Ducati domination at the mono motorcycles workshop this week
It has been Ducati week at mono motorcycles this week & we have been dominated by some heavy weight Italian machines.
The Ducati 750 SS joined us for replacement piston rings & an engine refresh. The Ducati 900 SS joined us for replacement clutch & the Ducati Café Racer has joined us for regeneration as it has been sat for some time.
Ducati 750 SS
The Ducati 750 SS joined us this past week for piston ring replacement & an engine refresh. Nathan & Daniel stripped most of the bike down ready to remove the barrel on Monday, ready for Daniel to complete the strip down & piston ring replacement on Tuesday.
In this instance the engine was dropped, as the rear barrel was hitting the shock & as certain parts of the engine were destined for powder coat; it made the entire process more manageable.
On day 2 of the Ducati 750 SS strip down, the engine having now been dropped from the frame, Daniel steam cleaned everything to remove the lion share of the ground in grease, oil & dirt. Our customer had asked us to not only replace the piston rings, but to give the engine & casings a light resto finish to remove old paint & debris & give them an in-house face lift.
Once Daniel had the barrels off, the pistons did not look in too bad an order. Once he had replaced the piston rings, with the help of Nathan; it was time to start re-building the engine.
Daniel removed some of the smaller casings & sent them off to be powder coated gun metal grey. He then used Stove & BBQ heat resistant paint to give the engine a light resto lift. As most of the engine is hidden by fairing, our customer was not going down the entire vapour blasts & stove enamel route at this time.
Once the engine was back together, our customer asked if we could assess the carbs, as he was uncertain if they had been apart before he started the restoration.
Once we had them apart, the float bowls seemed to be filled with what looked like frog spawn! Therefore they are now in the ultrasonic cleaner being given a through clean, jets blown out & if needed soaked in jet cleaner overnight.
Ducati Café Racer – Multistrada
The Ducati Café Racer affectionately known as Ducafe joins us for a regeneration & to move the oil cooler.
The Ducafe has a special place in our customers heart, as the friend who built it left it to him in his will & has become his legacy.
The Ducafe has been sat for about four years waiting to be tended to & now is the time to bring it back to life.
First the tank was drained of stale fuel & a full service undertaken, including changing all filters, plugs & oil. The tank has had a fuel stabiliser added & fresh fuel added to the tank.
The next phase is to move the oil cooler from the front of the bike to underneath, to allow the Café Racer to retain a more streamline look.
Ducati 900 SS
The 900 SS joined us on Wednesday to assess & replace the clutch. Despite some Ducati riders feeling that the more their dry clutch rattles, the better it is; it gets to a point where the jingle jangle of the plates is excessive & it’s time to replace them.
In this case, when the Ducati was test ridden at receipt, the clutch was snatchy & rattled excessively. When the clutch plates were removed, they were worn to excess & the clutch basket was starting to show signs of wear too.
Once the plates were replaced the clutch stack height was checked at 39mm. The clutch springs were also checked & were found to all be within tolerance.
Once the cover was replaced, the Ducati was road tested & the clutch was a lot less snatchy & the tell-tale Ducati clutch jingle-jangle was still present, but a lot quieter.
In other news, our events calendar is filling up with three events left for this year & a first for us in 2022!
Our last two Breakfast Club’s of 2021 are on Sunday 26th September & Sunday 24th October.
Our very popular Charity Christmas Quiz returns for 2021 with all proceeds going to SERV Blood Runners.
New for 2022 our very first Custom Bike Show to be held in Havant on Sunday 12th June 2022. Lot’s more information to follow.
