I bought this 1975 Ducati 860 about 12 years ago, and its been in my shed ever since. I got it as an unfinished project, the main thing it was missing was a wiring harness. I've built mainly Harleys, and a few Japanese bikes, and rewired most of my Harleys from scratch making my own harness. Well, the Ducati harness was mighty intimidating and I just put it away.
Well I recently decided to let it see the light of day. I finally figured out that this model has essentially a self-energizing magneto type of ignition, so it might be able to start without a battery or general wiring harness. Long story short, I did eventually get it to run for about 30 seconds on the choke. Still needs a lot of work but it was running.
However, I'm trying to figure out exactly just what I have here. I know the frame says made in 1/75, but the engine is a right side shift. The tank is fiberglass and doesn't appear to be a 75, and I'm not sure what the instruments are from. The hole for the switch doesn't seem to fit any Ducati switch. There doesn't appear to be places for high/low beam indicator lights, nor oil pressure or alternator lights. Not sure the triple clamps are 75 either. The headlight, well there's a headlight there but who knows what/where it came from. So take a look at the pics that hopefully post and give me some feedback.
The first pic is after I decided to at least give it a limited wash and wax job before putting it back in the shed.
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The sidecovers look unknown, but I'm beginning to think they're cut downs from original covers.
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The mufflers do say Conti on them, and I think they're actually chrome under that paint. Well the paint is keeping the rust away.
I definitely do not like the seat or that damn frame bracket in the back. I understand lots of folks removed that frame loop. I've got a pretty good upholsterer who can probably modify the back of the seat to look like a regular one.
I'm beginning to think this bike is a bitsa, and the collector or restoration value is zilch. So although I do want to get it running and just have a little fun, I'm thinking I may just hot rod the damn thing and build it the way I like as there's little appreciation potential. However, there might be a lot of fun factor. I did get a stock Ducati steel 860 tank off Ebay years ago, may try it on sometime.
