solid aluminum id plate staked to headstock on 250 Road

[mtsteve]

I have a 1973 250 Road, or so I've been told, and of course the bike has been dissed for being a Spanish built model. But with the exception of the Moto Plat coil, the Amal carb and levers and the chromed steel fork lowers every thing says Made in Italy. Even the build tag which is heavy gage aluminum staked to the headstock says Importe D'Italia, with Ducati Mechanica at the top. The rest of the info on the tag is printed in French. Since the bike has some components that are not Italian like the Amal carb from England or the Moto PLat coil from Spain could one speculate that the bike was built in Italy using primarily Italian parts with just a few components shopped for cost savings. I have talked to a few knowledgeble folks about this bike but the build tag is the curve ball. Question: Were all "Road" models Spanish built?

[Jon Pegler]

All the Ducati Road models were built in Spain.
They were built in both 250 and 350cc.
They also came in both wide and narrowcase motors.
Most of the Amal carbs fitted to the Mototrans machines are Spanish made carbs, not made in England.
The Motoplat coils and Electronic ignition were also used on some of the late Italian built Ducati singles.
Many of these late singles had motors assembled in Spain.( Late 250 & 350 Mk 3's and many Scramblers)
Don't be too despondent that you have a Mototrans machine.
In many ways, the later Spanish Ducatis were better than their Italian counterparts.
Spanish frame numbers for the Road models are MD 40--- , MD41--- for 250's and MD 70---, MD71--- for 350's.
If anyone has a Mototrans machine with different numbers I would like to hear about it. They did do a few odd things in Barcelona.

Jon

[mtsteve]

OK Jon, let's continue. On the headstock badge , "No. Moteur 115340" and "No. Serie 254411" appear in French. On the left side rear motor bracket and above the swingarm pivot is welded a steel tag on which two lines of numbers are stamped. The top line reads"DM 250 SCR 254408" . The bottom line reads " DCM or DGM 1985." And then a small c with with a circle around it like a copyright mark and followed by "M." Also the ending frame #s 411 can be seen stamped on the headstock below the attached ID tag

[Jon Pegler]

From those numbers I would say that you have got an Italian built 250 Scrambler.
Some of the Italian 250 Scramblers came with Telesco forks as standard, with the steel sliders.
I think this was only fitted to some of the later, post 1973 bikes.
The carb should be a 27mm Spanish Amal concentric.
By 1973, most of the 250 motors were assembled in Spain.
These motors came with just DUCATI on the clutch inspection cover, no Made in Italy underneath.
The cylinder head casting is also different, with deeper small vertical finning above the exhaust port. There is probably a photo of a Spanish cylinder head in another thread on this site.
Motor no 115340 indicates a late 250 engine, probably 1973 or 1974.
Quite why the frame appears to have two numbers, 254408 and 254411 I am not sure.
I know that some of the French machines had aluminium plates attatched to the frame by the rear engine mounts.
Some also had aluminium plates fitted to the gear selector box. These were fitted with four small hammer-in rivets.
Does your gear change box have that plate, or four small holes?
Ian Falloon's Standard catalog of Ducati motorcycles illustrates a Scrambler with Amal carb and Telesco forks which may be similar to yours.

Jon