| Jasper hit the nail on the head. These bikes ARE special. I think we all feel the same way about them. Don't forget, they were built before Ducati became a household word. They weren't 'trendy' and thus were not sold to every flash harry with the cash to buy. In a way - and in my humble opinion - that's what has taken the shine from all of the later bikes, be they SP/SPS/R etc etc. None of them have the 'presence' of the 888 simply because there are so many of them out there. Riding through the narrow villages in and around Durham, my SP4 turns heads/ears like nothing I've ever known - whether in the company of rice-burners or other Ducatis - simply because it's a bike most bystanders (bikers included) have never before seen 'in the flesh'. Fast bikes, testing the SP4 in 1992 called it "the most conspicuous bike in the world". (...and even today, nothing's changed!!) |