My father rode his 900 SS for over 100.000km and only had to change pistons and rings once, the rest of the engine is stock. Still looks incredibly beautiful. He had a slim racingseat on it and rode on that from northern Germany down to Greece and then over to the island Crete and back, he must've had a butt of steel ;D Now it's sitting and waiting for its restauration
Had the 1975 750SS version in silver with blue striping. Same race tank with clear gauge in the side. Square case, 1Up 4down RH change. Bought it in 1981 for AUD$2600 from 1st owner. Being in my 20's I didnt know what I had of course. Loved it, YES!!!! Crashed it, yes. Rebuilt it yes. Sold it yes because in those days you dont have the $$ to keep more than 1 of anything. F$%& it. Now am old enough to collect bikes, 2007 R1200S, 2005 749.... Our group rode the icons of the era: Laverda 750 SFC and 1000 RGS, Guzzi 850 Le Mans 2 and 3, '82 900SS x 2. None of us knew the history we were riding.
You earned it Mr. Hale! You took care of it as best you could for all these years. It will take care of you when the time comes. Much like a parent raising a child, then later in life the child tending to the parent. Thank you for sharing this incredible story with us.
Lovely. I have my story with my 900SS and this film captures so much and tweeked old feelings that i never realised others have experienced. Thank you for the film and love to Dave.
I had the 750GT and the later 900 Darmah , nothing sounds like those bikes especially with a pair of Conti's to make them 'Bark' . These-days after 55yrs of riding , I ride the poor-mans Vincent (TR1 XV1000) an XS-2 Cafe' and a W650 .There is a Bond when riding certain-bikes that is like nothing-else ; that Visceral-connection with a roaring-beast where the exhilaration simultaneously connects you with Life while you know any second could bring Death . It truly makes you feel alive . Dave nz
I can relate to this bikes mileage. I owned a brand new 500sl pantah for 12 years and sold it with over 120k miles on the same engine. Some ducati's run and run.
...Such a heartwarming & interesting story... A beautiful bike & a wonderfully appreciative guy... Thank you Moto Borgotaro for bringing us this short film. !!
I saw this bike at Laguna Seca at Ducati Island probably around 2008 or 9 and then saw it parked in Monterey sometime after Superbike. Then I saw Mr. Hale at that time and even followed him on his 750 a little on my 600SL Pantah while there. My Hat's off to you sir! The only other time I had seen a real 750SS round-case was at the Art of the motorcycle in NYC and it might have been that very bike. Lovely!
bought one of the Other Rare ones a Mach 1 in Germany in 66 - in the Air Force, worked later on at MILLER Cycle specialties, restoring Ducati's, many a time at Berliner Motors, Long Island, Hamden cycle cntr, was a Ducati dealer owned by Bob Miller, Great video on Mr, Hale
Such a fantastic, warm story of a quiet man and his love. I’ve watched and referred this clip many times to friends and we’ve all enjoyed it. I hope you didn’t sell the bike, Keith. It’d break my heart and I think yours too. I wish you many more, endless rides. You’re meant to be together ✌🏻
what a gorgeous video, I love it, hard to find that bike in my country, I'm sure that I fell in love when the first time I heard the sound of a DUCATI 1974 750ss greetings from 16 years old boys that live in Indonesia😁
First time I head a Ducati at Road America coming into turn 14 and up the straight it sounded like a Chevy V8 coming. I didn't know what a Ducati was But I knew I was getting one. I did the next year.
@@motoborgotaroinc7343 Side stands are bad. If you sit down then start the engine. That awesome drumbeat. can make you forget to put the side stand up. Then you remember when making that first left hand turn.
Lovely video. I have a friend with a low Km one sitting in his shed. Few people know of it, but I'm hoping one day he fires it up for me to record it running. 😎
Sell it and use a fraction of the funds to buy another bike. It doesn’t particularly matter which bike, if it does nearly everything you need it to, it’s comfortable for you ( unlike this bike…let’s be honest ), and you gel with the bike, you’ll have a great experience each ride. I’m currently in love with my Z900RS Kawasaki Jaffa, and would not swap it for any other bike.
I wonder how many 'engine rebuilds' this bike had? Those bevel drive Ducati engines rarely made 15- 20 k miles in my experience without a crank rebuild as well as major work to the gears. The round case engines did not have ANY oil filter except a coarse screen, My own '73 750 GT had the case 'pounded out' where the main bearing was supported; it was NOT ever raced! The gears were infamous for 'popping out' under load until they changed to gears with 3 dogs instead of the earlier 6 dog version, some of us had the extra dogs removed- The 600 Pantah and the Mille towershaft finally 'got it right'. The 750 round case engine was truly a piece of art! The original Conti glass pack mufflers were louder than legal in '74 but we all loved the sound! When Ducati went to the giguaro 'square case' the 'art' was lost! Those also were not as smooth running with their shorter rod engines. No more balacing a nickel on edge as the engine is revved!
