Mototrans 350

[Pete]

Here is a picture of my 1972 350 Road. No, it is not snowing yet. The picture is from last winter.



I bought the bike last year and I rode it this summer. Although it was running when I got it I don't think it was used much in the last few years. The more I rode it, the more things started to leak. I think all the seals were very tired. I put new seals in the forks and in the carb. I have a new o-ring for the kickstarter. The rear shocks will get rebuilt this winter. Other than a few electrical problems that I have sorted out, it is good to go. Oh yeah, the tach blew up one day. It started whining then, POOF, the needle just disintegrated! Luckily, I was able to find a replacement!

It is not very fast, but is fun to ride. I usually ride to work; about 15 miles each way. It does draw some attention when people see it.

[JimF]

Those gold-colored rims set your bike off nicely. To me it's kind of a subliminal visual cue that is reminiscant of seeing gold-colored 4LS drum brake hubs mounted on silver rims. Combined with the black paintwork the whole package makes for a great looking bike.

Jim

[DewCatTea-Bob]

"It is not very fast, but is fun to ride."

____ I'VE ALSO OWNED THIS MODEL SINCE 1973!
WHAT I LIKE VERY MUCH ABOUT IT IS THAT IT HAS THE GREATEST SOUNDING EXHAUST-NOTE THAT ANY SINGLE HAS (due to the unique muffler that's stock on this model)!
__ YOU'RE RIGHT Pete, IT'S NOT VERY FAST... THIS IS DUE IN PART TO THE FACT THAT THE CAMSHAFT THAT'S STOCK IN MOST ALL WIDE-CASE 350 DUKEs HAS VALVE-TIMING WHICH DOESN'T WORK WELL WITH MOST ANY MUFFLER!
THE CAM IS WELL KNOWN AS THE Green&White SHAFT... OTHER THAN THE DESMO-CAM, IT HAS THE WILDEST VALVE-TIMING THAT CAME STOCK IN ANY STD.PRODUCTION DUKE-MODEL!
THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE CAM'S EXTRA WILD VALVE-TIMING CAN NOT BE FULLY TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF, WHEN RUNNING WITH A MUFFLER! ... CUZ A MUFFLER WORKS AGAINST WHAT THE G&W CAM TRIES TO DO NEAR TOP RPM! AND AT LOWER RPM, THAT STOCK CAM IS WAY TOO WILD TO WORK THE VALVES ON TIME!
__ THERE'S TWO WAYS TO SOLVE THE VERY POOR MATCH (of those two stock parts)... EITHER REPLACE THE MUFFLER WITH A MEGAPHONE (best for high-rpm racing), OR, REPLACE THE STOCK / WILD CAM WITH A CAM FROM MOST ANY OTHER 250/450 (non-DESMO) DUKE-MODEL!
__ IF YOU THINK IT'S FUN TO RIDE (with the too wild stock-cam), YOU'LL FIND IT EVEN MORE SO WITH A MILDER CAM!! ...
THE BEST CHOICE IS A CAM FROM A 250Mark-3 (non-DESMO) !
THERE WERE 3 DIFFERENT GRINDS OF 250Mk3 CAMS, ANY OF WHICH WILL GIVE ABOUT THE SAME GREAT RESULTS!
THE NEXT BEST CHOICE WOULD BE THE CAM FROM A WIDE-CASE 250 Scrambler OR A 450 Jupiter/SCR.
(THERE COULD BE A VALVE-CLEARANCE ISSUE WITH CAMSHAFTS FROM OTHER NARROW-CASE MODELS.)

____ I MAY HAVE MORE EXPERIENCE CONCERNING DUKE-CAMS THAN ANYONE ELSE STILL ALIVE, SO ANYONE WITH QUESTIONS ABOUT ANY STOCK CAMS, OR DUKEs (OHC-singles) IN GENERAL, THEN PLEASE TRY TO STUMP ME (with a question that i don't know the answer to).

