Specifications: 864 cc SOHC Desmo V-twin, five speeds.

The mid-’70s were not kind to Ducati. The company discontinued the excellent 250/350/450 singles and 750 round-case GT, Sport and Super Sport and tinkered with clumsy parallel twins, as well as the valve-spring 860GT and 900GTS. This left die-hard customers to kick-start the brutal 900 Super Sport Desmo twin for the Ducati experience. Surely, there had to be some middle ground… That finally emerged in 1978 with the Darmah 900 Sport Desmo, designed by Tartarini, and it became the company’s mainstay for five years. It was a detuned 900 SS, with smaller carbs, an electric start, two-up seat, Bosch electronic ignition, Nippon Denso gauges, warning lights and Bosch headlight and indicators. Best of all, the price was very competitive with the Japanese bikes.

Another twist appeared in 1979 when the Darmah SS was introduced. With handsome two-tone paint, it was only made from 1979-81. The 900 SS Darmah is a collectible machine today, and this example is a well-preserved original which was repainted around 1985.