1984 Ducati 650SL Pantah – $28,000

Ducati 650 Pantah for sale

SELLER SAYS: With only 288 Ducati Pantah 650 SLs produced world-wide this example is one of a kind. All original including twin Conti pipes in as-new condition. With only 7956km on the clock you won’t find a cleaner example. This bike would suit a collector / Ducati enthusiast. Strictly no test rides. Contact Brendan on 0421 667 864 (Bellevue Hill – Sydney, New South Wales)

EDITOR TERLICK SAYS: The history of Ducati is scattered with highlights. While many manufacturers evolve their machinery methodically and gradually, Ducati has evolved in memorable leaps — and very few of those leaps was bigger or more important than the birth of the Pantah. As a riding machine, it was (and remains) a pure sports bike; lightweight, sharp as a tack, and uncompromising. But the Pantah’s memorable ‘leap’ was not in its handling or even its performance — it was mechanical. The Pantah heralded the arrival of the belt-drive engine and the end of the much-loved but expensive and fiddly bevel. The leap catapulted Ducati into the mainstream by delivering a reliable high-performance engine that could be manufactured at reasonable cost. The first Pantah, a 500, arrived to critical acclaim and outperformed many bikes with much bigger engines. By the time the Pantah came to an end, with the superb limited-run 650SL, it had carved itself a place in moto history and built a mechanical foundation that would carry Ducati’s big-bore L-twin sports bikes right through to the 21st Century. This bike of Brendan’s looks like a superb example. With so few miles on the clock, it’s likely to find its next home with a collector. Marvellous.