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UPDATED June 25, 2017
Pics of the 2 Diana 250's, both engine spark, no the next step is to complete the wiring and fire them up!
UPDATED January 21, 2017
The 5-speed Diana get's its own Page, Ducati 250 Mark 3 Restoration while the 2 4-speeds 250 Diana's are on this page
UPDATED November 26, 2016
Here are pics of 2 4-speed Ducati Diana's, a 1961 250 Diana and 1963-ish 250 Diana Mark 3. The 1961 was a complete bike which I had repaint. This one has a lot of the hard to find stuff like M. Baruzzo rims with double butt spokes. Original Diana seat and clipon's. Also note the number extra lug on the frame under the seat, which was unique to the 1961 versions.
UPDATED January 24, 2016
Working on the seat of both the Diana and the Falcon. The rubber material is still a little pliable so a little stitching and duct tape will hold it together, then off to an upholsterer for a new cover.
January 3, 2016
Starting the assembly process of the Diana 250 and Diana 250 Mark 3. I am in search of a pancake headlight,trying to find an original, but they are so hard to find.
UPDATED July 14, 2015
I had all the parts painted - they came really well. The color was a little darker blue than the original, but that's ok. The next part will be to rebuild the wheels and start putting this all together.
UPDATED March 30, 2014
I had the fenders painted, which came out very well. Here are the 3 front fenders, the Diana 250 Mark 3 4-speed on the left, which is the same as the 250 Scrambler. The one in the middle is the Diana 250 4-speed, same as the 250 Monza. The one on the right is the coveted 250 Mark 3/Mach 1 fender. As you can see the Mach 1 fender is slightly narrower than the Monza.
UPDATED March 11, 2012
The bike is pretty much disassembled and ready for paint. I decided to take apart the rear shocks so I can polish the lower aluminum covers and have the upper covers painted. There are several techniques for taking these apart and I found that using a furniture clamp works best. Here are some pic of the process - it is pretty self explanatory
UPDATED February 5, 2012
Started breaking down the Flower power bike for rebuild. Here are some pics of taking the wheels apart. The reason I am breaking down the wheels is that the early Diana 250's and the Diana 250 Mark 3 both have M Baruzzo chrome rims, which are getting increaingly hard to find along with the butted spokes. My Flower Power bike had it's M Baruzzo rims painted. I am planning on sending them to a chrome shop for plating back to the original condition.
Here is a rim that I laced up with the butted spokes. I was lucky to find a set of rims for my Diana 250 Mark 3, I am hoping the chrome shop does a nice job and that the M Baruzzo stamping is visible after the new chrom.
UPDATED October 29, 2011
Don't you love this paint work ? I have to imagine it is from the 1960's or most likely early 1970's. Got the 4-speed Diana 1963 250 running, with the help of Dave (dave@db-cycles.com) the guy really knows his stuff and I am luck to have him in the area (real nice person too). Put a set of clipon's on, which I believe came on some of these bikes.
UPDATED April 4, 2011
M. Baruzzo wheels
These Diana's featured chromed steel rims by M. Baruzzo, which are really hard to find, since they were not used on too many bikes. They are very narrow, 1.6 inch wide for 2.00-2.50 tires.
Here are some pics. Now all I need is the special spokes. The Diana 250 spokes are the "high performance" variety, 3.5mm at the ends and 3.0mm in the center of the shaft. The hub is a 7-fin Grimeca hub.
UPDATED March 11, 2011
Diana 250 4-speed "in-between"
I got the tank back from a local craftsman who repaired the tank ear to perfection. I sprayed a little primer on it to protect from rust. I figured I would put the tank on the other Diana and through a couple of fenders on it. I also put the clip-ons and am waiting to a smooth crown triple tree clamp. It's looking like a real motorcycle - an in-between 4-speed Diana and Diana Mark 3 ! I am now thinking I will put the flower-power bike back together and then use these bits for a Ducati 250 Diana Mark 3, which will need a scrambler front fender.
UPDATED January 30, 2011
Diana Tanks and Clip-ons
With record snow and cold in the Northeast this winter, there has not been much action in my garage. Tough I have been busy scrounging parts and it's interesting how one thing leads to another. I found another Diana 4.5 Lt tank which is in really good original shape, except for one of the mounting ears. I also found a set of reproduction clipons that look really like the original, except for the levers.
Here is the tank I just bought and the one from the flower-power Diana
Interesting that the under side of the tanks were different. I was hoping that the one was an really really rare 250 F3 tank, but the experts tell me it is just a variation in design, common in the 1960's with Ducati. Most likely the flower-power tank is from an early Diana and the other is from a later one, maybe a 4-speed Diana Mark 3 which was only made for a few years before Ducati came out with the 5-speed. Nevertheless, these tanks are so cool and it will be a blast getting these 2 bikes together this winter and spring
Here are some pics of the clipon's from http://www.motocicliveloci.it/ These guys are a real class act. I ordered with paypal and 4 days later that big brown truck showed-up with the box. Not cheap, but nothing of value is ever cheap. I had to file down a lever to get it to fit (broke my heart to do this) and I am not happy with the fit, so I am thinking I will get an expert to do a quality job.
The levers that came with the clipons on the left and the lever I want to use on the right
UPDATED August 14, 2010
DIRTY DIANA !!!!
Well the stuck engine was pretty dirty, fortunately not too hard to free. I honed the cylinder and are working to free the rings, no damage so far so I am hoping to re-use everything. Con rod has a bit of play, not too bad so I think I'm going to try to get it running as-is.
UPDATED August 7, 2010
This is the project I am going for - 2 bikes 48 years later (although at my speed, if will be 50 years later !). These are 4-speed Diana and Monza.
The "famous" Ducati postcard from crica 1962
And here is my starting point !
(thanks to Matt and Julianna for posing)
UPDATED August 3, 2010
This is my recent conquest on ebay. The owner had it for so long, he forgot where he got it from ! I thought I paid a fair price for this and it is a great starting point for a 1961 Ducuati 250 Diana. This is really cool old Italian motorcycle stuff...
Really wild paint job !
Here are some more pics. Engine is stuck, but seems to be all there. The important parts - sheet metal, tank fenders, headlight and the very rare Diana seat. There are a few attributes that identify this bike as a Diana (1) low engine serial number, 4-speed 250 (2) 7-fin hubs, (3) 4.5 Liter gas tank, (4) Unique skinny Diana seat (5) My wife's middle name is Diane, which is english for the Italian Diana (at least that's what I'd like to think...)
A few more things to point out about the early Diana's: 150mm Aprilia headlight which was also used on the mark 3 and mach 1 bikes. Also, the foil says D250 (Diana 250), as oppose to M250 (Monza 250). The carb is a Dellorto 24 UBF and the muffler is a Silentium, which was pretty much the standard for all Ducati single bikes.
October 2009
This is a 1961 Ducati Diana Project. How is it a 1961, becasue that's the model year I am going to try to restore this thing to ! I have a 4-speed engine coming and are searching pretty much everything else...
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