Actually, if the round case engine has it's oil changed frequently, wore air filters and was not abused, it is not unheard of to get fairly high miles out of them. Being entirely ball and roller bearing, the engines were fairly tolerant of crap in the oil. And the crank has a sludge trap that was fairly effective at catching crap before the crank pin. To have damaged your cases, I would have to guess that your 750's crank had been improperly shimmed, the wrong bearings, or both, most likely by someone outside of the factory. Those bearing are 15 degree contact and very expensive. Often someone who didn't know better would use 40 degree bearings with poor results. The early 860 based engines had short crank life due to using the 750 crank pin. The upgraded pin in the later 900 cured the short crank life. The "popping out" was more to do with abused dogs and speed shifting. Yes, removing the shorter dogs did help engagement, at the expense of more backlash. The 3 dog box became standard around 1980. And fyi, the Conti isn't a glass pack, rather it is all steel with a perforated straight through center tube. I completely agree that the Round case is a work of art. Some of that was lost with the Square case. The best is the Mille. Ducati got it's looks and mechanicals right.
@@tdkeyes1 Gearboxes on those bikes were very poorly machined, when the various dogs between a pair of ears were supposed to mesh in Siri all the dogs with mash on both pieces evenly at the same time. But in reality they were not machine evenly and in fact maybe one dog pear would engage and take the entire load because the machining was lets a higher or less material had been removed. Of course then that particular dog would soon fail because one dog can’t take the entire load for any length of time pretty soon you have a gearbox that is popping out of gear. And then of course means the engines comes apart. When they went to the external crossover shift mechanism it was even more likely to have incomplete shifts due to friction in the linkage and then the gears would also be popping apart and soon be ruined. That would be in the 76 and up engines. Ducati eventually admitted the tolerances for assembling their crankshafts were questionable, ha ha as in I think if you got 15 or 20 k Miles on a crankshaft you are doing well. And that has nothing to do with oil changes. My first tower shaft bike was a GT 750. On that bike first I had the gearbox problem but then the crankshaft got loose in the cases. As I recall the bearings sat in steel rings but the steel rings were loose in the aluminum case. I eventually put a Darmsh engine into a frame. Well that time at least they had a decent Japanese style internal shifting mechanism
If balanced, shimmed and assembled correctly and with regular two to four k oil changes, the roundcase engines will run a lot longer than 20k. Not that it’s difficult to remove and tear them down. Quite a few were used for endurance and production racing here in Australia in the 70s. We were Ducatis biggest market for them at one time around 1975 I believe. The factory even built some GTs and Sports in 1978 just for the Oz market in response to a request to Fraser’s, the NSW distributor. I’ve owned and built a few and I never saw any fibreglass packing in Contis, Lafranconis or Imola exhausts( all perforated steel internal tubes and none at all in the case of the latter.There was also a race kit supplied with the 74 models and a factory race kit available which included a long list of parts including oil cooler, cams and a bunch of sprockets. Don’t know if any of the kits have survived. Ian Falloons books on various Ducati models provide all the answers.
I rode my first 750 GT roundcase in Western Australia in the 70s, typically everywhere at 100mph, and in searing heat. Every 1000 miles, changed the oil - BP Corse 50+ - no multigrade. It would run like that for a very long time. I've done 750+ miles in a day like that - mostly sitting on 100 mph. You'll have less big end bearing problems if you get the timing sorted with the single timing plate, but twin points - and there's a trick to doing that. IIRC, the front pot ran hotter than the rear too, so it worked better with different heat range plugs. Like most owners, I quickly ditched the standard air cleaner system and used the mushroom washable foam filters. I never had problems with the gearbox on either roundcase that I owned. The roundcase engine is as much art as it is engineering. Dr Taglioni was a true genius.
