1959 Ducati 200 Americano

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mamamia
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1959 Ducati 200 Americano

Post by mamamia »

Greetings from Glendale, CA.
A recent purchase of what appears to be a rolling basketcase, 1959 Ducati 200 Americano has me now imagining the roads I’ll be taking it on around LA. Small steps; surface streets and alleyways to start - night rides especially. At first glance the tank revealed hard crackles of painted layers, a mysterious burgundy through a baby blue; cross sections of a time perhaps when this pony once proudly pranced. I imagine this bike has a tale to tell. Right now, it tells me that it wants to run free again. The engine turns over. Inside of the tank is not completely eaten by rust. Everything will be treated like an onion - peeling back the layers to find what bits need attention.
I had one Ducati before this - a 1997 900SS CR. Too much moto for me. I was diggin’ the 120 MPH easy rides but it was becoming a little dangerous especially coming from the realm of rebuilding 70’s Honda’s... Definitely have my heart set in the classics. I love the styling and respect the limitations of these old beasts. To me, less is generally more and I appreciate the cafe racer style of aesthetic. Form is to complement function and vice versa. With that, we shall see what will become of this 200 Americano. Smack it up, flip it, and rub it down. Oh no.

“Begin with the end in mind.”
~ The Habit #2 of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
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killfile
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Re: 1959 Ducati 200 Americano

Post by killfile »

Can't wait to see what you do with this potential beauty!
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BevHevSteve
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Re: 1959 Ducati 200 Americano

Post by BevHevSteve »

No doubt about that - can't wait to see it ready to run again... have fun!
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bobnorton
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Re: 1959 Ducati 200 Americano

Post by bobnorton »

Engine parts will be hard to find,re-use everything possible.
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mamamia
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Re: 1959 Ducati 200 Americano

Post by mamamia »

Tear down has already begun.
If this doesn’t run, I’d be fine with it just being a decorative piece for the living room.
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Anybody have a link to a manual for the 200 or 175 single? Been scouring for a pdf but so far no luck
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mamamia
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Re: 1959 Ducati 200 Americano

Post by mamamia »

Any links to this Ducati 200 engine for a rebuild would be appreciated. Right now, I have the cylinder off and want to start making a list of parts to order like gaskets and o-rings, etc. Motoguzzino on eBay seems to a viable source for parts and they also appear local to me (Pasadena, CA). Y’all have good experiences here and or elsewhere for parts? I have a feeling eBay will be my primary source for parts.
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Craig in France
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Re: 1959 Ducati 200 Americano

Post by Craig in France »

mamamia wrote: Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:35 pm Anybody have a link to a manual for the 200 or 175 single? Been scouring for a pdf but so far no luck
1. Nigel will sell you a photocopy of the correct* factory workshop manual. I don't know of a currently available downloadable/pdf version. The links over at Motoscrubs.com (a Ducati singles site and Forum) aren't working :( .
http://www.laceyducati.com/ducati-parts ... p-316.html

* Beware Ducati published two versions of the narrowcase workshop manual, one for the earlier bikes including yours; one for later models (160 Monza, the 250s and the 350 Sebring). The early version had a blue cover, the later one a yellow (it was also later re-printed with a grey cover).

You may also see reference to a Clymer manual (orange cover!). This is essentially a re-print of the late manual.

In practice there probably isn't much difference between the two versions; but you might just as well as get the right one ;) .

2. FWIW, I've uploaded a pdf of the 175TS parts book here:

https://www.docdroid.net/tHvRIKr/175ts-parts-book.pdf

HTH

Craig
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mamamia
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Re: 1959 Ducati 200 Americano

Post by mamamia »

Thank you for the parts book link and the valuable manual info, Craig!

I received links to the following Cylmer with this cover:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CfyMiK ... sp=sharing
It's not quite "orange" per your mention but maybe that has faded away...

Here's a snap of what the engine exploded view looks like (which looks pretty good to me as a start):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l2PkRY ... sp=sharing
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Craig in France
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Re: 1959 Ducati 200 Americano

Post by Craig in France »

mamamia wrote: Sat Nov 24, 2018 11:27 am I received links to the following Cylmer with this cover:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CfyMiK ... sp=sharing
It's not quite "orange" per your mention but maybe that has faded away...
Yup, that's yet another (!) print of the Clymer. As you can see from the description on the cover, it covers the "160, 250, 350 and 450" models, i.e. the same models as the later factory workshop manual plus the supplement that the factory issued for the 450s.

Ciao

Craig
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