ducatipaso.org

hello all. i've been a member here for a while, but only posted a few questions years back. thought some of you might be interested to see my 1990 sport build. i bought this bike in about 2000 with 1500 original miles on it and absolutely pristine. over the next few years i rode it pretty hard, putting it down at speed in the process. damage was mostly cosmetic. the only real casualty was the tank, which was functional but pretty well trashed, and my left thumb, which has never been the same since i hyper-extended it going over the bars. i partially restored it (the bike) but finally decided to bite the bullet about five years ago and do a frame-off rebuild. since these things have never been especially valuable or desirable, i had no qualms about modifying it some. and i had other bikes to ride in the meantime, which explains the delay.

anyway, about the bike. i've always thought the sport was so close, but a near miss stylistically. and i've always wanted a tt or f1 (i love the endurance look), so i was shooting for something similar. i'm still looking for bodywork which really turns me on, but i haven't seen it yet. i've tried f1 and yamaha gp fairings, and they just don't do it for me. figure i'll ride it naked this season and do my own custom glass next winter.

what i've done to it:

- frame stripped, rear footpeg hangers cut off, repainted.
- custom solo tailsection with storage.
- custom solo saddle adapted from an old corbin. cuz it's so damn comfy.
- custom fuel tank. fiberglass and vinyl ester. i have no idea how many hours i have into this.
- fuelab low pressure regulator (don't bother with a holly), dynotune fuel pressure gauge, jiffy-tite quick-release valved fittings, braided lines, etc.
- innovate motorsports lc-1 stoichometric gauge. you can see the o2 sensor peeking out from behind the rear brake lever, and the controller sitting below the frame rail beside the rear brake reservoir. incidentally if anyone does this, make sure you get the kit from dynotune. their gauges are soooo much better than the one sold by innovate. nice kit otherwise.
- oil cooler from an 848/1098. kinda overkill, and i figure i'll have to louver it so it doesn't overcool.
- braided oil lines. still gotta cut them down to the right length.
- dynotune oil temperature gauge.
- 4.5 aux venturies, miscellaneous jets, and open stacks on the weber. the airbox is completely gone. oil catch/rebreather box is still there with a k&n filter on the end that once communicated with the airbox. i have not tested this setup at speed to know what it does to induction. i'll let you know. but god it sounds good. and i won't hear anyone say anything bad about the weber. it's a beautiful device. just about the best carburetor on the planet. one thing i've always been suspicious about (and mike at pierce manifolds agrees) is the orientation of the float: it's hinged on one side, so if you're just tooling around town subjecting the bike to side-loads, float level will vary, but if you're cornering reasonably hard all the time (as you should be on a ducati), float level should remain pretty consistent. you might wonder why i did so much to the fuel system when i coulda just swapped out for a pair of mikunis. because mikunis aren't italian of course. and because the weber sounds like nothing else.

incidentally, if you've never seen it, check out claude lelouche's rendezvous for some good ferrari sounds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... Ag9fg_523k
can't seem to find the whole video on youtube.

- vented clutch cover. because it's awesome.
- $100 worth of cafe megaphones from ebay. a little louder than i'd like, but between them and the weber and the clutch rattle, this bike sounds like a million dollars.
- hella 500 driving lights. not exactly street legal.
- lots of custom wiring.
- road rash on the front brake lever/reservoir. totally custom.
- battlax on the front, 180 goldwing tire on the rear. oh well. i won't be racing it anyway, and i do love the original wheels. i made some spacers to move the chainline out, but didn't end up using them. it ended up pretty close. someone on this site mentions that a 130/70 on the front makes a difference. it does. it's certainly not as good as what you can get on a 17" rim these days, but it does make life less scary. on the subject of goldwing tires: the rubber they got these days is damn good, so unless you're putting your bike on a track, there's really no need to complain about traction. our problem is one of tire profile/handling.

anyway, like i say, i'll prolly take it down next winter and do a bunch of things that i've neglected. looking into the possibility of doing heads/cams or putting in a 900. but not anytime soon. and there's still lots of little details (like mirrors) to wrap up before i can stop thinking about all this and do some riding. i'll keep you posted.

ian.

