Norway callling! 400 Sport

[reo]

http://raresportbikesforsale.com/ducati ... rt-junior/

[persempre907]

$. 5800 starting bid

Ciao

[Mc tool]

$5800, Anders Breivik couldnt persuade me to part with five eight for a 400

[giocast]

I have a later version that i'm also about to sell. Although low on power there is something really appealing about riding one - it's a totally different experience to the other 3 sizes, even the 600 the engine braking is much less noticeable and you can place it on tight corners with far more confidence. Mine has a single exhaust and sounds amazing around the 10/11,000 rpm. I don't know what they were thinking of putting 2 discs on the front on this Junior as one is more than adequate.

[reo]

For information, this is not my bike which is available for sale in this ad. I just posted a link because I think the bike was exciting. As it says in the ad is the bike in Canada and I am in Norway. And for heaven's sake, do not mention a cowardly, sick child killer in this.

[ducinthebay]

Cool bike, and most certainly rare. It always amazes me as to how many models Ducati sold over the years. The 750 Sport sold a very small number to begin with, yet there are a bunch of different bits over the short life (ignition systems, paint jobs, frame braces, frame with and without spacers, etc.) And they still find it worthwhile to do the engineering to make a 400 version with different wheels. Well, maybe it wasn't worthwhile. I can't imagine that they sold enough of them to cover the engineering costs. Unless they had a 400 engine just sitting around that they were going to use for some other reason.

Its of little wonder that Ducati barely made it into the 90's. Thank god for the Castaglioni brothers.

Anyway, I'd love to own one of those little gems, but certainly not at that price. Half the displacement should be half the price.

Cheers,
Phil

[giocast]

i'm not sure if it was the sole reason, but certainly one of the factors involved in creating such a small capacity version was it's suitability for the (then) Japanese market where a great deal were sold.

[Fraser]

According to the "bible" these were made for the Japanese market at the request of the distributor Murayama. Some new ones also found their way to Australia, and of course there are now grey imports all over. They had 6 speeds and Mikuni carbs CVK-V36 with a claimed 50 hp at 11,000 rpm. In 1989 and 1990 they made 641 of these. At the right price it could be a fun bike.

Cheers,

Fraser.

[giocast]

but the bit I was getting at Fraser, is that they were desirable in Japan at that size for Tax and Licencing reasons rather than the company thinking that the concept of the bike at that size was a good idea :-

Engine size: Over 125cc up to 400cc
Motor Vehicle Law: Ž©“®“ñ—ÖŽÔ (JIDOU NIRINSHA)
Road Traffic Law: ’†Œ^Ž©“®“ñ—ÖŽÔ (CHUUGATA JIDOU NIRINSHA)
Mid-Size Auto-Mobile Two-Wheeled Vehicle.
Common names: Mid-class, CHUUGATA (’†Œ^)
Speed restrictions: 80 km/h on expressways, 50 km/h or less, as posted
Passengers: May have a passenger
Travel restrictions: May go onto expressways (w/o passenger)
License plate: White. Over 250cc has a green border
Mandatory Insurance: 13650, 21000, 28000 yen for 1, 2, and 3 years.

[gmonsen]

As someone already said, these baby, if you want, Japanese market, bikes are a lot of fun an very rare, especially this one, since the chassis and bodywork is mid-80's 1-ish and not the somewhat more common early 90's babies with 900SS chassis and bodywork. While I have a 92 900SS and 94 916, my smaller displacement bikes are a lot of fun to ride. Very very different than bigger brothers. As I have gotten older and been riding since 60's, I have had enough power and big displacement. You can seldom really use it and driving back roads on smaller ones is great fun.

I want a Paso badly, so anyone seeing one for sale or knows where a really, really nice one is please let me know?

Gordon

gmonsen@norsemangroup.com or PM but I'm not here often...