[DesmoDog]

Original plans were to build a hard tail with a sporty engine, but looking around the basement I realized I had a heck of a lot of Italian parts sitting around. And then a buddy had a frame with a trashed rear section, and I'll have a spare engine once I get another of my projects going, so why fight fate?

It's obviously not very far along and I hadn't planned on "presenting" it this soon, but what the hell. Here is my '66 Ducati hardtail. It'll be 250cc of romping stomping single cylinder Italian horsepower. Should be good for about 80mph+ which will be more than enough. Rear fender isn't trimmed, seat is held up with a roll of masking tape, nothing's welded yet, tail light is in the wrong position, and the background is so cluttered you can't see many of the details, but hey, other than that...

Seriously though, I threw this together to see if the tail was going to be too short. I don't want the bike to look stretched, but I also don't want it to look stubby. Rear wheel is all the way forward in this shot - I think I'm going to run with it. (Edit - this configuration is a little over an inch longer than a stock 250's wheelbase, which is a little longer than a stock 160's wheelbase. Frame is from a 160)

 

[Hop-up]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

10 points for originality!
This looks like it's going to be a really intersting build, is that the tasnk youll be using?

 

[DesmoDog]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

Yeah, I think that's the style tank I'll use. I've got about five different styles around the shop and this one fits what I want to do best.

I want to use as many Ducati parts as possible, this tank is a pretty common one off earlier bikes. I should post a pic of a what a stock '66 looks like - they weren't pretty... hang on...

That'd be a stock version of the bike the frame came from. The engine I'm using will be very similar to that one only slightly larger. This pic is of the donor bike for another project I've got going. For the hardtail I started with a bare frame.

Ah hell, as long as I'm spilling the beans on this I may as well put it all out there. Here's a link to the web pages I'm putting together about the build. They aren't really "public" yet so there's a bunch of mistakes I'm sure, but here's more info for those who are interested:

http://www.teamyikes.com/NewProjectHome.html

 

[scootermcrad]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

+1 for originality! Should be great! What's the plan? Any thoughts yet? Is that how high it will sit?

EDIT: You posted the same time i did... great insight.

 

[Soulfur]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

Total Archduke

 

[lilbill]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

i chopped a 600cc single matchless back in the day. that duck has some distinct possabilities

 

[Hop-up]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

damn! the new version looks an incredible amount better!

 

[DesmoDog]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

Total Archduke

Thanks? I'm not exactly sure what that means...

i chopped a 600cc single matchless back in the day. that duck has some distinct possabilities

I think it's going to look pretty cool when it's further along. That pic really does pretty much suck but it's all I had and I'm trying to avoid real work here today, so I posted it.

BTW - haven't I seen you around the Volksrods forum? I'm "Spyke" over there...

damn! the new version looks an incredible amount better!

Yeah, the original leaves a bit to be desired. 1966 wasn't the peak of Italian style at Ducati.

FWIW here's a few shots of how that red bike is going to look. I'm further along with it now but you'll get the idea:

Damm, I just highjacked my own thread...

 

[heyitsnate]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

very cool.theres a guy in san francisco who has a wicked little 250 duck chopper. jason (snake) built it on the cheap relatively unfinished,and the guy rides it more than his fully-finished show stopper triumph chop (also built by snake). my prediction?-you will have a blast!

 

[Destralo Roach]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

Ha! I had a Montgomary Wards 250 scrambler that was hardtaild! looked good and was fast with the street sprocket! (90mph)

 

[lilbill]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

BTW - haven't I seen you around the Volksrods forum? I'm "Spyke" over there...

i wasn't "politicly correct" enough for the administration. fuck em
speaking of vw's i'll be liquidating all my vw stuff in the near future. 57 oval body, 2180 in pieces, uber rare vintage goodies, dozens of parts cars, tons of parts, magazines, books, toys etc. etc.
Grumpy (jason) has seen some of it.

 

[KZ1000guy]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

sweet man, I can't wait to see this come along.

 

[DesmoDog]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

No great progress to speak of. I tacked one chainstay on and got paranoid it would look too short once the engine was in.

So... I pulled it off what passes for a jig, pulled the engine out of the donor bike, and set it up tonight. Wheel is all the way forward... I'm still thinking it's ok but will probably play around with pulling the wheel and fender back as far as I can and see how that looks. I don't want it to look stretched but don't want it too look stubby either...

Please disregard the disaster of a shop... but here's what it looks like with the engine in place.

 

[lilbill]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

gettin there. i'd say get it down lower (put some kickup in the lower hardtail legs) , pick up the front of the tank or get something smaller and bob the rear fender. gonna be sweet

 

[DesmoDog]

Re: Another new project - not American, British, or an XS650...

Yeah, the rear fender is definitely going to get cut down quite a bit, or I may even find something else to use. I've got that one on there trying to figure out where the braces should go on the frame and where I want the bends in the upper tubes to end up.

I'm not in love with the tank either... but it's the best I have to go with right now. I'm keeping my eye open to alternatives. I had wanted to use all Ducati parts but now I'm backing off on that idea.

 

[DesmoDog]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

Wow. long time no post on this. Probably because it's so far down on my list of must-dos... But I finally got my more urgent projects out of the way and have started screwing around with this (and my other single cylinder bikes).

Tonight I was trying different fenders on for size. Sorry about the crappy pics, I should have thrown a cover over the bike in the background but I suck as a photographer so this is what you get.

Obviously this fender would need to be cut down. And I'm leaning towards ditching the generic ebay chopper seat and getting something from a vintage Italian bike.

Centerstand is way too long, and I'd either go with shrouds over the springs or remove the lower shrouds that are still there. But what I REALLY want to do is get/build a girder front end for it. I haven't seen any small girders that would work on something like this.

I have a "thing" for valanced fenders, and tried one on there. Didn't look good at all. but then I decided to throw the front one on too. Hmmm...

The "retro" Duc:

Obviously it needs work, but it wouldn't be a bad look to chase???

And just in case anyone cares, here's a pic of the bike in the background. No, I'm not too fond of the seat either. Just goes to show you, not every idea works out in the end.

And yes, that engine is on a stand in front of the bike and no, it's not the right one for it anyway. I was just screwing around, capiche?

 

[Kev Nemo]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

And just in case anyone cares, here's a pic of the bike in the background. No, I'm not too fond of the seat either. Just goes to show you, not every idea works out in the end.

And yes, that engine is on a stand in front of the bike and no, it's not the right one for it anyway. I was just screwing around, capiche?

Easy fix-undo the seat cover, cut it in half horizontally, redo cover. Had the same problem with mine...

 

[DesmoDog]

Re: Another new project - not American, not British, not an XS650...

Easy fix-undo the seat cover, cut it in half horizontally, redo cover. Had the same problem with mine...

trust me, it's not that easy on this pan. Different story for a different post, but the short of it is, lowering that seat would mean a major rebuild of the pan. I'll likely just remove the hump from the foam at some point and have it recovered. again.

 

[DesmoDog]

And 12 years later, I've dragged it out of the corner and started working on it again. It doesn't look all that much different than before I suppose, but a lot of decisions have been made and a few details worked out.

I retired a few months ago and have a few projects being resurrected so we'll see how far I get on it this time before something else comes along and distracts me.

 

[brent64]

Very interesting! I think it will be a fun ride! How about a plain ol lycette sprung solo? The first tank kinda had me.. gonna follow this for inspirationAL purposes! The spring 2up seats r "fun" to get just rite... but worth the comfort to me. It is different , but in a good interesting way!