DUKE CHEERS,
-Bob

[ajleone]

Hey Pete,
Bike looks great ! Post another pic or 2. Did you ever get a regulator ?
Tony

[Daniil]

Nice bike. Also love the rims. Funny how Mototrans could keep it Ducati, yet make it its own in the same way... Dan

[Thevin]

Those gold-colored rims set your bike off nicely. To me it's kind of a subliminal visual cue that is reminiscant of seeing gold-colored 4LS drum brake hubs mounted on silver rims. Combined with the black paintwork the whole package makes for a great looking bike.

Jim

Yah,,,Rims look very cool.........

[Pete]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the kind words. I like the rims too. At first I thought I would change them, but they have grown on me. They give it a kind of hot rod look.

Tony, I got a used regulator for it. I hope it works!

Bob, you are right about the sound of the exhaust. Around my family, I refer to it as "The glorious sound". They all think I'm nuts. Is the cam difficult to change? Can I do it with the engine still in the frame? Do I have to reshim the bevel gears?



Pete

[JimF]

Hi Pete,

If I try to visualize your bike with silver wheels I think it would seem kind of plain and ordinary (and I mean no offense!) The way it is now if you parked your bike in a row of bikes it's a subtle stand-out in the crowd. I mean to say that people would look at all those chromed and alloy wheels all lined up, and everyone would pause to look longer as they saw the gold anodized rim in the line-up. I know I would.

Sure you could get the same think if you put pink rims on a bike, but you know what I am saying... the gold doesn't look at all out of place but rather makes the bike look like its maybe a factory special.

Jim

[DewCatTea-Bob]

"Is the cam difficult to change? Can I do it with the engine still in the frame? Do I have to reshim the bevel gears?"

____ IT'S EASIER TO DO THAN ON MOST ANY OTHER CYCLE-MOTOR! ...
WHILE IT'S EASIER TO DO THE JOB WITH THE HEAD REMOVED, IT CAN STILL BE DONE WITH THE BIKE LEFT IN RUNNING-CONDITION... IN THAT CASE,
YA FIRST REMOVE THE TACH-DRIVE COVER, AND THE 4 SCREWS IN THE LEFT-SIDE ('350') CAM-BEARING SUPPORT/COVER.
SEE TO IT THAT THE TIMING-MARKS ON THE TWO BEVEL-GEARS ARE MATCHED-UP, (by slowly turning-over the engine), BEFORE PROCEEDING.
_ THEN LOOSEN & UNSCREW THE CAM-NUT OUTWARD UNTIL FLUSH WITH THE END OF THE CAMSHAFT, (NOTE: that nut is Left-Hand threaded!!).
_ THEN TAP/KNOCK ON THE END OF THE SHAFT, (the nut is protecting the shaft-threads), UNTIL THE NUT HAS MOVED BACK AGAINST THE CAM-GEAR (again as it was).
YOU SHOULD THEN SEE THAT THE LEFT-END CAMSHAFT ('350') BEARING-SUPPORT/COVER HAS BEEN PUSHED FROM IT'S PLACE ON/IN THE HEAD.
AT THIS POINT, YOU MAY NOW TWIST & PULL IT OUT & OFF.
THEN AFTER YA COMPLETELY REMOVE THE CAM-NUT, YOU SHOULD EASILY SEE HOW YA CAN PULL-OUT THE CAMSHAFT, AND PUT ANOTHER IN PLACE.
__ BUT BEFORE YA PUT ANOTHER CAMSHAFT IN, YOU SHOULD REMOVE THE INTAKE & EXHAUST VALVE-COVERS AND REMOVE THE VALVE-SHIMS OFF THE VALVE-STEM HEADS.
_ THEN AFTER YOU PUT YOUR REPLACEMENT CAM IN THE HEAD AND PUT THE ('350') CAM-BEARING SUPPORT BACK IN PLACE (all the way back in!), YOU CAN THEN RESET THE VALVE-CLEARANCES, (likely with different shims).
__ THEN PUT EVERYTHING BACK TOGETHER AS IT WAS, BEING SURE TO PLACE ANY SHIMS THAT WERE BETWEEN THE CAM-GEAR & THE RIGHT-END CAMSHAFT-BEARING, BACK AS THEY WERE.
NOTE THAT THERE'S NO RE-SHIMMING (of the bevel-gearing) NEEDED! _ (UNLESS PERHAPS YOU'VE CHANGED THE RIGHT-END CAMSHAFT-BEARING (to one that's not exactly the same width).