100K miles in a lifetime of ownership is nothing. I routinely ride 7k-8k miles a year, for decades. Many of my fiends also do the same. I like the last generation of the Super Sport, fuel injections being top on the list. These also come with 17” rims, 4 pot Brembo in the front. The last generation could actually be cut in two. This generation of Super Sport started in 1998/9. It was a bad financial time for Ducati as well as the start of a recession. I owned a 1999 SS 900. After a scary road accident, and an insurance payout on the damages, I race/track dedicated it. It was better there. Small, inexpensive improvements made for a better bike that it’s parts. I also owned a 2000 SS 750. That was a perfect street bike. I also out handled newer, flashier bikes. I very recently purchased a 2004 SS 800. This is a the second half of the last generation Ducati Super Sport. It operates at a higher level of performance. A lot more engine, very well matched/improved chassis, but basically the same chassis. Small, incremental frame tweaks seem there. The rear end sits higher, the rear shock longer, firmer. Great for the track. Not so much for the street. Anyway, it’s a new bike for me. I’ll see if I’m not too old to adapt. I expect things will go well. After all, It’s a Super Sport!
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
Awesome story Awesome bike.
THANK YOU -- the story was a pleasure to tell!
Great video. Very very nicely made and edited. 🎉❤
This is the best video I’ve watched on TH-cam
Thank you -- it was a pleasure to tell this story
My father rode his 900 SS for over 100.000km and only had to change pistons and rings once, the rest of the engine is stock. Still looks incredibly beautiful. He had a slim racingseat on it and rode on that from northern Germany down to Greece and then over to the island Crete and back, he must've had a butt of steel ;D Now it's sitting and waiting for its restauration
Bravo. Great film. The man, Keith Hale, is as awesome as the 750SS. Godspeed, K. Hale.
LABOR OF LOVE !
Had the 1975 750SS version in silver with blue striping. Same race tank with clear gauge in the side. Square case, 1Up 4down RH change. Bought it in 1981 for AUD$2600 from 1st owner. Being in my 20's I didnt know what I had of course. Loved it, YES!!!! Crashed it, yes. Rebuilt it yes. Sold it yes because in those days you dont have the $$ to keep more than 1 of anything. F$%& it. Now am old enough to collect bikes, 2007 R1200S, 2005 749....
Our group rode the icons of the era: Laverda 750 SFC and 1000 RGS, Guzzi 850 Le Mans 2 and 3, '82 900SS x 2. None of us knew the history we were riding.
Thank you Keith for letting us share your story.
You earned it Mr. Hale! You took care of it as best you could for all these years. It will take care of you when the time comes. Much like a parent raising a child, then later in life the child tending to the parent. Thank you for sharing this incredible story with us.
Yes, the story has so much meaning. One the proudest projects I have ever been apart of.
Lovely.
I have my story with my 900SS and this film captures so much and tweeked old feelings that i never realised others have experienced.
Thank you for the film and love to Dave.
Correction....Keith.
@@johncameron125 this was a project of love for us -- the love and respect of our shared passions for 2 wheels
Keep riding Keith, just as long as you can.
I love this production. There is as much beauty in this doco cinematography as there is in the Green frame. Kudos!
This man is a legend as much as Ducati Imola 750 Ss.
AGREEE--- LEGEND
Saw a cop giving one a parking ticket. I told him the city should be paying him to park there.
Agreed -- we got a ticket when we were filming this --- HAHAHHA
What a lovely story stay safe young man true motorcycle
I had the 750GT and the later 900 Darmah , nothing sounds like those bikes especially with a pair of Conti's to make them 'Bark' . These-days after 55yrs of riding , I ride the poor-mans Vincent (TR1 XV1000) an XS-2 Cafe' and a W650 .There is a Bond when riding certain-bikes that is like nothing-else ; that Visceral-connection with a roaring-beast where the exhilaration simultaneously connects you with Life while you know any second could bring Death . It truly makes you feel alive . Dave nz
I can relate to this bikes mileage. I owned a brand new 500sl pantah for 12 years and sold it with over 120k miles on the same engine. Some ducati's run and run.
What a great story, beautifully told.
THANK YOU -- it was a great pleasure to be apart of this
...Such a heartwarming & interesting story... A beautiful bike & a wonderfully appreciative guy... Thank you Moto Borgotaro for bringing us this short film. !!
Great bike. Great film. Great man.
THANK YOU -- LABOR OF LOVES
I saw this bike at Laguna Seca at Ducati Island probably around 2008 or 9 and then saw it parked in Monterey sometime after Superbike. Then I saw Mr. Hale at that time and even followed him on his 750 a little on my 600SL Pantah while there. My Hat's off to you sir! The only other time I had seen a real 750SS round-case was at the Art of the motorcycle in NYC and it might have been that very bike. Lovely!
