Ducati Pantah for sale
SELLER SAYS: This beautiful 1981 Ducati 500 SL Pantah has been restored including engine rebuild. Not original paint colour. The odometer reads 91,000 but the engine has done very low kilometres since the rebuild. The bike is very well cared for and is in excellent condition, rides beautifully and sounds absolutely awesome; seen in person will impress. Licensed till November 2025. Contact Joel on 0407 771 057 (Willetton – Perth, Western Australia)
EDITOR TERICK SAYS: It’s bizarre to think Ducati management resisted the introduction of the Pantah and it’s belt-drive L-twin engine, given what history has since delivered. That belt-driven L-twin not only evolved to become the base of all Ducati’s twin-cylinder superbikes, but is arguably still in production today; the engine in the much-loved mid-size Ducati Monster is only a modest variation from the first Pantah. The motor was designed in 1971 by the now-legendary Dr Fabio Taglioni, but the Ducati brains trust said “no, parallel twins are all the go”. Hmm. Fast forward not very far at all, and Ducati’s parallel twin 500 GTL was a sales failure. Rolling out “something we prepared earlier” the Pantah finally hit the market in 1980. And what a bike. With two whopping 36mm Delloroto carbs feeding the juice, the Pantah had near-on 50 horsepower to push its 176kg around. As a result, the little Duke was as fast as most open-class bikes of its time and, with its all-new trellis frame, it out-handled all of them. It was also uncompromising. Built for speed not comfort, the Pantah looked, went and felt like a track bike. This example of Joel’s looks glorious. I’ve seen it in the flesh, and it’s every bit as good as the pics suggest.