1974 yamaha xs650
1986 moto guzzi 650 lario
1990 ducati 750 sport
2001 bmw gs 650 dakar

Thanks for sharing Ian,

Would you be able to load up some more pictures to the site if you have them, your Sport looks very interesting indeed to say the least and would love to see it from different angles

Cheers

Peter

I love this thing...needs GT's but

2 great Sport cafe racers in a couple of days.As the others have said,more photos please

Cheers
Andrew

Ian,
Resurrection indeed. Maybe not Frankenstein, but certainly some aggressive looks to it. I like your style. Very nice. I agree that the Sport makes a damn fine naked bike. That's the direction I am heading with my next build. Its got such a good looking frame, it should be shown off. A also agree with your oil cooler, as I am using the same one in the same place on my next build. The braided lines look great. What fittings and hose did you use? The tank and seat look good together. What color are you going to paint it? That is a huge amount of work right there.

You may want to remove the sticker from the fork leg, as its in the range of travel and will foul your seals.

Nice project. Thanks for sharing. I see I need to get busy in the shop and post some photos of my build.

Cheers, Phil

Thanks again to the site Moderators for adding the Sport page a few years back. Some really good stuff here.

ducinthebay wrote:Nice project. Thanks for sharing. I see I need to get busy in the shop and post some photos of my build.

Cheers, Phil

Indeed you do Phil.How about some teaser photos

Cheers
Andrew

ducinthebay wrote:Its got such a good looking frame, it should be shown off.

I was just thinking the same. The Sport frame's even prettier than the F1 as it comes without the clunky centrestand lugs. The more I look at my bike the prettier it gets.

ducinthebay wrote:Thanks again to the site Moderators for adding the Sport page a few years back. Some really good stuff here.

Well said. I think the Sport is one of the most significant bikes Ducati built (Ian Walker says the same in his book), and it's nice that the cognoscenti have a place to go.

thanks for all the comments. the encouragement is much appreciated. that last 5% of a project is always the most work.

btw peter, that's a nice looking machine you've got there too. i considered doing a classic 70's ss fairing, but decided against it as i already have a couple retro bikes: my guzzi has an original agostini full fairing. unfortunately i tore it down this winter in anticipation of being finished with the duck, and i don't seem to have any good pictures of it. attached is one that's almost identical to mine. except much shinier. i might do a solo tailsection on this one too. i just don't like passengers.

unfortunately there will be no more images right away. it's cold here in colorado with spring snow storms blowing through, so i tore everything apart again to address a bunch of details. i'll take some pics as i put it all back together this week. supposed to be nicer this weekend, so i was hoping to having it on the street by then.

phil: it gets painted red of course. do they make paint in other colors? i do love this frame too. i only regret that i didn't cut off more stuff when i had the chance, like that pesky mount tab for the helmet lock.

oil lines and fittings are all fragola an-8. the stock hose id is about the same as a -6, but the od is more like a -8. and i'd rather not restrict flow any more than i have to. i was a little conflicted about using non-metric hardware, but i got over that pretty quickly: it just ended up being so much easier to adapt to an fittings than to find all the right metric ones. the key is the -8 to 14mm adaptor:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/fra-460814-bl

this same fitting is used in both the case and the oil cooler. an-8 everywhere in between. i used a 30 degree hose end to angle the hoses away from the exhaust a bit. shoulda used a 15 degree fitting, but they were on backorder and i was impatient. i'm not terribly happy with how all this turned out. my main gripe being that i couldn't find the fittings i wanted with gauge ports, so there ended up being lots of fittings for a fairly short run of hose. it all became pretty bulky and awkward. next winter i'll probably redo this and put gauge ports into fittings where i want them. that'll at least get rid of two fittings. i promise i'll post pics soon.

thank you moderators me too. this site is incredibly valuable. as much for the people, as for the information. good to meet you all. it's so hard to find someone who'll listen to a ducatista when he's fired up.

on that note, i feel like i gotta pontificate a little here: i guess it's a generational thing having grown up in the 80's (i'm 38 years old), but for me ducati means rubber-band, 2-valve, air/oil cooled motors. period. simple bodywork, chromoly frames, minimalist, functional, raw. race machines as i knew them as a little kid. and the 750 sport is one of only a very few of that breed. i feel very lucky to have mine. even 4-valves is too much of a departure for me. and don't talk about water cooling. the 851/888 doesn't really do anything for me. i mean, maybe if someone wanted to GIVE me one...

