Was the Pantah 350 ever OFFICIALLY imported and sold in the USA or Canada? All of my research points to no, but maybe someone has insider info that I do not have access to. I have already contacted Steve from Loudbike and Ian Falloon, both said they did not think it was, but both admitted anything could have been possible back in the early 80's.

Thanks
Dave

It's very doubtful, nobody wanted the bigger bikes in the '80s much less the 350/400 special market bikes. I'm sure the few that are here were imported privately. A friend of mine has one, it is a bit underpowered bit he says it is fun screaming around at a billion rpm.

The Italian law for getting your licence was made in such way to give a little edge to the Italian manufacturers.
350 cc, a minimum weight and a maximum horsepower and topspeed made it possible for Ducati to scale down the capacity of the (500-600)engine and still make a bit of money. The RD350 and such japanese bikes were or too light or made too much power to be ridden by the beginning bikers.
Ducati made no priority for the worldwide selling of these bikes, being underpowered and overweight, but wanted to tie customers by creating a steppingstone for later more powerfull Ducatis (hence the F3).
The 400 was created for the Japanese market ( and later some specials too like the Bimota Tesi 400 and the Superlight400).

Nothing screaming riding a 350 Ducati with its redline at 9500 and a powerband that drops before that. Cams limit revving it higher.
I ride my Alazzurras 350 and 650 almost daily but use the 350 more when it rains. Not too much power
ciao
ducadini