Marzocchi or Paioli dual shock absorbers with 3-way
adjustable coil springs
Front Brakes
2 x 260mm Discs, 2 piston calipers
Rear Brakes
Single 260 mm disc, 1 piston caliper
Front Tyre
100/90-18
Rear Tyre
110/90-18
Dimensions
Length: 2150 mm / 84.6 in
Width: 670 mm / 26.4 in
Height: 1160 mm / 45.7 in
Wheelbase
1450 mm / 57.1 in
Seat Height
760 mm / 29.9 in
Dry Weight
180 kg / 397 lbs
Fuel Capacity
18 L / 4.8 US gal / 4.0 Imp gal
Top Speed
196 km/h / 121.8 mph
The late 70s
the Italians were losing their grip on the big-boy market since their macho
V-twins just couldn't out-perform the life-threatening monsters from Japan.
Instead Ducati's fabled in Fabio Taglioni set about designing a mid-weight
of distinction. He succeeded.
The 90° V-twin Pantah went as
well as it looked, and was quiet and gutsy to boot thanks to Desmo valve
gear, toothed belts for the cams and a 60° valve angle - the last a common
racing mod. Handling was excellent thanks to
a light trellis frame although the suspension was perhaps lagging a little
behind this creation. The styling was different, if not
to everybody's taste, especially as it looked as if the fairing had come off
something bigger. At least it looked a lot more beautiful than the later
600TL.
With a top speed of 117mph it was
no slouch, but mods, and the later 600 version, could put this up by 10 mph.
More than a decade later, Ducati
are still using many of the ideas first realized in the 500 Pantah.
The first 500 Ducati Pantah
appeared at the Milan show in 1977, but didn't make it to England until late 1980. The
engine remained almost the same throughout its production run. It featured
an over-square 78 x 58mm bore and stroke with vertically split
crankcases. Plain big end bearings with separate conrods caps and shells
were used instead of the usual caged roller bearings. Like other Dukes it
was a SOHC 90° V-twin with desmodromic valve gear but unusually, it featured
belt-driven cams.
Originally the bikes were fitted
with Marzocchi forks, but some had Paioli units. Rear shocks were bright red
Marzocchi with gas assistance.
Series-one to series-two kind of
evolved rather than was launched. The series-two got a new two-piece fairing
and new gearbox. Other models were a police
version, an economy model without fairing, and a touring bike with panniers
and one-piece bars. The 600cc Pantah appeared in
1981, courtesy of an 80mm bore, but it also featured a hydraulic clutch and
larger front brake calipers.
The 600TL came out the following
year, with bikini fairing and vented side panels.
The original Pantah finally went
out of production in mid 1983.
Faults and Quirks
The all-new Pantah engine proved
to be a success, and seems to have managed to avoid some of the common
Italian pitfalls.
The Desmo valve gear looked
pretty frightening but was reasonably straight forward to adjust so long as
you measured the shim gaps before removing the rocker spindles and arms.
Very early models had six dogs
per gear in the gearbox and these tended to jump out of mesh quite often.
Later gearboxes, with three per gear, were much better, and should be fitted
to any bike you find now bar very low mileage examples.
Clutches occasionally slip, but
can be cured by simply fitting stronger clutch springs and maybe new plates.
Excessive swingarm float may look alarming, but can be easily shimmed out
The toothed cam belts should last
around 15,000 miles and are cheap and easy to replace. The oil filter is a
car-type spin-off, so general servicing is idiot-proof.
Handling is obviously a strong
point but the forks can get a bit hot and bothered under sustained use, so a
change to heavier grade oil should help to cure a tendency to dive to the
tarmac after a long run. This often only comes up under racing conditions, a
use which also showed that the gearbox could get a little slow when under
the gun, and clutchless gearchanges were not an inspired idea.
Since there is only electric
start, it is a good idea to keep an eye on the electrics, but remember that
the battery has the tiresome habit of discharging itself when left for any
time. If you know you wilt be leaving the bike standing for any length of
time it is best to disconnect the battery.