don't get me wrong. the old bevel heads are soooo sexy, and the 916 was stylistically almost perfect. but for me the 2v bikes represent the pinnacle of motorcycling: ducati had finally figured out how to build a chassis, making the first truly modern motorcycle, but they were still simple enough that a privateer could both ride and wrench on his own bike and be competitive. by the mid 90's technology had made even greater gains, but the skills and equipment required to build, race, and maintain a bike became too much for any one person. everyone became super specialized, and something had been lost.

ah well. i sound like an old man pining for some golden age of yore. suffice to say that i agree: the 750 sport is one of ducati's all-time best bikes. 16" rims notwithstanding. years ago when i walked into my local bike shop and saw this bike, i knew within about five seconds that i would own it. and when i was in dire financial straits recently and my mom suggested that i sell "that motorcycle in your garage," i politely made it clear to her that she wasn't to say such things ever again. i did compromise with my girlfriend by moving it out of the living room, but then this bike has outlasted several girlfriends.

ian.

the finn wrote: thank you moderators me too. this site is incredibly valuable. as much for the people, as for the information. good to meet you all. it's so hard to find someone who'll listen to a ducatista when he's fired up.

ducinthebay wrote:Thanks again to the site Moderators for adding the Sport page a few years back. Some really good stuff here.

And Daniel's comment as well, thank you.

Ian, I like the way you think

the finn wrote:
thank you moderators me too. this site is incredibly valuable. as much for the people, as for the information. good to meet you all. it's so hard to find someone who'll listen to a ducatista when he's fired up.

on that note, i feel like i gotta pontificate a little here: i guess it's a generational thing having grown up in the 80's (i'm 38 years old), but for me ducati means rubber-band, 2-valve, air/oil cooled motors. period. simple bodywork, chromoly frames, minimalist, functional, raw. race machines as i knew them as a little kid. and the 750 sport is one of only a very few of that breed. i feel very lucky to have mine. even 4-valves is too much of a departure for me. and don't talk about water cooling. the 851/888 doesn't really do anything for me. i mean, maybe if someone wanted to GIVE me one...

don't get me wrong. the old bevel heads are soooo sexy, and the 916 was stylistically almost perfect. but for me the 2v bikes represent the pinnacle of motorcycling: ducati had finally figured out how to build a chassis, making the first truly modern motorcycle

great to see a ducatista all fired up about his machine, nice bike, nice work (what a great hobby this is)

but...in my opinion the pinnacle of the rubber-band ducati was in the late 80s early 90s...what a great time that was, shure, the 'sport' was a good step in the right direction, but 16" wheels, weak swingarm and 70s grunt, while the japs were going ahead by leaps and bounds.

1988 the start of the SBK comp and the year ducati pulled a rabbit out of the motorcycling hat, the 851 was born, water cooled, 4 valves and fuel injection...for once ducati had serious grunt to keep up with the 4cyl jap 750s, and what a show that was, production bikes on the track, so much better than the GP...standing at turn one (phillip island) ducatis flying past followed by that booming thunder that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, they were great years for the ducati marque.
the 851/888 than paved the way for the 916 and so on...

...just my 2 cents worth

i do have to backtrack a little on what i just said above: one of my dream projects is to put a 916 motor into a 750 sport frame: cut off every last superfluous bit, make it as light as conceivably possible, and do some custom, minimalist, semi-retro half-fairing (fiberglass is fun, and as much as i like the 916, i don't care for a fully dressed bike). then squeeze everything i can out of the motor. think a modern update to the tt2. 2-into-1 megaphone. 320 pounds and 120 horsepower. i'm salivating.

i guess it's not so much a particular configuration of bike that i object to, but the commoditization of motorcycles in general: i grew up in my dad's garage with a bunch of euro-snob grease-monkeys. and amongst that set you didn't buy a bike if you didn't know how to turn a wrench. but most bikes these days are not built to be serviced by the owner. i love my bmw gs. it's a fantastic ride. but i don't like to work on it. it's positively discouraging to do anything to it. accessing the battery requires the removal of half a dozen screws and two plastic body panels. changing the oil is a two-hour affair. i guess what i'm saying is that sometime in the mid 90's motorcycles stopped being quite as accessible. manufacturers started wrapping everything in plastic. you need a manual to figure out how to disassemble anything. wiring has quadrupled in complexity. sure, most bikes run and handle way better today than they used to. but not THAT much better. and they're just not as cool. ironically, no dealer will actually work on my 74 yamaha, which is the simplest bike i own.

ian.