For Sale: 1965 Ducati Monza 250

[ccambern]

**Sold

1965 Ducati Monza 250 – Fully Restored and Ready to Ride!

After careful consideration, I've decided to sell my Monza. I restored this bike in 2010 and rode it throughout the summer of 2011. This year, I've moved my business to a new space that is a twenty-minute highway ride away, so I've decided to sell the Monza for something that is a bit more highway friendly. The bike comes with a clean Michigan title (which is really tough to get on these old bikes), so it's ready to ride out the door.

I am a former professional auto racing mechanic with a number of modern and vintage restorations under my belt, so you can rest assured that the work was done right. I feel pretty confident that you would be hard-pressed to find a more mechanically sound vintage Ducati anywhere (and it looks pretty sharp, too!). Here's what has been done:

Engine... The engine came from a narrow-case scrambler. When I bought it, the engine still had oil in the case and it wasn't frozen, but it hadn't run since the early 70's, so I did a complete re-build. The head, bore, and crank were sent to Bore Tech in Batavia, OH, which is one of the few places in the country that builds Duc singles regularly. I did the rest in-house:

-Crank disassembled, freshened, and re-balanced by Bore Tech.
-Head exchanged for “big valve” head. Ported by Bore Tech and Green-White cam installed. Spark plug thread repaired with Timesert. “Hairspring” valve springs replaced with new coilovers and shims. New Mark 1 spec valves installed with new guides.
-Cylinder bored and high-compression forged racing piston installed.
-All bearings replaced.
-Clutch rebuilt with new internals.
-Clutch actuation pivot repaired (original was broken) and re-designed to brace against outer cover (clutch action is excellent and quite light).
-All cast parts bead-blasted and bad threads helicoiled. Appropriate parts (covers, etc) polished.
-Tolerances checked and shimmed to factory spec.
-Timing set to Mark 1 factory spec.
-Mikuni VM30 carburetor with bespoke intake adapter. Jetted for the application.


Chassis... The frame, forks, and swing arm came from the same Monza. The rear shocks came from an SCR. I went through everything piece-by-piece:

-Frame, swing-arm, and miscellaneous hard parts bead blasted and powder coated in (subtle) silver metallic.
-Head stock bearings replaced and re-greased.
-Shocks rebuilt and fresh oil added.
-Forks rebuilt with fresh oil and new seals.
-Wheels powder coated “chrome” (they don't really look like chrome- they kinda look like alloys).
-New Bridgestone tires and tubes. Wheels balanced and trued.
-Fresh chain and new sprockets.
-Brake drums bead blasted.
-All cables replaced and ends silver-soldered.
-Lower handlebars fitted.


Electrical... This is the Achilles heel of Italian bikes. I have wired a lot of racecars, so I have a pretty good feel for how to build a wiring loom that is reliable under harsh conditions. Since the restoration, I have had no electrical problems, whatsoever; the system is dead-reliable:

-SCR mag system replaced with Monza/Mark1 alternator modified to feed a modern regulator/rectifier.
-Regulator/rectifier from a Honda CX500 fitted and system converted to 12V.
-12V gelcell battery installed and new 12V coil under tank.
-New lights and totally new wiring harness. Two fuses under the seat. Headlight wired to stay on full-time.


Body... The tank, light bucket, and rear fender were all sourced separately. I built the tail hump in-house out of fiberglass (made a mold, etc). I built the seat pan and my wife upholstered it. I also have an unpainted Aerotech front fender that will go with the bike:
-All bodywork blasted down to bare metal, straightened and filled as needed. There is almost no Bondo in the tank, but the light bucket was pretty seriously tweaked and needed a fair bit of work. All parts were primed with PPG.
-The paint is Auto Air red candy. Like the factory bikes, the parts were painted with a silver metallic base and overlayed with a deep red candy. The tank “scallops” were masked so only the silver shows. Everything was then clear-coated with a automotive-grade PPG clear. I did the prep, priming, and first two stages; the clear was performed by a local shop. The red is a bit darker than the factory origial; I guess you'd call it “cherry.”
-After clear-coat, everything was finish-sanded to a gloss.


Spares... the bike comes with a ton of extras, including:

-SCR frame and swingarm
-Enough Auto Air paint to cover the front fender and new headlight bucket (if you're feeling picky)
-Front hub
-Some extra gears and chain
-Factory Service manual (reprint) and a bunch of notes
-A bunch of other Ducati odds and ends


The imperfections... I'm a perfectionist, so take all this with a grain of salt; the average Joe wouldn't notice any of this:

-Jetting is very close, but not perfect. It idles rich and is probably slightly lean at ¾ throttle. That said, the engine always starts on the first or second kick and runs like a champ. If you do mostly back roads, it will be perfect. If you so a lot of stop-and-go, you'll probably find yourself putting a new plug in it a bit more often because the rich idle will eventually foul the plug.

-Paint isn't perfect... maybe an 8 or 9/10. I don't have a booth, so it was never going to be perfect. Headlight ring also doesn't fit the buck perfectly, because the bucket was damaged in a previous life. The bike comes with enough extra paint to do a new headlight, if you want to.

-Rear shocks leak. I wasn't able to find replacement seals for the originals. I do have some fairly fresh Progressive Suspension 12 Series shocks that just need the right springs and bushings (available from Progressive).


The bottom line... this is a beautiful classic that you can literally ride every day. It's a blast to ride and it gets a ton of attention wherever it goes. If you're looking for a Concours bike, this isn't it- it isn't 100% visually perfect and it isn't 100% original. But if you're looking for a honest-to-god jaw-dropper that you can ride everywhere, this might be the perfect bike for you. I'm gonna miss it, but I'm sure that whoever ends up with this Duc will get a lot of great miles out of it.

$6,800 OBO

The only trades I'd be willing to consider are:
-'99/'00 Cagiva Gran Canyon + cash (your cash, not mine;)
-KTM 950/990 Adventure
-Ducati Multistrada

Contact by email is best: ccambern@gmail.com

[ccambern]

A few more pics...

[ccambern]

Last chance... eBay auction ends on Wednesday morning:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/?cmd=Vie ... ESELX%3AIT