[jbranson]

Picked up the 350 Ducati barn bike today.
Whopping $100.....figure I could ebay just one of the nice straight Akront rims for about that
Check it out:
http://www.jrbranson.com/showandtell-3.htm

JohnnyB

PS. Teaser pic

Edited by - jbranson on Jan 04 2007 2:42:51 PM

 

[chetriply]

Great find! Glad they actually came through.

 

[n/a]

jb,

that would be a mototrans/made in spain 350 scr(amal carb).
take off the cover with the tach drive and line up the 2 timing marks on the bevel gears then pop the head off.

Champ

 

[jbranson]

Yep...just took a close look at the barely legible stick on frame tag. "Ducati, manufactured by Mototrans, Barcelona."

None of my books show a 350 scrambler ever produced by Mototrans though. Just two 350, disk brake street bikes....an it shows both those with Dellorto carbs.

Of course the way Ducati mixed and matched parts, suppliers and distributors back then...jeez, who knows. I also wasn't aware that Mototrans Ducatis were sold in the US.
JohnnyB

PS. Also curious is the right side engine cover with says "Ducati..made in Italy"




Edited by - jbranson on Jan 04 2007 3:25:30 PM

 

[n/a]

prob. a 1968. This was during the crossover from narrow to wide case frames. they had extra stuff and threw whatever they had and made a model.

Champ

 

[jbranson]

Far as I can tell...after looking around some more...the bike is very very similar to this bike:
http://www.clubducatimototrans.com/road350.html

But what the heck is one doing in the US? I bought it from stump jumpers...no way they brought a bike over themselves. Said it had been in the family forever.

Checked the forks...they are Telesco...which is the mototrans brand.
How interchangable are engine and chassis parts between the two brands?
JohnnyB

PS. Same Amal, same front brake, fender, center stand


Edited by - jbranson on Jan 04 2007 3:50:44 PM

Edited by - jbranson on Jan 04 2007 3:51:13 PM

 

[imslow]

i'd bet it looks the same in 5 years . . . .

 

[jbranson]

Yeah but it will look the same in someone else's shop after I rip it apart and ebay it.

Hey...nice Akront flanged rims...for sale $100 each

Of course....I am already getting attached to it...even though it is a Spanish piece of shit instead of an Italian piece of shit.

Let's see, some new spokes and a brake I already have, some tires and the wheels are ready to go, some nice VTR forks which I already have, rear shocks, exhaust that I can make myself, grab a tank out of my collection and a seat...a few controls and a $400 engine rebuild and I'm racin. Probably the cheapest race bike I'd ever build.
JohnnyB

 

[n/a]

jb,
i think you are kinda close. If you look at the bracket where the seat goes it is made for a banana style scr seat.


Champ

 

[jbranson]

Champ,
What the story on these? Hows the quality? I've read that Mototrans made engines for Ducati sometimes, and Ducati made motors for Mototrans. Mototrans made some of their own designs, reproduced Ducati designs, and bought parts/engines from Ducati...and vice versa.
As racable as any other widecase Duc? Far as I can tell from looking at it, it looks typical Italian in design and quality with the exception of the front forks, which look pretty crappy.

Engine castings etc. Look as nice as any Ducati I've seen, and appear from the casting marks at least to be Italian.

I've emailed Pete T. the details to get his input.
JohnnyB

 

[n/a]

As far as I know they are O.K. If I remember correctly Ducati sold tooling to mototrans with all there blessings. some folks say they are just as good if not better. just be aware that they are not like any other motor as the shiming is KEY and make sure you line p all the timing marks on the gears.

Champ

 

[aaron]

Anything Amal you need let me know...

Aaron

 

[joe c]

wasnt there also an austrian, or swedish ducati/mototrans? for some reason i think a guy i know has one. its a military bike. maybe german? it has an eagle logo on it. maybe its a mototrans too.

jc

 

[FR]

Dude, my brother's roommate had one of them, I think. It was black...


FR

 

[n/a]

that would be a condor.

Champ

 

[Camelhairy]

A friend that used to work for me at Boston Cycles just offered me his 350 Desmo with all his extra parts. I just have to cover shipping fom CA.
I'm having a hard time deciding......YEAH.
FC

 

[joe c]

yeah, its a condor. thats right. it has little condors everywhere it should say ducati.

jc

 

[imslow]

JB, I just put a 250 duc head/barrel on eBay. Great condition. New guides etc. check it out.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200065486340

And I put on some honda 350 pistons, .040 over. tomorrow goes the 175 honda HRC intake manifolds. I'm a selling kinda guy.

 

[jbranson]

Champ, Aaron, everyone, thanks for the input. I'll have many questions I'm sure if I decide to put this thing back together. Champ I'll be asking you plenty since these are your thing.

I'm having a very hard time resisting the urge to build a race bike out of this thing. I've got almost everything it needs right on hand. And I've wanted to try my hand at racing the 350 class. I'm assuming it would cost some bucks though to make this a reliable, reasonably fast race bike.
JohnnyB

 

[jbranson]

quote:
JB, I just put a 250 duc head/barrel on eBay. Great condition. New guides etc. check it out.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200065486340

Evil...that's some way whack frashizzel there. I had no idea that's what the inside of a duc head looked like. Where the hell does one get replacements for springs like that.
JohnnyB