Dzien dobry,
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 5:20 pm
Greetings from sunny Poland, actually its minus 15 centigrade, dark and snowing, but spring will eventually come.
My first ever motorcycle was a 1963 200 super sport/elite found rotting under a tarp in South London (U.K.), I was 15 years old, it was 1969.
The bike was seized and in poor shape, but I had several months to go before I could legally ride it on my 16th birthday, so I started my long, often painful, always expensive, but ultimately rewarding relationship with Ducati by rebuilding it (badly).
I’ll be happy to fill in the gaps for anybody that is interested, but for now it will be enough to say that I eventually ended up buying what was then the ultimate superbike, a 1975 900 ss in 1977.
I’ve still got it and have just dragged it out of storage to restore and ride it. I put it away “for a month or two” in 1994 and subsequently reproduced, changed countries, careers and many other things, leaving little opportunity for thundering around scaring small children and animals. I now have a little more time, and have just bought a holiday home in the Sabine Hills near Rome in Italy, and feel it would be fun, and suitably eccentric to roar around there on the old Duke.
I’ve started a ground up restoration but for use, not show, staying as original as I can without compromising rideability, so, for example, the Lucas Rita electronic ignition stays as will Koni (now Ikon) shocks, but with any luck it will look close to factory when it’s finished.
I’ve found your shop and forums an inspiration so hope to use both extensively.
Warmest Regards,
In-Two
P.S. My login (in-two) is derived from the pit signals we gave our riders during some 12 years of world championship endurance racing we did in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, the sequence was ‘In-Three’ (laps) ‘In-two’, then just ‘IN’, even then they sometimes missed it, 24 hour racing will do that to you…
My first ever motorcycle was a 1963 200 super sport/elite found rotting under a tarp in South London (U.K.), I was 15 years old, it was 1969.
The bike was seized and in poor shape, but I had several months to go before I could legally ride it on my 16th birthday, so I started my long, often painful, always expensive, but ultimately rewarding relationship with Ducati by rebuilding it (badly).
I’ll be happy to fill in the gaps for anybody that is interested, but for now it will be enough to say that I eventually ended up buying what was then the ultimate superbike, a 1975 900 ss in 1977.
I’ve still got it and have just dragged it out of storage to restore and ride it. I put it away “for a month or two” in 1994 and subsequently reproduced, changed countries, careers and many other things, leaving little opportunity for thundering around scaring small children and animals. I now have a little more time, and have just bought a holiday home in the Sabine Hills near Rome in Italy, and feel it would be fun, and suitably eccentric to roar around there on the old Duke.
I’ve started a ground up restoration but for use, not show, staying as original as I can without compromising rideability, so, for example, the Lucas Rita electronic ignition stays as will Koni (now Ikon) shocks, but with any luck it will look close to factory when it’s finished.
I’ve found your shop and forums an inspiration so hope to use both extensively.
Warmest Regards,
In-Two
P.S. My login (in-two) is derived from the pit signals we gave our riders during some 12 years of world championship endurance racing we did in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, the sequence was ‘In-Three’ (laps) ‘In-two’, then just ‘IN’, even then they sometimes missed it, 24 hour racing will do that to you…
