In the early 70’s, Ducati’s management felt that the future of their mid-sized bikes was going to be with parallel twin engines. Despite the fact that Ducati had previous unsuccessful experience with said engine type, the Italians decided to go for it, their first new engine design in over a decade. The result was the Ducati 500 GTL, a that did not do particularly well in the market thanks to a reputation for engine issues. Despite that, here’s an example in impressive condition for those of you looking for an uncommon Ducati.
For more on why this bike flopped, check out this article from Ducati News Today which better explains why the 500 GTL went over so poorly. The 500cc engine pushed out just 35 horsepower, and it was not a light bike. Performance was meager, and so were sales – just 7,000 were produced over 8 years. These low numbers led to the company developing the Pantah V-Twin engine which has become part of Ducati’s lore.
This specific Ducati 500 GTL (VIN: 502553) has 7,048 miles. It sat in the seller’s living room since 1996 and a project that started as ‘clean it up and get it running’ evolved into him rebuilding a good chunk of the motorcycle. Many parts are new – petcocks, plugs, Dell’Orto rebuild kits for the carbs, grips, foot peg rubbers, battery, fuse block, etc. Every switch has been cleaned and lubed, and every junction and wiring loom has been sealed in shrink tubing and liquid electrical tape. Cosmetically, this bike isn’t perfect but it looks better than nearly every example I’ve ever seen of this model. The front brake works but the seller says the caliper should be rebuilt, the headlight rim chrome is beat up, and the wheel spokes could use some love. Not bad, over all. While the bike is not currently registered, it’s ready to go and there are no back fees.
Find this 500GTL for sale in Apple Valley, California with bidding up to $2,000