The Dharma of the Darmah

The meaning of dharma

Sorry if no one knows about Dharma here.Simply the body of knowledge perhaps, or the good Karma of the beast. I want to know about reliability, if anyone uses one everyday, if I should consider one as I seem to have fallen in love with one.The Norton Atlas has been totally rebuilt mostly by me but it's lacking the Darmah magic. I don't mind having to do the shims. I just want some input from any owners who are friendly. Cheers.

Karma running over Dogma

The Vintage section of this site is a little, thin... so patience, patients.

As a former owner of a Darmah, I can only honestly say I had two major problems. First was the wires from the pick-up coils tend to deteriorate in the hot oil bath they sit in, and this causes obvious problems. Aftermarket kits used to be made to slot in (and replace the pick ups as well)... don't know if they still are. Also, the pick up wires doodled out of the l/h case through a rubber grommet thingee that never really seemed to seal properly... though that was probably me (I was younger and had more ham in my fists).

The second thing was the bike's electrics sucked. Again - could have been just the one I had... but the early Duc wires were generally suspect I think. The big ends are supposed to be better than the SS variants, but before you buy do the ol' screwdriver to the ear trick... just in case.

Otherwise, can't think fo anything that leapt out as being unreliable / common fault stuff.

I really really really wish I had never sold it, but it was 1988 and I needed the $3k...

Keep us posted.

Thanks Mate,
Will be investigating the beast at first opportunity. Will post when it happens. The Atlas needs a home first. Anyone want a first class Norton Atlas fully restored?

Luthier
I've had my 1979 Darmah for eight years or so.
I only do about 3-5000ks a year on it and they are mostly on trips.
It runs in summer, 30deg plus and winter -10deg errr..less.

It has now got around 55,000ks on it.
I've had no major problems with it at all and it would be the last bike I would get rid of.

As far as regular complaints that you hear about are concerned;
Electrics - I've never had an issue with electrics and I've ridden it for four hours in torrential rain, left it parked overnight in a paddock with 12 deg frosts or rain.
The closest I've had was due to my own hands of processed pork. I removed the pickup backing plate which needs a special jig to re-position.
The electrics on the Darmah were supposed to be the first really reliable example produced by Ducati (but that's really because they outsourced them!).
The leads on the pickups are deteriorated but I simply sleeved them and put them back, they have kept on going.
The grommet from which the pickup leads emerge does weep a bit but not enough to be worried about - I'll look at it one day.

Cush-drive - my cush drive looks like it has already been drilled and re-bolted.

Starter motor - the sprag clutch on these is supposed be liable to collapse. I don't dispute this but I've had no problem. I think I read somewhere that a 916 clutch fits?

Big-end - this is the thing that I'm most careful of. I run a 50weight mineral oil and change it every 1,000ks and filter every second change.
Possibly over the top but cheap insurance I figure.
I met a bloke at a rally once who had a Darmah with 114,000ks on it. He claimed that it had never been re-built, he never warmed it up (I can vouch for that, I saw him in the morning and he just cranked it and was gone) and only changed the oil every 10,000 ks or so.

The only time it has let me down is when the gear selector mechanism fell to bits but this is a known problem and is easily fixed by anyone with a bit of mechanical aptitude.

The shims aren't difficult to do.

Ummm what else....the chain chews out the rear of the crankcase if it gets loose so look for that, I don't know if it really causes any problem though.
The neutral and stand lights probably won't be operating. You'll never select neutral when the engine's running unless you're still moving anyway and even then it's a big dose of luck.
The mainshaft seal can start leaking but you can easily fit two or three seals over the shaft to fix that.

I replaced the head bearings early on.
The swingarm bearing gets loose and worn unless regularly greased, I understand that they are hard to get replacements for.

That's about it really.

Definitely a worthy bike as far as I'm concerned.

Good luck.
Ian

Reliable beast

A friend bought a new 1978(?) red Darhma and rode the daylights out of it as a daily driver. To my amazement, he never adjusted the valves beyond the initial adjustment. He used to regularly ride it from Miami to Jacksonville and back - maybe 750 miles roundtrip. The last I saw him (mid- 1980s) he had over 80,000 miles on the bike and still loved it.

darmah dramah [not]

Go buy a DARMAH it is a nice comfortable easy to ride long distances on bevel drive Ducati. Prices have doubled in the past 5 years. Everyone above has made good points except that the 916 starter sprag doesn;t fit... The original spec sprag is available, and it won;t fail if you keep your bike in tune. Hiccups and backfires during starting will kill the sprag. Swing arm bushings are now available, I had them made, etc... Look, you are talking about a 25+ year old Italian moto so of course there are things you have to pay attention to. That said, nothin wrong with the darmah, as it has so many improvements over the earlier bevels... I own 3 right now, the 1 in my .sig file is obviously not anywhere close to being stock but it gets ridden hard no worries. Have fun and good luck.

Resuscitating this thread since I'm doing some research on the Darmah. Have the opportunity to pick up one with 29k miles that hasn't been run since 2008. "ran when parked" is the statement in the listing.

First question, most importantly: is a bevel-drive Duc, a Darmah, or any Duc for that matter with 29k miles on it collectable and a good long term investment from a value appreciation perspective?

Then, let's assume the tank and carbs were drained when parked, since I'm an optimist at heart. What would you expect the engine would need to bring to life if it ran well when parked in '08?


Thanks in advance!

The Darmah is a lot like the Jap UJM motorcycles from the same time period. "A lot like" meaning it has that same look/feel. I've often daydreamed of building one with the more modern 900 aircooled/belt driven engine, and creating a tribute-build with a heavy nod to the late 70s/early 80s AMA Superbikes.

(I just heard the collective ~gasps~ of purists the entire world round) :laugh:

Not to worry folks, I've neither the time nor anywhere near the cash-hish required to take on such a project. So know that all Darmah's, planet wide, are safe from my hacksaw and torch.

It's just that it's overall design calls to the modifications done to the same era's UJMs. It's obvious 70s/80s curves, design lines, upright rider position, dual rear shock suspension, telescopic forks, seat-fuel tank marriage all combine to make a perfect starter package to create a simply delicious AMA Racebike clone.





I'll let myself out .... :grin2:

I would be interested in the Atlas (very!). Also know at least on other member here that has been looking for that type of bike - Ian996. We would probably fight over who gets it.

Drop a private reply if you like and I will return with e-mail and phone number. By the way, where are you located? Might make a difference.

sgus

Thanks Bulldog! That's the kind of info I was looking for, and why the List is such a great resource. My intuition was telling me to walk away, but I was smitten with the Black Darmah. You just saved me a lot of money LOLz.

I saw that red one at Razee, thought hard, then decided to wait for a black one to come along since that was what I fell for when I saw it on on the showroom floor back in. the. day. OK that and the black & gold pin striped Norton Commando.