Hello Folks,
Please excuse my ignorance when it comes to the 851's but I have always wanted to own an 80's Ducati to remind me of my youth when I use to race 😉
So, when I heard of an itailian collector in Johannesburg who was getting rid of a few of his Ducati bikes I gave him a call to ask what he had?
Needless to say, the bikes I really liked I couldn't afford... Doh!
He ended up showing me an old 851 project/race bike he acquired from a bloke back in 2006.
At the time, he said it was a very rare bike and these where hard to find these days, especially in this country.
So trusting in his judgement I brought the bike.
He did mention to me at the time he would have liked to restore it back to it's former glory as a race bike.
Well after a bit of research I decided to create a #3 R.Roche replica.
From what I've read from the internet and forums like this one I know the bike was originally imported from Japan for the limited Japanese market and imported into ZA back in the 90's.
It's originally an 88 tricolor as I understand and I see it had a number of upgrades done to it over the years.
The suspension being one and the rims (tecnomagnesio) and it would appear the rear brake callipers are of the bottom mounted floating type.
As for the motor? well it has the "A" not stamped but embossed on the front head casing on the cam side.
Indicating it could be a factory kit motor.
Again, I'm not the expert but the frame number is 850156 indicating it's #156
I've total repainted the bike and striped the bike down to replace each and every nut and bolt on the bike.
Just about everything I would restore and man did I struggle to find any original parts for the bike.
I did manage to get some parts from Holland and the USA even a few bits from the UK but not many.
Again, it has take me about six months so far.
I'm now getting the seat and fairing painted as per the 1990 E90 works bike of Roche.
Here is a link to what I think the bike must have looked like in the beginning.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz0_PuWQk48

A pic of the bike so far as well....
Cheers for now
SteveO