____ IF RUNNING WITH MOST ANY MUFFLER,, NO MATTER WHICH DUKE-CAM YOU REPLACE THE STOCK (350-widecase) CAM WITH, YOU WILL GET AN OVERALL-PERFORMANCE GAIN!
__ IF YOU RUN INTO SOME DUKE-NUT WHO TELLS YOU THAT THE STOCK Green&White-CAM, (otherwise known as the 250F1-cam), HAS GOT TO BE YOUR BEST CHOICE FOR BEST PERFORMANCE... THEN THAT PERSON REALLY DOESN'T HAVE MY VERY EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE WITH INSTALLING & RACING MOST EVERY STD.PRODUCTION DUKE-CAM THAT DUCATI HAD MADE, WITHIN EVERY 250, 350, & 450 DUKE-MOTOR!
(I HAVE A COLLECTION OF ALL STD.PRODUCTION DUKE-CAMS, EXCEPT THE EARLY 250GT-CAM !)
__ IF YOU INSTALL A STOCK-CAM FROM ANY OF THE THREE DIFFERENT 250Mk3 MODELS, YOU WILL THEN GET BETTER PERFORMANCE THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE RPM-RANGE! - (NOT JUST BETTER 'OVERALL-PERFORMANCE'.)
BUT EVEN IF YOU INSTALL THE MILDEST DUKE-CAM (the 'Violet' cam, which is not really 'mild' by non-Ducati standards), FROM A 250-Monza OR A 350-Sebring,, YOUR OTHERWISE STOCK 350-Road MODEL WILL STILL OUT-ACCELERATE (from low rpm), ANY OTHER STOCK WIDE-CASE 350 DUKE! - (BUT NOT A N-C Sebring.)
AND TOP-SPEED SHOULD STILL BE WITHIN ABOUT 5MPH (against the fastest stock std.production 350 MODEL).

____ JUST AS Ducati MADE A FAIRLY BAD CHOICE WITH THEIR PICK OF CAMS FOR ALL THEIR STD.PRODUCTION 350 MODELS, THEY ALSO SCREWED-UP JUST ABOUT AS BADLY WITH THEIR 450-Scrambler/Jupiter ('Springer') MODELS!!
THAT PARTICULAR 'Springer' 450 MOTOR REALLY COMES TO LIFE WITH THE WIDECASE-350 G&W-CAM!
SO IF YOU CAN FIND A FELLOW Duker WITH A 450 (non-DESMO), TRY TO SWAP CAMS WITH HIM! , AND THEN BOTH OF YOUR DUKEs WILL MUCH BENEFIT (overall-performance wise)!!
__ IT WOULD'VE BEEN BETTER (although not the best), FOR Ducati TO HAVE MADE THAT CHOICE OF CAMS FOR THOSE TWO MODELS TO BEGIN WITH! ...
THE CAM IN THE MUCH LARGER CAPACITY (435cc), 450-Jupiter/SCR. MODELS IS ACTUALLY THE VERY SAME CAM WHICH WAS MADE FOR THE 1968 WIDE-CASE 250-Scrambler!
(Ducati DID DESIGN & PRODUCE A CAM ESPECIALLY FOR THE SPRINGER 450-Mark3 (non-'D') BUT, IT SEEMS THAT THEY NEVER INSTALLED IT INTO THEIR STD.PRODUCTION SPRINGER-450s.)
__ I'D REALLY LIKE TO KNOW THE ACTUAL STORY OF WHY Ducati DID WHAT THEY DID CONCERNING THOSE ISSUES... IT'S BEEN FIGURED THAT THE Italian-GOV. (who didn't really give a $#!+), WAS IN SOME WAY INVOLVED WITH THE POOR CHOICE OF CAMS IN THESE CASES.
CUZ BEFORE 1967, Ducati WAS REALLY QUITE GOOD AT MATCHING CAM DESIGNS TO EVERY ONE OF THEIR MANY VARIOUS MODELS!!

DUCATIly,
-Bob

[kartagines]

differences Mototrans Spanish Road and Italian Scrambler:
Chassis:


Gas tank: