Reincarnation..

Waaaay back in the beginning of this year, I was chatting with Mike Cecchini about the upcoming SSR event at Grattan and he (like many others) lamented in the fact that he hadn’t jumped on the opportunity to buy The Original Loud Bike when I put it on the market.  “Hey – Too easy” I replied “I can build you a faithful replica.”.  After a half dozen emails and phone calls, we agreed on a spec and struck a deal to build a bike.  If any of you have had the pleasure of hanging around with Mike, you know he has a serious passion and runs his meticulously maintained bikes ( a trick Monster, a very trick 888, a vintage MV, a CBX and the vintage BMW) hard.  My kind of guy…  Then again, a pretty intimidating customer; given his attention to detail and mechanical capability.

So in the spring of this year, I began looking for a donor bike and soon realized that Ducati bevels were now commanding relatively stupid money on eBay.  Eventually, I stumbled upon a ’74 750 Sport that was for sale in the Toronto area and engaged with the buyer – a long time Ducatisi and vintage racer.  The Sport had been raced a few times (once at Daytona) and had been retired to the previous owner’s study about 10 years ago in “as raced” condition.  Perfect.

So as the summer progressed, I created a bill of materials, stripped and inventoried the Sport and continued a long (and entertaining) dialogue with Mike as we created a final specification for the machine.  The motor spec was probably the easiest part; simply replicate the build that Guy Martin did on my original bike.  The only deviation from my spec was the addition of a tasty dry clutch from VeeTwo.  As we spent time going back and forth with my Photoshop renditions of Mike’s vision, it soon became clear that the bike we were building was to be the realization “Mike’s Dream Bike”.  More understated Sport Hot-Rod than in-your-face Original Loud Bike, the machine would be aesthetically, less of a racer but still capable of 1:39s at Mosport.  Cool.

Mike and I attend the same track day events and we talked frequently about the specification through the summer season.  The bike evolved as did our friendship.

You wouldn’t believe some of the things that were on the table:  Modern Showa forks with a modified (upsidedownVerlicchi box-section swingarm and 17” spoke wheels).  By August, a final bill of materials was approved and I began the process of sourcing with products need to build out the rolling chassis. I started buying stuff in September and quickly realized that in the 10 years that had passed much had changed in BevelLand, but most of the players were the same.

Meanwhile, back in July, DOCC member Patrick Chartrand had purchased a Sportized (I love making words up) GT and as I’d done the track prep on his ’95 900SS, he asked me to give him a proposal on bringing it as well up to Loud Bike spec.  So now there are two.

This month was a milestone in that I finally began building the bikes as the components started showing up at my door.  Just like Christmas.  So, back to Mike’s bike.  Here’s the spec:

• ’74 Sport frame with rear sub-frame moved forward 2.6”
• Ceriani 38mm forks with Works Performance spring kit
• Morad 2.15 front and 3.00 rear shouldered aluminum rims laced with polished stainless spokes and shod with Avons finest vintage racing rubber.
• Dual Brembo 08 Goldline calipers with slotted and drilled disks
• Works Billet Trackers with all the options and valving to match the Original Loud Bike
• Left hand shift conversion
• Dr. Desmo rear sets
• Tommaselli adjustable clip-ons
• ’79 900SS headlight running in ’73 GT wire mounts
• Imola tank in either CF or glass (or one of each) using industrial strength epoxy resign
• Modified Sport seat
• 3 set of different exhaust combinations made by ARC Fabrication in stainless:  Std Conti, Spagiarri/Syd’s hybrid hi-pipes, and 900 Endurance low mount.
• Full-zoot MBP- built desmo 750 motor that’ll produce about 74rwhp and 53ft/lbs torque
  ……..and lots of hand-built, one-off goodies and details

Color?  It’s a surprise. 

I kept pretty good records on the set-up of the OLB, so Mike’s bike will replicate the chassis attitude exactly and should be a very capable performer on the track.   

We’ve wrestled with all kinds of issues as we moved forward and came to understand that while Mike typically defers to my judgment, he’s tenacious as hell when it comes to certain things.  Like the gas tank.  Mike wants an Imola tank with a sight strip, but I’ve seen glass tanks suffer incredibly from the newer Ethanol-based fuels.  Could we do an aluminum tank with some sort of sight glass?  After talking to just about every tank builder in the world – no.  Then last week, news of a glass tank builder in the Northwest who'd conquered the ethanol issue surfaced on the Bevelheads list.  I put a call into Don Freeman and it would appear that he has an industrial strength expoxy resin that's impervious to the stuff.  We’re pursuing the opportunity, so stay tuned...

Then there’s the tail light… Honey, don’t let me commence…

It’s interesting too, as I move through a project like this and begin to realize the difference between restoration and – well, restoration.  You see, in my mind, restoration is more akin to taking a file and buffing wheel to an old axle bolt rather than buying a replacement.  We actually did both and as I looked at the restored, shiny, but slightly distressed rear axle nut sitting next to a new, zinc plated item, I realized that this was one of the things that differentiated my bikes from other restos and customs.  Mike and I had a discussion on this yesterday as I was going over the 900SS headlight and wrestling with the issue of buffing vs. re-chroming. We agreed on the former and I think the slight patina of age will keep the bike grounded in its past.

But it’s all fun, although I’m much happier now that I have the design and sourcing behind me and I’m actually getting my hands dirty.

Patrick’s bevel is going to follow much the same formula, but with an aluminum 900SS tank and stainless hi-pipes.  In a bizarre twist of fate, it turns out that both bikes can trace their roots to the same owner….

Cue in the Twilight Zone theme…….

Content: 1987 Ducati 750 F1, 1974 Ducati 750 Sport Bevel Twin, loudbike

Comments

[Alex (rebelpacket)]

Ooooohhhh... USD forks on a old-schooler? Gawddamn, I cant wait to hear how this one rides...