I heard Keith was hard to keep up with on her... Not the same as the Art of the MC bike -- I have handled that 750SS as well -- posters coming soon
bought one of the Other Rare ones a Mach 1 in Germany in 66 - in the Air Force, worked later on at MILLER Cycle specialties, restoring Ducati's, many a time at Berliner Motors, Long Island, Hamden cycle cntr, was a Ducati dealer owned by Bob Miller, Great video on Mr, Hale
A beautiful story, Keith truly deserved that bike and fingers crossed the next caretaker respects the condition and doesn't attempt a "restoration".
Cool story cool bike.
SO beautiful. I am genuinely moved and can only say thank you to all involved. I would like to donate to this man`s retirement fund, is there a way?
Thank you -- this was a very important story to tell for us.
A Diamond of a man, with a gem of a bike...
Truly amazing story
Such a fantastic, warm story of a quiet man and his love.
I’ve watched and referred this clip many times to friends and we’ve all enjoyed it.
I hope you didn’t sell the bike, Keith. It’d break my heart and I think yours too.
I wish you many more, endless rides. You’re meant to be together ✌🏻
It is perhaps the piece I am the most proud to be apart of --
what a gorgeous video, I love it, hard to find that bike in my country, I'm sure that I fell in love when the first time I heard the sound of a DUCATI 1974 750ss
greetings from 16 years old boys that live in Indonesia😁
Great story thank you. I have 2 1975 ss and love them. But the 74 will always be my favourite.
Great story, excellent video, good luck Mr Hale.
Thank you
How can this have less than 1 million views?!! And so few comments?
A beautiful story and movie.
Thank you so much -- make sure to share ! lets get the views up !!!!
The conrods and valve lifters are polished to prevent breaking.
That “aging” shot with the discovery channel footage sold me
First time I head a Ducati at Road America coming into turn 14 and up the straight it sounded like a Chevy V8 coming. I didn't know what a Ducati was But I knew I was getting one. I did the next year.
I hear you -- same as Keith -- same as me -- I have one one way
@@motoborgotaroinc7343 Side stands are bad. If you sit down then start the engine. That awesome drumbeat. can make you forget to put the side stand up. Then you remember when making that first left hand turn.
Incredible video, watched it at least 3 times already. Subbed in an instance. Keep it up, greetings from Yokohama
Thank you -- this video was very important to me to be apart of
Great bike.
the best !
Only two hundred of these magnificent machines are still around? What the hell is wrong with people?
A lot of those early super sports were raced and presumably trashed.
Lovely video. I have a friend with a low Km one sitting in his shed. Few people know of it, but I'm hoping one day he fires it up for me to record it running. 😎
Your friend is sitting on a gold mine.
Sell it and use a fraction of the funds to buy another bike. It doesn’t particularly matter which bike, if it does nearly everything you need it to, it’s comfortable for you ( unlike this bike…let’s be honest ), and you gel with the bike, you’ll have a great experience each ride. I’m currently in love with my Z900RS Kawasaki Jaffa, and would not swap it for any other bike.
I sold my GT750 after pressure from a m8 as I had a 78SD that I still have.
From one Darmah owner to another. 👍
I love the Laverda Jota. An alternative Italian bike.
There is only one better that that ..... my old 1978 ss 900
A fine machine as well !
👍👍👍Very very good 🔝🔝🔝
Thank you !
I feel the same way about my 350 Sebring, really.
I wonder how many 'engine rebuilds' this bike had? Those bevel drive Ducati engines rarely made 15- 20 k miles in my experience without a crank rebuild as well as major work to the gears. The round case engines did not have ANY oil filter except a coarse screen, My own '73 750 GT had the case 'pounded out' where the main bearing was supported; it was NOT ever raced! The gears were infamous for 'popping out' under load until they changed to gears with 3 dogs instead of the earlier 6 dog version, some of us had the extra dogs removed- The 600 Pantah and the Mille towershaft finally 'got it right'. The 750 round case engine was truly a piece of art! The original Conti glass pack mufflers were louder than legal in '74 but we all loved the sound! When Ducati went to the giguaro 'square case' the 'art' was lost! Those also were not as smooth running with their shorter rod engines. No more balacing a nickel on edge as the engine is revved!
