More Ducati Fever?

I had a 900ssie for a couple of years, did the belts watching a youtube vid....pretty easy as long as you make some reference marks.
The valves on mine never needed adjusting in the 20 000 km I had it but taking the valve covers off and checking them is easy enough....I had to drop off the shock to take the rear one off.
I have a bevel too and so far since a rebuild in 1999 its only needed checking.
My Bosch ignition is 34 years old and the wiring between the pickups and igniters cracks from the heat of the motor inside the clutch cover and perishes outside the case.
I would say a Ducati is less maintenance than a Commando.
Ducati prices are low even here in NZ....probably due to over supply......I preferred when people said a Du what eeee?.......
Registration here has killed multiple bike ownership, twice as much as a car....but that covers no blame injury rehab as we can't sue.
 
Seems like there are a crapload of Ducatis down there.

And a few Nortons. You guys have good taste.
 
swooshdave said:
Seems like there are a crapload of Ducatis down there.

And a few Nortons. You guys have good taste.


A lot of it is due to ' Japanese Imports"
The Japanese like non Japanese stuff....but after a few years they get new stuff....the old stuff comes to New Zealand..... sadly a lot of our cool old stuff goes overseas......thats the nature of stuff :roll:
Probably more Nortons these days than Bevel Ducatis.How are you finding the Ducati?
 
72Combat said:
swooshdave said:
Seems like there are a crapload of Ducatis down there.

And a few Nortons. You guys have good taste.


A lot of it is due to ' Japanese Imports"
The Japanese like non Japanese stuff....but after a few years they get new stuff....the old stuff comes to New Zealand..... sadly a lot of our cool old stuff goes overseas......thats the nature of stuff :roll:
Probably more Nortons these days than Bevel Ducatis.How are you finding the Ducati?

Have not sealed the deal on the Cagiva yet.

Stil sorting out the 860. Turning it into a proper bike by putting Norton parts on it. :mrgreen:

(front the Beveheaven forum)

More Ducati Fever?

Obviously has seen better days.

Someone (name withheld to protect the guilty) said that he had used Norton intake manifold insulators on his 750. At a couple bucks each they are significantly cheaper than the Ducati ones. Norton didn't use rubber based insulators like Triumph or Ducati, instead its a phenolic insulator (phenolic materials can be engineered to have extremely low thermal transfers, ideal when protecting the carb from the head heat). While the rubber blocks do they same thing as you know they tend to shrink and leak.

The challenge with the Ducati manifold is the spigot and I believe pins holding the blocks in place. I think there are pins, I don't know for sure as there aren't any on my bike.

More Ducati Fever?


While the intakes are the same on the 750 Norton Combats and the big Ducatis (32mm) it's the spigot that throws the next roadblock in place. The options are to mill off the spigot or opened up the insulator.

More Ducati Fever?

More Ducati Fever?


By opening up the insulator with a Dremel I was able to get them to fit over the spigot. Because the phenolic insulators are so efficient typically you only need one thin one, but because of the spigot I just used two insulators. I had not anticipated having to use two for each carb and had just bought three (incase I messed up one carving it up) so for now I just did the front carb as it was the worse (and easiest to get to).

Lastly the bolt spacing in slightly different, so I elongated the holes in the insulators a smidge. Maybe a millimeter.

More Ducati Fever?


Then assembled with Yamabond (actually I think it's Threebond but you know what I mean) and since that was about midnight last night I didn't fire up the bike as I'm quite sure all of the neighbors would have called the cops on me.

More Ducati Fever?


So the test will be in a little bit and I'll let you know what happens. I definitely had a bad leak so it should be apparent.

If you're wondering you can get the insulators from any Norton dealer. I use Old Britts and they are wonderful to deal with. Well, except their website uses frames which is a pain to link to.

http://www.oldbritts.com/alt_067842.html (what you are looking for is a Gasket, Heat Insulator, 32mm for a 1972 model (they also used them on the later 850s).

The Norton part number is 18-063458 and the cost for one insulator is about 1/10th the cost of a single Ducati rubber one. So, like I said, I can afford to experiment.
 
