[Buzzer]

My mate of many years has always wanted a Ducati... but he does not have a lot of cash... We have both been looking for a bike for him for a while, but his maximum budget was £1800 all in.

Last Sunday we picked the bike below up off Ebay for £1500. its a low miles bike with 3500 miles on it, but its a bit tatty... though I would post some pictures of how it progresses through a mini restoration this week. I have been working hard to get it ready for him by this Sunday!

First off I got it on the hoist as I dont have a paddock stand yet. its a convenient way of working on it

One of the first jobs was removing the air filter… looks like a mouse has been in there!

Jobs so far include a full brake rebuild, replacing the front fork oil seals and dust covers along with fresh oil, replacing both tyres as they were original from 1995!

the cam belts looked new, but as I don't know their history I will be replacing them with the pair that came with the bike. Last owner bought them in late 2017 but never fitted them.

to be continued!

 

[bradblack]

looks like fun.

 

[stoshmonster]

It's good to have friends. :yeah:

 

[ducvet]

Great Job!

I would be happy to own that bike and he should be thrilled as well. I am sure he has been making big plans already on what "mods" he will do to make it "his" bike. It does not get any better than that.

 

[misfitJason]

sweet project.

 

[O_2The_L]

Love your use of (hopefully old) timing belts as a hoist strap!

What a jolly decent friend you are.

 

[pedersen106]

What an excellent way to help a friend. This is the spirit of motorcycling, in all it´s glory:grin2:

And indeed a fine bike to enter the World of Ducati´s

 

[siuformula]

Nice pickup. Get'r going.

 

[Buzzer]

yes, its always good to help friends... I have some great ones and they help me in many ways....

The bike is now finished and ready for him to ride today, he is taxing it from the 1st of the month

the cases and mountings were a bit scabby so I blasted them off and etch primed and painted them, they have come up well and made a huge difference to how it looks.

I have fitted new tyres as the ones on there were the originals from 1995!

I like the single vacuum gauge method of balancing carbs... I have found that the sets of gauges you buy are rarely read all the same if you connect them all to the same source. i have seen some spectacularly out! by using one gauge and a "T" piece you can squeeze one pipe at a time with pliers and get the balance spot on. makes a difference to tick-over. this one was rock steady.

I ended up making a padlock stand....

and here she is all ready!

 

[GoHamInHogHeaven]

You're the man, thing looks pisser!

 

[Monster4Lee]

Looks good. >

 

[Buzzer]

Well I have done quite a few miles on it today, to make sure its OK before I hand it over.... have to say I really like it!:laugh:

 

[misfitJason]

Great looking bike!

 

[Buzzer]

Well he has had the bike a while now.... and he loves it! He has done more miles in a month on the Ducati than he did in 5 years on his old bike which says a lot!!

 

[Cyrano117]

I just realized I need better friends with awesome skills :grin2:

Anyway great job...nothing like pictures of a project well done!