A mere 401 1974 Super Sports were produced and the bike immediately set new standards for production motorcycles and had unique styling, but for all intents and purposes it was a pure production racer with the minimum of concessions to make it street legal. The bike featured 10.5:1 compression ratio, a voluminous 6 gallon gas tank and a claimed weight of 333 lb (151 kg).

The gas tank also featured a unique translucent strip to be able to quickly see the fuel level.ġ974 marked the first year of mass production of Super Sport. The frame was painted blue while the fiberglass gas tank, covers and top half of the fairing were silver. The first official Super Sport prototypes used the 750 Sport and 750 GT models for their basis, but featured bodywork styled along the lines of the Imola bikes. The Super Sport prototypes used for the inaugural race were developed using a 750 GT based engine and frame and earned instant fame when legendary racer Paul Smart and Bruno Spaggiari finished first and second, respectively, immediately elevating Ducati from a company known for 'quaintly individual' motorcycles and into the superbike market. Imola was a traditionally fast circuit that placed a premium on high-speed handling rather than brute horsepower. Ducati markets their 90° V-twin as 'L-twin' to emphasize its 90° V angle and differentiate their motorcycles from competing V-twins. Modern Ducati, as well as the Super Sport can be traced back to April 1972 when Ducati won the Imola 200 (the European equivalent of the Daytona 200) with a for-production based 750 cc, desmodromic valve 90° V-twin engine developed by Fabio Taglioni. The appellation 'SS' was applied only to the later belt drive ( Pantah) based models. The name harked back to the round case 1973 Ducati 750 Super Sport, and the 1975 square case 750 and 900 Super Sport. A limited edition Supersport called the SuperLight was sold in 1992.

The Ducati Supersport and SS are a series of air-cooled four stroke desmodromic 2-valve 90° L-twin motorcycles made by Ducati since 1988.

2017 ducati supersport review