Immaculate 500, with luggage, in California
Ducati’s loyal following did not want parallel
twins. In areas where passion and brand
loyalty are evident, management often
simply don’t understand.
PANTAH TO THE RESCUE
Then Taglioni came to the rescue. Some
believe that had he not been stifled, the
Pantah would have appeared much earlier
than the end of 1978. Although the Pantah
shared the familiar Ducati engine 90-degree
L-shape layout, the engine was different in
several technical respects. The camshaft
was driven by toothed rubber belts, rather
than the traditional bevel gears. This engine
was not only cheaper to manufacture than
the bevel drive engines, but strength and
reliability was superior. Starting production
in 1979 the engine became Taglioni’s most
enduring masterpiece, and was still going
almost unchanged when he died in 2001.
The original Pantah was 600cc but soon
became a 500 for marketing purposes, Italian
testers at the time said “Almost 50bhp at
the wheel and 200km/h top speed, are the
exceptional results of our tests. The new
twin has high torque, great stability, and low
consumption. It is also distinguished by its
exclusive technical features. It is the first
Ducati twin with silent mechanisms, thanks
72 KIWI RIDER