History
Once upon a time I had the pleasure of racing a 1985 750 F1 Monjuic full race replica. The bike really left an impression on me. I was used to riding multi-cylinder four- strokes and racing two-strokes, but this bike was just so different that it really blew me away. In the back of my mind I think there was always a desire to own an F1 - but they are not all that common. Imagine my surprise when I walked into a local Ducati dealership and saw two ... an '85 and an '86, both at the same price, both in similar good condition! I chose the '86 model, my decision based on the well documented improvements that were made to the second model - even though the '85 was the rarer of the two. The only concern about this bike is the lack of spare-parts ... after all, a total of just 200 '86 F1's were made. A minor drop could result in a 'write off' situation. Although it was a clean unrestored bike, I really wanted to 'ground-up' it, wrap it up in cotton wool and keep it forever. But, that acknowledged, the reality of ownership is that an F1 needs to be ridden as the factory intended ... out near the edge, where the pedigree can be appreciated and respected.
This bike was not meant to be pampered and garaged - it needs to be at full-noise and scraping!
And the number plate said it all.
Modifications
Carbies bored out 1.5mm, some tricky valve work, upgraded ignition, modified exhaust baffling and a pair of 600 Pantah cams with higher lift and much longer duration gave it about 20%+ more horsepower ... although it didn't help its road manners a lot.
