I really wanted to buy a Jap 600 replica but none turned up for the two grand I had available. What I did find was a 750 Paso. A weird looking thing, a massive expanse of mostly red paint. The owner assured me, with a nasty grin, that it would see off all the Japanese stuff, and then took me for a frightening spin on the back. Having seen 130mph on the clock I concluded that all must be well with the engine.
The 80hp, 750cc vee twin can trace its roots back to the Pantah (with its belt driven cams), which in turn was inspired by the bevel drive vee's of the seventies. Ducati have a long history of sporting success and making good handling bikes. I was expecting something special from the five year old Paso, an experience that would send me to new highs...
New depths, more like it. The riding position just didn't suit me. Felt like I was precariously perched atop the bike with an excess of mass on both my wrists and backside. Within twenty miles I was experiencing a new kind of agony that threatened to throw me into a screaming fit. I pulled over, staggered off the bike and shook my body back into a semblance of shape! Something often repeated.
The other intrusion into my happiness was the way the plastic flapped around. By the time I got home the left-hand panel was loose - its fasteners had stripped their threads and had been bodged in. No wonder the owner had refused to take the panels off so I could take a look at the engine.
Being an inquisitive soul I soon had all the plastic stripped off the bike. The engine had minor oil leaks from its cylinder heads and most of the bolts showed the telltale signs of having been taken out - looked like the motor had been taken right down to its bearings! The clock read only 15000 miles, so it was either fake or the engine couldn't take its state of tune.
With surgical skill I replaced the plastic, thinking maybe I ought to trade the Duke in for some Jap wonder machine whilst it was still running - when a crack tore through the air and made me swear my head off. Part of the front fairing had a big split in it. Closer inspection revealed that it'd been plastic welded! So I had a bike that had been rebuilt and crashed!
Foolishly, after repairing the fairing, I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. The Paso was heavy and bulky, but tracked along with a reasonable degree of precision. Felt better than Jap's with a similar amount of mileage on the clock, but not really exceptional or mind blowing or anything.
The engine grunted out its power but didn't like low revs, like there was something wrong with the transmission - no cush-drive or a bit of wear in the gearbox bearings. The chain, itself, was newish and in good condition. When I tried to open the throttle in top gear from low revs under load - say going up a hill - a loud knocking noise came from the back of the gearbox!
The engine responded much better to hard use of the throttle and gearbox, thumping out the torque and racing up the road with a noisy bellow that soon left me deaf. It made the cagers jerk out of the way, anyway, probably thinking it was a runaway tank! Hard use of the throttle made it thrum a bit at maximum revs, resulting in various bits falling off...
The first was the left-hand footrest peg whilst some of my weight was on it. It came as a nasty surprise to find my foot waving around at 90mph, the whole bike veering crazily as I tried to work out what was going down. The peg ended up ripping itself off the gearchange rod, leaving the bike stranded in fourth! Unbelievable shit!
This wasn't really Ducati's fault. The peg had been replaced with something non-standard after the crash and the threads bodged with Araldite. It was a wonder it had lasted for so long. Replaced peg and sorted threads saw me back on the road at minimal cost, but I was wondering what was going to go down next.
What I hadn't noticed was that the left bar had broken off and been welded back on! I found this out when the bar went loose in my hand and then fell off! Fortunately, it happened in town when I was only doing 25mph. I pulled over, feeling thoroughly bemused at having the handlebar loose in my hand! Again, a used replacement cheaply sorted the problem.
The third incident was the back mudguard rattling loose, bouncing on the tyre and ending up well mangled. This happened at about 40mph after I tried to make the bike wheelie, something it didn't like - the clutch usually started to rattle rather loudly. As the numberplate was also ruined I had a rather interesting ride home - no plate, no laws; right?
These problems happened over a three month, 2000 mile, period. When it wasn't falling apart I also had a few hassles with the handling. Mostly when powering out of bends. The suspension seemed mismatched, the rear going coil-bound whilst the front fluttered fitfully. Despite these machinations the bike showed no inclination towards throwing itself off the road and I was quite impressed when I had to change direction suddenly after the usual dopey cager did something stupid. Not all bad news, by any means. It could probably be sorted with a decent shock and some better fork springs.
The handling suddenly went dire and the back tyre skidded violently. I pulled over before I fell off, was amused to find the back rubber soaked in oil. I croaked home at moped speeds, having to bung my boots down a couple of times to stop us skidding off the road.
With the plastic off, the rear cylinder head gasket was revealed to be so blown that oil was practically spurting out; the level had disappeared below the minimum mark! Massive force on the cylinder head bolts sorted it, another symptom of the high rev vibration, I think!
After that experience the engine lost some of its zip and made a melody of noises inside the plastic. At certain revs the plastic would reverberate and rattle to an incredible degree, drowning out even the rorty exhaust. Fortunately, at tickover it was relatively quiet.
Four months and 3000 miles had left the engine close to going into self-destruct mode. Nothing for it but to hit the local Yamaha dealer and trade in for a heavily discounted YZF750. Got £2600 off the price! The new Yamaha makes the Duke look like something out of the ark, even has a bit of blood and guts as well as excessive power and fine handling.
The dealer got killed on the Duke. The new owner came back after three weeks with a broken gearbox. After that was fixed the electronics went down and finally the engine started knocking. The shop had sold the bike for three grand but had to spend a lot more than £400 sorting it out. If it had gone down on me I would probably have ended up scrapping it.
Mine was obviously a hard used and much bodged example of the breed. Find one well looked after, it could be a whole different story - but it's not easy to tell the good from the bad.
L.K.S.