Back in the 1980s and 90s, Steve’s engineering and development sidekick was Yorkshire ‘Ducatisti’ and precision engineer, Glyn Robinson, who has recently rekindled the Sports motorcycle legend with Steve’s blessing. Glyn worked alongside Steve developing ideas and tuning mods to the engines, several of which found their way to the factory race team and were later incorporated in production models.
The TT 944 is the first offering on the revived Sports Motorcycles’ menu, supplied either complete or in part. “It’s the obvious next step on the now popular TT2 ladder,” says Glyn. “A fully grown bulletproof engine with a reliable 85-plus-bhp and six-speed gearbox in a handbuilt Sports Motorcycles frame.”
As well as the engine and frame, the bike bristles with many other parts made entirely by Sports, such as swingarm, footrests, alloy tank, exhaust, magnesium 38mm forks, adjustable yokes and dry clutch kit to name a few. Parts like the forks in particular will be very welcome to the growing legion of TT2 owners, struggling to find the original Marzocchi items.
The most significant, but also unassuming mod is the re-worked rear cylinder head with its 41mm Dell’Orto carb put back at the rear again in its rightful place. “The whole idea is that you don’t notice it unless you know what to look for,”says Glyn.
This bike has a daytime MoT and is for sale at £19,000. “We never really intended to go into serious production, but having the bike gives us a rolling showcase for what we can do – it looks a lot prettier than a roomful of the parts that go to make it.”
If you fancy it, you’d best be quick though. Glyn is also off to live in New Zealand next month and wake Steve out of retirement, taking with him the entire contents of his CNC laden workshop to continue the legend of Sports Motorcycles and Ducati. These days the world is a much smaller place and the plan is to continue making the parts and selling them online to a global audience from down under.
Sports Motorcycles can be found on www.sportsmotorcyclesducati.com and Glyn leaves for NZ in mid-October, so you need to act fast.
