Ducati Cucciolo

[surviverguy]

Front brakes are a definate- must have. Rear brakes are more of an option, but better to have rear brakes than not have rear brakes. Rear brakes only= disaster waiting to happen.
The problem with rear drum brakes is they are so heavy. Hubs for rear brakes add lots of weight compaired to other options.
When I was a bicycle courier many years ago- I built a rear wheel with a drum hub for better braking in the rain. That rear wheel was so heavy that I returned all the parts to the bicycle shop and never tried that again.
Braking wise- the best setup I ever had with a tenspeed type frame had mountain bike forks with cantaliever brakes attached to the forks. For hard braking- I'd raise myself up off the seat and move my weight rearwards as far as possible to keep the back tire on the ground.
A rear brake only setup will lockup the rear and skid and never stop quickly enough.

[surviverguy]

In the rain, a rear fender (mudgaurd) is a must have- to keep your backside dry. The front mudgaurd isn't needed as much. That's why I always used a small plastic rear mudgaurd and never used one on the front.

[Guest]

Hey Pete the mock up looks awesome! Seeing it all together, even in the rough, still looks pretty sweet.

I totally agree about your ideas for the paint, the blue blue frame with white detail and mudfenders is gonna look really sharp. Also the tank done in white would make a good contrast to the darker frame.

My only criticism would be regarding the wheels. I kinda think they should be cleaned up nice and left as the alloy (not polished though). Painted wheels would be a bit too much, and leave the motor the only metal on the bike, would look strange I think.

As far as brakes I'm afraid I'm not much help, but you should definitely have two of them

Cheers Tim, I do think that paint scheme will work, although I'm thinking I'll keep the tank how they were which I believe is silver.

Now that you mention it I'm not 100% sold on the wheel paint and I've seen some painted and others clean steel... I'm just not sure how easy it's going to be to keep the steel clean and rust free.

Front brakes are a definate- must have. Rear brakes are more of an option, but better to have rear brakes than not have rear brakes. Rear brakes only= disaster waiting to happen.
The problem with rear drum brakes is they are so heavy. Hubs for rear brakes add lots of weight compaired to other options.
When I was a bicycle courier many years ago- I built a rear wheel with a drum hub for better braking in the rain. That rear wheel was so heavy that I returned all the parts to the bicycle shop and never tried that again.
Braking wise- the best setup I ever had with a tenspeed type frame had mountain bike forks with cantaliever brakes attached to the forks. For hard braking- I'd raise myself up off the seat and move my weight rearwards as far as possible to keep the back tire on the ground.
A rear brake only setup will lockup the rear and skid and never stop quickly enough.

Yeah I'm not sold on only a drum rear brake, but putting any sort of rim brake on the front is a no go. The rims won't take that at all and they're not period correct either.

For the front, it's either a drum or a rod brake, and something tells me a rod brake on the front and drum on the rear isn't going to be hugely better than just a drum on the back.

Mind you, given most of its time will be idling and sitting it's not as big an issue as it would be if I actually planned on riding it regularly...

In the rain, a rear fender (mudgaurd) is a must have- to keep your backside dry. The front mudgaurd isn't needed as much. That's why I always used a small plastic rear mudgaurd and never used one on the front.

This thing is never gonna get ridden in the rain, but does have both guards

[Guest]

I may have a lead on drum brakes front and rear and some suitable forks... just gotta wait for a guy on the bicycle forum to check his storage shed this week.

It's looking highly unlikely I'll end up with anything fancy like girder forks now as they're just too damn expensive if you can find them, but that's fine by me... as long as it's authentic I'll be happy

So, seeing as I can't do anything else, I did a typical dodgy Pete GIMP job to get an idea of how my paint idea will work with the available decals:



I think it'll look pretty good

[cowboyup3371]

Wow Pete it's coming right along

[landshark]

I like the colours mate, but how about getting rid of the "old man going to the shops handlebars" and going for something more along the lines of a boardtracker?

Just my opinion obviously!

[Guest]

Wow Pete it's coming right along

Haha dunno about that Scott... the engine case bolted on there is just the case... nothing inside... I really need to get some progress on it! But collecting the parts is proving interesting at the moment...

I like the colours mate, but how about getting rid of the "old man going to the shops handlebars" and going for something more along the lines of a boardtracker?

Just my opinion obviously!

Yeah not decided on 'bars yet Tim, those are what's on it now and I think they're gonna prove troublesome once I add brake levers, then try to add the clutch lever and throttle/compression release lever as well... more thought needed on that one yet!

