Retrospective: Ducati Mike Hailwood Replica

This article was originally published in the February 1994 issue of Sport Rider.

Stanley Michael Bailey Hail­wood was the greatest motor­cycle racer who ever lived. During a racing career that spanned 22 years, he won 14 Tourist Tro­phies, 10 world titles and 76 Grand Prix championship races—and those were only the major titles. He rode and won on everything, from traditional English Manxes and AJSs to incredible Honda seven-speed 125s and the six-cylinder 250. He rode for everyone, from MV Agusta to Yamaha, but only one company, in an inspired moment of marketing clarity, thought to name a bike for him.

The Mike Hailwood Replica (MHR) was introduced in 1979 to capitalize on Hailwood’s historic return and magical victory at the Isle of Man TT in 1978. Returning after an 11-year absence and at the ripe old age of 38, Hailwood rode his Du­cati twin to a stunning victory over the factory-backed, more powerful four-cylinder Hondas. Drawn by his comeback, the largest crowd in a decade witnessed Mike the Bike lap the 37.75-mile mountain circuit at a record speed of 110.62 mph.

The MHR was in fact a marketing creation; it only superficially resembled the bike Hailwood rode to victory. The race bike was built by the semiworks Nepoti and Caracchi Racing Shop (NCR) just down the road from the Ducati factory. It was a specially prepared 900SS that featured a modified engine with dry clutch, special sand-cast alloy cases with strengthened webs and heads reworked to decrease the valve included angle from 80 to 60 degrees. The Verlicchi frame, while appearing standard, was actually made of thinner-wall, lighter tubing.

But even thinner than the tube walls was the amount of financial support the factory and UK importer gave Hail­wood’s actual sponsor for the race, Steve Wynne of Sports Motor Cycles. Wynne had to buy and pay for the bike before the race and do all the race preparation at his own expense.

Designed to capitalize on the victory, the MHR was in reality simply a dressed-up 900SS; there were no special performance enhancements. Cos­metically, instead of the traditional half fairing, a one-piece full fairing, painted in the Sports Motor Cycles team colors of green, red and white, was fitted. (Full race-type fairings on street bikes were rare at that time.) The fuel tank–seat combination was modeled on the NCR design used on the race bike. More accurate Nippondenso instruments and switches were substituted for the Veglia clocks, but the engine, chassis and front suspension were identical to the 900SS; only the rear shocks were slightly longer to compensate for the extra 17 pounds of fairing and tank. Five hundred bikes were produced the first year, and they sold immediately. The bike was a masterstroke, and the factory realized it was onto something big.

For 1980, the only change was a more practical three-piece fairing with large Ducati decals on each side; no longer did the front wheel and fairing have to be removed just to change the oil. The convertible seat was retained with a pillion under the removable bum-stop cover. No side covers were fitted, leaving the battery and electronics exposed to the elements. In 1981, the Conti silencers were swapped for Silentium units. The next year, side panels were added to help weather-seal the electronics. During this period, the Mike Hail­wood Replica became Du­cati’s largest-selling model.

Late 1983 saw a major cosmetic makeover. The fairing shape was modified with new side panels, a black plastic front fender replaced the red one, the instrument cluster was modified, new front directional indicators on stalks replaced the units mounted in the fairing, a black chain guard replaced the chrome unit, new engine casings were used, and an electric starter replaced the kickstarter. The next year saw the introduction of a hydrau­lic clutch, and in 1985 the capacity increased to 973cc and the name changed to the MHR Mille. A new, plain-bearing crankshaft was used, and the booming exhaust became a two-into-one. Cagiva took over Ducati in May of 1985 and kept the MHR Mille in production only until early 1986. By then bevel-driven engines had become just too expensive to manufacture, and the future lay in the less costly but no less effective belt-driven camshaft units.

The MHR is eminently collectible (plan to spend between $7,500 and $12,500), largely because so few were ever legally imported into the States. That said, the real reason to own one is because of what they’re like to ride. This is the ultimate big twin. Just fitting the large L-shaped engine and its rear-facing 40mm Dell’Orto carbs into the frame necessitated a 59-inch wheelbase. The MHR has very little steering lock and carries much of its weight up high—this is not a comfortable bike for low-speed, in-town driving.

This is a bike meant for the open road and long, fast sweepers. The ride is harsh and the clutch heavy, but all this is more than compensated for by the incredible combination of sounds the MHR  makes. On the road the whine of the bevel gears is almost impossible to hear over the amazing authority of the exhaust and the intake roar of the open carbs. There really is nothing like powering out of a turn on this large twin; there are no grabbing gears, just the steady rush of a seemingly endless supply of torque. Ride one, and see how it feels to be like Mike.

More Retrospective articles are in the Sport Rider archive.