If you know your Ducati/Cagiva history you understand the title.
I drove up to Canada to pick this up. I could have just bought one in Texas (that was clean!) and saved myself a bunch on gas, but this particular Duck has a special place in my heart and a bunch of mods I have neither the time, nor money to repeat on another bike. I was not expecting it to be quite so dirty, but I know exactly what’s under all the dust and rust, so I sucked it up and didn’t try to negotiate the already great price.
My buddy bought this bike new in 1992 and drove down to the USA to pick it up in the crate. He let me drive it while still on break-in and after almost flipping it over at the first intersection (first time with a hydraulic clutch) I immediately fell in love with the mechanical mayhem that is the air cooled Desmodromic engine when coupled to an open dry clutch and full floating brakes. Ya gotta love it when you pull into a coffee shop parking lot and every wannabe mechanic within earshot comes running up to try and diagnose what’s wrong with your bike because it sounds like a hand full of bolts in a washing machine next to a ringing rotary phone… because it’s running perfectly!
Early in its life there were some electrical issues that were addressed and then with about 19,000 miles on the ticker the stator exploded sending shrapnel everywhere. Rather than just rebuild it the owner backed a truckload of money up to it and hit the dump button. The result is one of the sweetest street legal bikes I’ve ever ridden.
To kick off the build he bought a lightened Falicon crankshaft and Carrillo rods, then the entire engine and every nut and bolt in it was sent to Sub-Zero for cryogenic treatment. Next the heads and shortened intake runners went to Extrude Hone for pressurized abrasive paste porting. The cylinders were punched out to 944cc and 12.5 to 1 pistons were installed. All moving engine parts were coated with moly ceramic before reassembly and a set of 41mm Keihin flat slides were stuffed into the frame rails. The final bolt on was a full D&D exhaust system with carbon fiber cans. Today it has just over 21,000 miles on the clock and not a single engine bearing has over 3,000 miles on it.
The bike has been dyno tested twice since the mods. The result of the last dyno pull was a tick under 92hp and 80 pounds of torque at the rear wheel. That may not sound like much to today’s liter bike crowd, but to put it into perspective this engine came out of the factory with only 65hp and 53 pounds of torque at the wheel. Not bad for a 24 year old, carbureted, 2 valve, air cooled, twin with vintage status.
With the engine done he went to work on some other items with handling and weight loss being the goals. An 851 battery box was modified to fit and many other subtle changes were made to accommodate the intake, air filter, brake and suspension changes. Carbon fiber and aluminum trinkets replaced steel and plastic parts on the engine and chassis. An RC30 front brake master, Kevlar lines and full floating cast iron Brembos discs, a Corbin seat, an Ohlin shock and re-sprung forks with a Gold valve kit replaced stock parts. It total over 37 pounds was shaved off the stock bike bringing the curb weight down to 403 pounds and I intend to take another 5 pounds off with a lithium ion battery.
I’m told that the only other mods that can be done to one of these are TI con rods, full race cams, a lightened stator and welding the exhaust ports solid and machining them at a straighter angle, all of which would render the bike to a track only toy, so in other words there is nothing left for me to screw with and that’s not a bad thing given all the other unfinished projects I have.
He parked the bike in 2006, coated everything in grease and oil and left it sit... without a cover as you can seeFast forward 8 years and I plan to rebuild the carbs, change the timing belts and tires, replace the now deteriorated Kevlar lines with braided stainless, check the valves (after I learn how to do it) and install an Antigravity lithium battery. The cast iron discs will need a bead blasting before they are matched up to new pads as well.
I should mention that I crashed the bike right after the mods were done in the late 90’s? The good news is the guy in the van that turned in front of me and fled the scene was found 100% responsible, so his insurance covered the extensive repairs and as (almost) always yours truly walked away without a scratch. I rarely crash anything twice, so this is the perfect bike for me as the calcium starts to leach out of my aging bones.
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Originally Posted by stoshu