[razor02097]

I like the paint scheme also.

One thing about those handlebars... Aren't they up side down?

[Guest]

Thanks mate, yeah I reckon it'll work out well

Technically they're upside down, but it was a common thing to do when you had a racer but wanted a roadster... there wasn't the same availability of different 'bars back then and they certainly weren't as cheap or easy to get as now.

I'm more than likely going to change them out for something a little easier to work with down the track...

[Guest]

Well, no progress as such but I did get the drum brakes yesterday.

Front drum is used but very good condition, manufactured October 1965:



Rear drum is NOS, never been mounted on a wheel, manufactured May 1946:



So, the whole project is basically at a standstill at the moment.

I haven't been able to source any suitable forks yet, one potential pair only has appeared on eBay but the seller doesn't answer questions so I let them go.

If I don't find some soon, I am seriously contemplating making some springer type forks along the lines of what this guy has done using some mountain bike shocks and triple clamp style forks:

http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=42961

While it won't be authentic from the era, it will at least fit in with the fact that there wasn't so much off-the-shelf equipment back then and you had to use your hands to make what you needed as often as not.

Aside from all that, I am at the point of needing to blast the Ducati cases and bicycle frame etc. but to do that I need somewhere to do it.

I'm currently planning a new shed which will accomodate blasting and spraying hopefully, so that's really gonna put the skids on this for a while.

[john82q]

motorised bicycle

Hey Pete,


have you seen this site?

http://zbox.com.au/index.htm

Since summers coming and the sidecar counterweight is bigger than ever I started a health kick and dusted off the treadly. Anyways while I was puffing along the bike path, a group of teenagers went screaming by trailing a cloud of two stroke. (seems somethings never change) anyway I caught them up a bit latter, and I quizzed them re the legality of it all. Seems recently the law that sidelined mopeds in the 90s has been altered. You can have a motorised bicycle, and as long as its output is less than 200W no need to worry about those pesky ADRs, and rego.

Dont know what power the mighty Cucciolo puts out, but you now know what to tell the cop...

Cheers John

Thinking might have quick fang this weekend, up for it?

[Guest]

Very interesting indeed John! Although looking further at the "Legislation" link reveals this:

A motorised bicycle is a bicycle to which an electric motor is attached. The motor must not be capable of generating more than 200 watts of power. It is illegal to ride a bicycle on roads or road-related areas (such as paths) if the bicycle has an internal combustion engine (for example, a petrol or diesel motor) attached.

ADR's still apply for the little Duc

Oh well, maybe I could join the DOC or something down the track?

Actually that reminds me... a week or two ago driving with my wife down Settlement Rd we were literally surrounded by old Ducati's and going by their hi-vis vests it was the Ducati Owners Club Motogiro event heading up to Mt Nebo. That'd be an interesting trip on the little puppy!

And as per my SMS, next Saturday looks the go for sure! Will find out if it's 7am or 8am...

[landshark]

I was up Tamborine last weekend and there was a lot of BSA's. I dont know what for, but there was some nice old bikes.

[Steveb64]

i did a trick trying to decarbon a piston. i had tryed every thing i could think of but nothing would cut the carbon. till i tryed glass cleaner for a corn/wood stove. it cut the carbon fast and clean. the only thing that i had to do was oil every thing to stop rusting.

Aerosol 'gasket stripper' (I used CRC - available in NZ - don't know about the rest of the world...) works wonders on carboned up pistons too! Used it to clean the pistons on my V6 3.5 Mitsi Montero at Christmas when I had to do the head gaskets. They cleaned up a treat!

[Steveb64]

Very interesting indeed John! Although looking further at the "Legislation" link reveals this:



ADR's still apply for the little Duc

Oh well, maybe I could join the DOC or something down the track?

Actually that reminds me... a week or two ago driving with my wife down Settlement Rd we were literally surrounded by old Ducati's and going by their hi-vis vests it was the Ducati Owners Club Motogiro event heading up to Mt Nebo. That'd be an interesting trip on the little puppy!

And as per my SMS, next Saturday looks the go for sure! Will find out if it's 7am or 8am...

Pete - a handy site to check is www.ducati.ms - they have a Vintage section - and there's a bunch of pretty clued up guys on the site, who are generally very willing to help out - either with info and/or parts.

I know they'd appreciate your rebuild tale and pictures too!