748 clocks oddity

Keith_henson

Keith_henson

Well-known member
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Evening all,

I wanted to ask the hive mind about a thought I have had about my 748 (which I had never thought about for some reason as I was probably enjoying it too much) since noticing it going to Silverstone for the MotoGP a couple of weeks ago.

Why has my UK bike (confirmed by Ducati) has got a temperature gauge in Fahrenheit and a big, fat, red 55 mark on the speedo? Was it destined to the US and then they changed their minds or did they just not have the right country specific parts to hand? Ducati confirmed it was built and finished in March of 1999 and registered on the road through Bill Smith Motors in the first half of 2000 (W Reg)

It doesn't bother me to be honest on the speedo. It does though, keep the brain working when on a long, monotonous motorway converting the F to C for a proper reading ;)

Just a very random thought, any info would be super good (P.S. slow smoked ribs and ale at mine in Shropshire if anyone fancies it before the summer is out)

Keith :)
 
I had a 1998 748 BP (UK) but I don't remember it having a red 55 on the speedo.

As to the temp gauge - fuck I traded it six years ago and now have advanced Alzheimers (undiagnosed) and I can't even remember when our bin was last emptied
 
I'm going to take a wild punt at this 😂

On the Farenhiet or Centigrade and the year made, wasn't Ducati up shit creek and in the throws of a takeover by the Texas Pacific Group ??

Could it be with all the shite going on and Ducati being Italian, they just built bikes with what ever the company had been able to get hold of due to poor credit so whatever was on the shelf??

As to the 55mph in red, I suspect that was for the American market but again, Ducati being Italian just thought, aww fuck it, make all of them with red 55mph?
 
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All UK destined bikes should have a F temp gauge and yes, for some reason, the 55 is in red.
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Thinking about it further, I guess the same temp gauge and speedo were used on all bikes destined for UK and USA hence the 55 in red.
 
I looked up the 55 in red. In the oil crisis of the 70's President Nixon sought to conserve energy so imposed a 55 mph national speed limit in 1974. It wasn't repealled in the U.S till 1987 when the ability to decide speed limits was returned back to the individual states

If you look at the mph clocks for sale on U.K. ebay and many of the late 90's UK 9 and 7 series bikes, they also have the red 55mph on
 
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