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Hey there, new guy on the forum here. I recently saw a 1966 ducati listed for sale in my area and couldnt help but pick it up. New to this era of ducatis and I was hoping for some help IDing the bike and whats stock on it and whats not. My plan is to get it running and rideable asap then possibly dig in to further restoration later, which l wouldnt mind opinions on what to do there as well! thanks for the help in advance, and have a good one.







Going to need to get some better pics!

Stickbow wrote:I recently saw a 1966 ducati listed for sale in my area ... and I was hoping for some help IDing the bike <snip>.

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

Your bike is a 1965 350 Sebring (so-named after Franco Farne won the 350 class race there in February 1965).

It's the first version, with the small round tank and the trim on the seat that kinks up towards the back. There are some reference photos here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/loudbike/ ... 350959242/

And here (ignore the dating):
http://www.classicmotorcycleconsignment ... colver-col

I definitely see the resemblance! why do you think the tittle would say 66? Could it be something to do with when it was imported? I was kind of thinking it might be a hodgepodge of parts from different years

Thanks for the help!

It’s definitely a hodgepodge of parts but the gas tank, seat and air filter box are 1st series Sebring. So the frame rear wheel and engine are likely to be as well. The entire front end appears to be from something else, the taillight might be original, there appears to be no rear fender, the shocks aren’t original nor the muffler. More detail than that will require more detailed pics. The 350 Sebring is basically a 250 Monza chassis with a 350 engine. The Sebring had a different clutch perch that incorporated a lever for the valve lifter to aid starting, otherwise identical chassis. So you can find all the original chassis parts without too much difficulty. Since the importer (or Ducati for that matter) didn’t positively identify the year of manufacture, the registration you have probably identifies the year as the date it was registered.

All makes sense to me, I will definitely grab some more pictures as Im very interested in whats stock and whats not. To me a stock part is worth saving/fixing but a part that just got slapped on as a replacement is a different situation.

These handlebars arent stock are they?

Stickbow wrote:Why do you think the title would say 66? Could it be something to do with when it was imported?

Like wot Matt said:

double diamond wrote:Since the importer (or Ducati for that matter) didn’t positively identify the year of manufacture, the registration you have probably identifies the year as the date it was registered.

Stickbow wrote:I was kind of thinking it might be a hodgepodge of parts from different years

That's almost inevitable after all these years .

It does kinda present you with a dilemma, however: "Do I put it back to how it was? Or do I keep it as it is?"

Yours to call ... . Personally, as you can see from Steve Munro's photos, I think that in original trim they're really quite smart little bikes. But it will cost you more than it's worth to get it like that .

Stickbow wrote:These handlebars aren't stock, are they?

Hard to tell. The bikes did come with high bars originally; but whether those are they ....??

To add my .02 cents, the handlebars look to probably be stock Sebring as sold in the US. They are tilted back from what most of the factory pics have them mounted.

The front end could be a Marzocchi unit from a 1967 Scrambler. These were 35mm fork legs that would take more pounding than the 31.5 units supplied earlier on the scramblers and on most all of the narrow case road bikes.


The triple trees and fork ears look the same and some one has replaced the scramblers fork gaiters with regular fork boots.

Better pics would allow us to come up with more accurate ident of the parts.

Congratulations on a great find!
Having ridden both the 250 Diana and the Sebring extensively, I feel the Sebring is really the best narrow-case model for a daily rider, mainly because the 250s are slightly underpowered, or under-torqued, if you will.

I've been riding a 66/67? Sebring (square tank) for many years. Have used it as a daily commuter and for just about everything else. Very reliable, fun to ride, one of my favorite all-time bikes. All I did is put a 28mm Mikuni on it and, after riding it for a few years, upgraded to 12V with an old Triumph Lucas coil, 12V bulbs and solid-state rectifier. Points ignition has always worked fine. Starts first kick after a priming kick.
As you may have already read, or soon will, frequent oil changes are important (20/50 motorcycle oil works best for most people.)
Any modern carb of about 28mm will be a big improvement over the stock carb.

Although the stock bars look totally goofy, I rode mine like that for a number of years and found them to be very comfortable.

With proper care and riding the engine is super reliable.

Keep us updated!

Thanks for all the info, I finally have some time and space to start working on this...
So far the bike wont start and its hard to troubleshoot since the kickstart wont catch. Im thinking I need to pull that side cover and figure out which gear is stripped and find a replacement. Then I'll clean the carb while I wait for the replacement to show up. Then I will be able to check spark/fuel/compression more easily.