I can ask Keith if youde like. I had lunch with him today 10/04/2022
Actually, if the round case engine has it's oil changed frequently, wore air filters and was not abused, it is not unheard of to get fairly high miles out of them. Being entirely ball and roller bearing, the engines were fairly tolerant of crap in the oil. And the crank has a sludge trap that was fairly effective at catching crap before the crank pin. To have damaged your cases, I would have to guess that your 750's crank had been improperly shimmed, the wrong bearings, or both, most likely by someone outside of the factory. Those bearing are 15 degree contact and very expensive. Often someone who didn't know better would use 40 degree bearings with poor results. The early 860 based engines had short crank life due to using the 750 crank pin. The upgraded pin in the later 900 cured the short crank life. The "popping out" was more to do with abused dogs and speed shifting. Yes, removing the shorter dogs did help engagement, at the expense of more backlash. The 3 dog box became standard around 1980. And fyi, the Conti isn't a glass pack, rather it is all steel with a perforated straight through center tube. I completely agree that the Round case is a work of art. Some of that was lost with the Square case. The best is the Mille. Ducati got it's looks and mechanicals right.
@@tdkeyes1 Gearboxes on those bikes were very poorly machined, when the various dogs between a pair of ears were supposed to mesh in Siri all the dogs with mash on both pieces evenly at the same time. But in reality they were not machine evenly and in fact maybe one dog pear would engage and take the entire load because the machining was lets a higher or less material had been removed. Of course then that particular dog would soon fail because one dog can’t take the entire load for any length of time pretty soon you have a gearbox that is popping out of gear. And then of course means the engines comes apart. When they went to the external crossover shift mechanism it was even more likely to have incomplete shifts due to friction in the linkage and then the gears would also be popping apart and soon be ruined. That would be in the 76 and up engines. Ducati eventually admitted the tolerances for assembling their crankshafts were questionable, ha ha as in I think if you got 15 or 20 k Miles on a crankshaft you are doing well. And that has nothing to do with oil changes. My first tower shaft bike was a GT 750. On that bike first I had the gearbox problem but then the crankshaft got loose in the cases. As I recall the bearings sat in steel rings but the steel rings were loose in the aluminum case. I eventually put a Darmsh engine into a frame. Well that time at least they had a decent Japanese style internal shifting mechanism
If balanced, shimmed and assembled correctly and with regular two to four k oil changes, the roundcase engines will run a lot longer than 20k. Not that it’s difficult to remove and tear them down. Quite a few were used for endurance and production racing here in Australia in the 70s. We were Ducatis biggest market for them at one time around 1975 I believe. The factory even built some GTs and Sports in 1978 just for the Oz market in response to a request to Fraser’s, the NSW distributor. I’ve owned and built a few and I never saw any fibreglass packing in Contis, Lafranconis or Imola exhausts( all perforated steel internal tubes and none at all in the case of the latter.There was also a race kit supplied with the 74 models and a factory race kit available which included a long list of parts including oil cooler, cams and a bunch of sprockets. Don’t know if any of the kits have survived. Ian Falloons books on various Ducati models provide all the answers.
I rode my first 750 GT roundcase in Western Australia in the 70s, typically everywhere at 100mph, and in searing heat. Every 1000 miles, changed the oil - BP Corse 50+ - no multigrade. It would run like that for a very long time. I've done 750+ miles in a day like that - mostly sitting on 100 mph.
You'll have less big end bearing problems if you get the timing sorted with the single timing plate, but twin points - and there's a trick to doing that. IIRC, the front pot ran hotter than the rear too, so it worked better with different heat range plugs. Like most owners, I quickly ditched the standard air cleaner system and used the mushroom washable foam filters. I never had problems with the gearbox on either roundcase that I owned.
The roundcase engine is as much art as it is engineering. Dr Taglioni was a true genius.
100K miles in a lifetime of ownership is nothing. I routinely ride 7k-8k miles a year, for decades. Many of my fiends also do the same. I like the last generation of the Super Sport, fuel injections being top on the list. These also come with 17” rims, 4 pot Brembo in the front. The last generation could actually be cut in two. This generation of Super Sport started in 1998/9. It was a bad financial time for Ducati as well as the start of a recession. I owned a 1999 SS 900. After a scary road accident, and an insurance payout on the damages, I race/track dedicated it. It was better there. Small, inexpensive improvements made for a better bike that it’s parts. I also owned a 2000 SS 750. That was a perfect street bike. I also out handled newer, flashier bikes. I very recently purchased a 2004 SS 800. This is a the second half of the last generation Ducati Super Sport. It operates at a higher level of performance. A lot more engine, very well matched/improved chassis, but basically the same chassis. Small, incremental frame tweaks seem there. The rear end sits higher, the rear shock longer, firmer. Great for the track. Not so much for the street. Anyway, it’s a new bike for me. I’ll see if I’m not too old to adapt. I expect things will go well. After all, It’s a Super Sport!