from an ST4s anyway. They fit 851s. But I'm hearing rumors a guy put a 1098 engine in one too, so... maybe the RSV will end up getting parted out. I've already measured the front end, pretty sure it'd fit, along with the forged wheels and radial caliper Brembos. I intended to keep the 851 original when I bought it, but even before I had ridden it a hack furnace crew screwed up the tank on it. I found an NOS tank still in the box, but then replaced the exhaust too (because who didn't back in '91?) and of course an open clutch cover. I have a fiberglass solo tail for it too...
EDIT: What the heck, I may as well post a pic of the 851 as it sits too. It was the holy grail bike to me back in '91. I drove five hours into Canada to look at this one when I heard about it. Knew I'd buy it within ten seconds of seeing it. The first season or two didn't go well, it was a huge problem child, but now it's pretty much had the bugs worked out. It could use some time on a dyno but it doesn't come home on a trailer half the time like it used to.