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Sport 1000
Having ridden the silver Smart bike first, I’d expected the Sport 1000 to feel almost identical when I threw a leg over its similarly slightly tall single seat at the coffee stop outside the town of Strada in Chianti. But the two models felt more different than I’d expected, given that their engines are identical and the mass-produced machine’s chassis changes can be summed-up in one short paragraph. Most obviously, the naked Sport projects a convincing Seventies café-racer look with a pair of chromed horns below its round headlight, plus mirrors located on the end of clip-on bars that sit 20mm higher than those of the half-faired bike. The Sport lacks the Smart model’s steering damper, and instead of using ÷hlins suspension it has a combination of non-adjustable 43mm, upside-down Marzocchi forks and multi-adjustable Sachs shock. Other than that, it’s down to colour: black frame plus a bodywork choice of red, black or yellow. In each case, you get a contrasting stripe down the top of the tank and tailpiece. All three look great, especially the yellow that mimics the look of the original 1973-model 750 Sport.
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| Full round headlamp and clocks with nifty bar end rear view mirrors is pure class of sixties and seventies |
Same instrument look as on the 1000LE |
Adopting the 1973 Ducati 750 Sport as the reference for the Sport Classic 1000, this bike also makes do with the same motor as in the Smart Duke! |
That slight difference in handlebar height between the two models was barely noticeable as I pulled away on the Sport. Instead, it was the lack of steering damper that made most difference, as the undamped bike’s lighter steering gave it a notably more urgent, ready-to-go feel. The Smart model isn’t a slow steerer by any means, but the naked machine just seemed slightly more lively, a feeling perhaps enhanced by the wind coming over the top of its big round headlight to hit me in the chest. Not that this was a problem on a warm day in Tuscany, where the mostly twisty roads kept speeds below 150km/h for much of the time. Performance wise there was nothing between the two, though predictably the naked bike gave a slightly greater impression of speed, especially above about 120km/h, and would have become tiring more quickly on a longer trip. The naked bike zapped forward with identical enthusiasm, and probably lifted its front wheel even more readily. Its mirrors stayed as clear as the Smart model’s fairing-mounted jobs, though they’d make the bike very wide in heavy traffic. Steering lock was reasonably good, as with the Smart bike, though again the low, stretched-forward riding position made the Ducati hard on the wrists at slow speed.
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