My two favorite street Ducati's

Mr.R

Not Griff but from another dyed in the wool Bevelhead...Cheers Bill. 😁

I enjoyed looking at those pic's again. 😎
I've been working on my "Old Nail" Bevel 900SS quite a bit of late, getting it ready for this years pilgrimage the the Isle of Man for the Classic TT/MGP (I'm taking my 12 year old daughter on the back) and to be honest really enjoying myself, those old motors are really a work of art IMO.
I reckon that my bike/motor is one or two steps beyond the one in the pic's though, in fact I'd lay good money that it's kicking out more power and is a bit more reliable than the Barcelona 24 Hour /Montjuic Park winning bike..
However it has taken me an awful lot of time, effort and money to get it there, I've only been developing it for 37 years though as I've owned it from new.

Steve R

nine16

Sure hope you meant "dyed". Pretty somber tone otherwise.

wgsvintage

I think he got it right, dying is the only sure way to loose that addiction.

Steve, Your IOM trip with your daughter sounds awesome. She is a lucky girl to get to go on such great adventure with her dad. Well, you're both lucky. And on a bevel no less, that is first class traveling. Best wishes.

MarkT

Griff/Bill/Steve--

I cannot help but post one of my overly long inputs to this old thread I started years back-- sorry for the bandwidth.

Interesting to look back at old threads. How quickly things can change in a few years. Although I have mainly directed my motorcycle passion at tracking/restoring 888 Corses I always loved many different makes of motorcycles- mostly vintage years.

Now that I am retired my passion for bikes has expanded into bikes I never had thought about while I was concentrating on Corse's. Except for the D16 I never found the newer Ducati sport bikes very interesting. Having owned a MHR as my first Ducati way way back in '85- I can fully see why you all love these bikes.

Vintage bikes always pulled me in much more then modern bikes (Ok-- the 851/888 were "modern" when I bought my first one). While I considered restoring a round case I had spent enough time on bevels to know I did not enjoy riding them as much as I loved looking at them. So 12 years ago to test the vintage waters I bought a /2 BMW with a R80 motor and machined up the parts to install a Yamaha TD2 four leading shoe brake for the street. It is as enjoyable as a vintage bike can get- but it was never a true vintage bike.

So last year while I was restoring my '89 factory Works bike (almost finished) I went looking for my next project which I knew would not be another Corse. For some reason I recalled that the first motorcycle I ever fell in love with was an Indian Four which I saw up against a garage wall while I was trying to buy a Whizzer from this gentleman in my neighborhood when I was 13.

As we all know- as soon as you start to realize you are very interested in buying another bike and spend hours researching the net about them-- the bike falls into your lap especially when you are not prepared to buy it. What I could not pass up was a '46 Chief and a '41 four. Not only do I find them beautiful I am actually enjoying riding them. I know-- I know-- could the Harley cruise guys actually be on to something-- hate to think--------

Here are a few pictures --- one of my '46 Chief, one of Mike C riding my /2 BMW conversions and me on my '46, one of my '41 Four, and to keep to the 888 content - there are a few of how far I am along with the restoration of my '89 Works bike. I am rebuilding the motor for the Chief because the oil pump decided not to prime and filled the crankcase with oil and did a job on the pistons- dam learning curve. The four I just got running and have 200 break-in miles on it so far.

Mr.R

Hi Mark,

Almost anything with a engine and 2 wheels can be fun IMO.
I enjoy riding my (complete with genuine green moss rustbucket) Old MZ 2 Stroke.
I can't see me getting into Harley cruising though, someone I know might see me. 😏

Two questions for you:-
Is that BSA style plunger suspension on the rear of the Indians?
Does your early 851 Corse have magnesium valve covers?
The reason for the 2nd question is...
I recently got hold of a pair of early NOS mag' Corse inlet valve covers from TomI on here, that were originally a dirty bronze/brown colour with the Cagive elephant and '7 (which I assume is '87) cast inside them.

Steve R

MarkT

Steve-

Yes BSA A7-A10 but with a forward slant.

As far as the mag plates. My works bikes did not use them. I do not believe the factory used much mag until mid '90 on the factory bikes. While the clutch cover was DOW green all of the mag rocker and pin plates used on the heads were a gold conversion coating like versions of the early five spoke wheels. By '92 I believe they all were DOW green. The mag plates/clutch covers were offered in '92 for the Customer bikes.

BABA may have an opinion on this.

My guess (and it is a guess) about the cast date is that the mag casting used the same molds as the aluminum casting which also have an '87 date code. New tooling was made in '92 so street bikes will often have '92 date codes- especially the greenish color versions.

griff851

Nice one there Mark. Much more realist concept than Jaspers 98T, but probably quite comparable considering distance between towns/ villages. 😁
The thing is I like the journey you go on as you explore avenues trying to achieve the objective of getting something from the past back on the road. Real close in contact with history. The people I meet and chat to (including you guys) is brilliant. For example the other day I got stuck in a work shop of this spray welding guy for nearly 3 hrs. He use to spanner on some quick top fueller drag bike of the 90's. Cool stories of drugs rock and roll and violence, cheating idiots, and amazing innovation, all in the name of speed on a bike.
I agree with Steve on the fun on anything with 2 wheels, hell for 3 years at the turn of the century i rode a honda CT110 ex postie bike most of the time. Teaches you a whole new skill set. 😁
I do love my bevel twin dinosaur blow bag but. What a platform. Now like the 851/888 i hope to unleash its true potential just as nature truly intended, but staying with in most of the constraints of the period. I mean there is just no point to a fuel injected bevel with an ecu, thats what a desmo quattro is for. So an endurance racer is my hopeful out come.
The other beauty of the vintage scene, is as we all go quitely mad as we get on, you feel secure hanging out with the other lunatics battling major tasks like remembering to turn the fuel tap on. 😁

MarkT

Fully agree Griff--- all bikes are desirable and fun when rode as intended.

Vintage bike do speak of the past when you are restoring them to original like my Indians. There is a thread I go to everyday where guys posts period pictures of riders and their bikes. Most of them young and happy- but you know that they are now in their 80's/90's and beyond. From their smiles you knew just what you would be talking about if you could go back in time and have a beer with them. Many are young women all decked out in riding gear with a big smile on their faces. How did I not know woman back in the day of the iron beasts loved to ride as much as the guys. Restoring and riding Vintage brings all of that history forward and you feel part of it.

On the flip side of the vintage bike coin is the young guys building modern custom cafe bikes out of what they feel are vintage bike. You see this big time with the BMW airhead customizing crowd. Many of them look like variations of each other--sort of reminds me of the chopper by catalog days in that many builders are using the same trick parts. I love that they are doing this--just not my cup of tea--

Closer to my bent is all of the young guys who are into rat rodding early Japanese bikes. They are learning how to set up motors/rebuild carbs/spoke wheels- but not going overboard on pretty. You go to a big meet like Barber in the Fall and every 100 point restored early Japanese bike for sale was done by a guy my age-- and every flat black original rusty bike which runs was put on the road by a young guy who is riding the piss out it. I went for a ride with a young guy who rode a Honda 350 twin which looked like he pulled it out of barn-- his smile was as big as mine. It was great to see.

Yeah-- vintage bikes do make you work-- mostly clean-- and with my Indians, give you hell if you forget to turn the gas OFF.

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