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Vintage Ducati 250 Scramblers
Ducati 250 Scramblers are somewhat of an iconic bike, at least in my opinion. The simple lines and black and silver paint scheme makes these bikes truley unique. I was very fortunate to find one, then another and another. So, my plan is to restore them all to their original beauty and sell one to help finance, what my wife tells me is an addiction !
June 12, 2011
Today I was able to get the Scrambler fired-up and running. What a blast to ride. Still have some electric gremlins to work out, but that will come in time.
June 5, 2011
I fired-up my 250 Scrambler and rode it around - Wow, what a cool bike. I was goign to sell it, but this thing is just too cool. What a great sound it makes. I have replaced the original SSI carb with a square body VBH, which works great. I also put a scrambler muffler, which sounds a little more tame then the straight pipe that came original on these bikes. Still have a little work on the electrics and some mechanicals, but all-in-all, it is a blast to ride. I will post some videos soon.
December 12, 2010
Here are some pics of my 250 Scrambler with the rebuilt engine and gett it back together. I am playing around with different carbs. The SSI that I have although complete, needs to be rebuilt, so I am trying a square body VHB carb (used on the widcase bikes) and UBF 24, which is a little small for the larger scrambler valves. I also am going with a headpipe and short Silentium muffler, which is a little more subdued than the scrambler pipe sans muffler and higher handlebars. That's what so great about these bikes is you can pretty tailor them to your specific tastes. It looks like this bike will not be on the road until the spring.
March 29, 2010
Well, The engine runs and it's time to start the final assembly. The weather has not been too bad, so I am able to work outdoors. I'm going to set this one up with a CEV NOS headlight, which is not the original, but the key will arm the coil (connect the battery) and the light switch on top will be used for a low and high beam, so no external switch required. Also, the previous owner cut-off the exhaust pipe, but I found a new small muffler that fits and I think I will use it - also will help the new owner with their neighbors !
March 15, 2010
There is another Scrambler in the fold. I found this one in AZ and it is so dirty, but amazingly complete and original. The rear fender has been cut, and the headlight is not original, but the engine has not been mucked with and the seat/frame and rims are in great shape. I am going to take the engine from this one and use it on one of my restored frames. This frame, however, will be a candidate for another engine, as it is very complete. The tank is a keeper !
I have the wheels complete for Scrambler #2, which is the one I intend to keep. I have completed the wheels for a Bronco 125 project, so I am taking them to the local shop to get fitted for tires.
November 19, 2009
Both Scramblers are all painted and ready for final assembly. The seats have been professionally recovered and I have one set of wheels complete with new tires and another set of wheels ready to get tires mounted
Feb 6, 2009
The big brown truck stopped buy today and now may basement if full ! But that;s ok, since we still have 2 months of winter here in upsate NY.
Looking at the 3 Scramblers, they are all a bit different - very interesting. Th electrics are all different, I think I have one magneto system and 2 generator systems. Further investigation will be necessary.
I started taking 2 engines apart. I'm actaully not that smart, but there is a local "expert" who is hellping me with the internals of these narrowcase engines. Keeping track of all the parts, especially the shims, is a big part of the process.
Kickers - more than you'll want to know. It is interesting having 3 bikes, of the same model (theorically) made in probably 2-3 different years. The serial numbers are 84xxx, 92xxx and 93xxx. The kickers in the earlier model, 84xxx has a different kicker shaft than the later models do. All seem to suffer from the same thing - looks like after some very energized attempts to start the bikes, results is a out-of-round bushing and cracking around the case where the bushing goes.
More on this later...
February 7, 2009 - 3 Ducati 65-66 250 Scramblers (mostly)
February 22, 2009 - Working on wheels and engines !!
I was inspired by Tom Bailey's "Ducati Singles First Person" book and decided to follow his instructions to rebuild a set of wheels. I highly recommend this book as it has some great information and instructions for many things a restorer will need to know.
Here are some dirty nipples and after a bath in naval jelly, with agitation (this is my own technique) - ta da, clean nipples !
The spokes were cleaned and repainted, just liike the original
started the re-lacing process, following the procedure outlined in Tom's book. If you want to know how to do this, buy his book. It's worth it:
Engine work - When Scrambler #3's engine case was opened there were the remains of a little lizard creature - reminded me of the Geico commercials with the little Gekko...
I pulled the bearing out and then - off to the shop to be professionally cleaned !
March 14, 2009
Jamie - My oldest son, is home for a week from college, so like any Dad trys to do, I put him to work sand-blasting the seat pan for Scrambler #3. Good news - it is 50 degrees today and the sun is shinning !
We wired-up Matt's engine, using the great wiring diagram from Jim Frazen's Site (hooray for Jim and his attention to details on the all-mag version of the Ducati 250 Scrambler's !). So, once we sired it up, Matt pushed his kicker and We got Spark !!! It was so very exicitng...
Ok, so for Matt's reward, for my contribution to his engine, I let him washt eh frame of Scrambler #2
It's not very exciting, but - hey, it pays the rent...
May 10
Matt head to the prom on his restored 250 Scrambler (ok, not really, but he wanted to...). His bike is mostly put together, just a little wiring and some odds and ends.
Tanks for nuttin !! Well look here, there are 3 tanks all in various stages of repair. Interestingly enough, there appear to be 2 styles. Two tanks have 2 taps, one on each side and the other only has one. It could have been a repair, but doesn't look like it. I have had a local weld shop do some repairs, basically brazing to repair the holes. I also had them add a tap onto one side, where there was a hold. I only need 2 tanks, so I'll probably sell the one I do not use.
May 16, 2009
Electrics on these old bikes are very interesting. My son's Matt's will be setup with a full magneto-flywheel setup. The other 2 will have a battery. The one I plan on keeping using a rectifying diode to create DC current to charge the battery.
Here is the circuit board mounted with the diode. This is what it looked like initially.
October 24, 2009
After sanding, priming and a coat of siler lacquer, the three tanks are ready for the masking step. This is a real pain in the neck to try to get the curves smooth. The tanks look cool in silver though:
November 14, 2009
All painted, drying like Italian salami !
The bike is starting to come together. I have to decide what handlebar to use - I bought 2 new ones, crusier style, road style or stay with the original scrambler ones with the cross bar. Also, I am thinking of using a chrome CEV headlight instead of the original Aprilia (see in the background).
The seats were done by a craftsman, Jim Wright at Liberty Canvas in East Rochester, NY
contact me: tony@coolitalianbikes.com
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