I bought an R65 recently that was 'low on compression" to part out to fund my hobby.....well, gave it a tune up and service and have have been riding it every day to work...I never had much time for the baby Beemers but its a hoot to ride, bit buzzy at motorway speeds but you get used to it....for 2 K that Ducati would offer a lot of fun at legal speeds. I wish I could 'download' bikes off the web.... 860 coming along. There is a list of " alternative parts" on the web ....http://www.docsa.com.au/Technical%20stu ... 0Parts.htm
 
i bought a 1997 750 monster on a whim. $2,200 and under 8,000 miles. it is a great little ride for the money. wet clutch and carbs. came with remus exhaust which is the sexiest sound ever. great along with my 71 commando and the 1150gs. and they all run. my two cents...
 
doctorbrown said:
i bought a 1997 750 monster on a whim. $2,200 and under 8,000 miles. it is a great little ride for the money. wet clutch and carbs. came with remus exhaust which is the sexiest sound ever. great along with my 71 commando and the 1150gs. and they all run. my two cents...

I'm sure those are out there. But 97 is too new for me, not that there aren't a few of the newer models that couldn't entice me.

More Ducati Fever?


A guy in the club picked up the 900SS for under $2k, it does have a salvage title and he's had to put some work into it. I'd take one of those in a heartbeat.

The Cagiva is just old and funky enough for me.
 
Good luck with the Cagiva! That will be a fun bike. I think your biggest challenge will be finding parts.

That 900SS for $2K sounds like a great purchase. Those are fun bikes if you can handle the riding position (I can't any more, due to disc degeneration in my neck).
 
debby said:
Good luck with the Cagiva! That will be a fun bike. I think your biggest challenge will be finding parts.

That 900SS for $2K sounds like a great purchase. Those are fun bikes if you can handle the riding position (I can't any more, due to disc degeneration in my neck).

The nice thing about Italian bikes is that they tending to use all the same suppliers for most of the bits. Shocks, forks, electrics, etc all came from several suppliers. Most of the wear parts are all available.

Since the engine is all Darmah that won't be bad at all.
 
Funny how one of the original snob points of the Ducati twins was the gear driven cam, " Your Commando hasn`t got that", yet that was too costly so they went to rubber band cams, & now with their new Panigale have gone to a chain-drive cam - like a Commmando...
 
J.A.W. said:
Funny how one of the original snob points of the Ducati twins was the gear driven cam, " Your Commando hasn`t got that", yet that was too costly so they went to rubber band cams, & now with their new Panigale have gone to a chain-drive cam - like a Commmando...

Ducati owners thrive on snobbery. It saves them from crying when they have to fork over the money to their mechanic.
 
J.A.W. said:
Funny how one of the original snob points of the Ducati twins was the gear driven cam, " Your Commando hasn`t got that", yet that was too costly so they went to rubber band cams, & now with their new Panigale have gone to a chain-drive cam - like a Commmando...

Didn't Norton have a bevel drive OHC in the late 20's? , can't recall the last OHV Ducati... :lol:
 
My old man had an SV Ducati... OK, so it was a diesel/boat mill, but they also did 2-strokes.
 
Is it true that Ducati copied the `74 J.P.N. F 750 Commando 'space frame' chassis for its 'trellis' superbike design?
 
J.A.W. said:
Is it true that Ducati copied the `74 J.P.N. F 750 Commando 'space frame' chassis for its 'trellis' superbike design?

No, the Ducati 750s came out way before that.
 
`70s 750 Ducatis had Seeley design frames but 'trellis' were late `80s/90s 851/916 onwards type, I recall Crashcart claiming that Bordi told him he`d copied Norton , but I dont rate him as a reliable source.
 
J.A.W. said:
`70s 750 Ducatis had Seeley design frames but 'trellis' were late `80s/90s 851/916 onwards type, I recall Crashcart claiming that Bordi told him he`d copied Norton , but I dont rate him as a reliable source.

More Ducati Fever?

900SS Bevel Frame

More Ducati Fever?


More Ducati Fever?


You're right, there is definitely a similarity.
 
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