Ducati 650 “Von Tracker” – BikeBound

Ducati Indiana 650 Tracker from Francis Von Tuto…  

Launched in 1986, the Ducati Indiana was one thing of an odd machine: a Cagiva-made, Ducati-powered cruiser whose 650cc Pantah V-twin boasted a racing pedigree:

“The Pantah engine owes its origins to 2 earlier racing engines: a 1970 Fabio Taglioni-designed (bevel-drive) SOHC 500cc GP race motor and a 4-valve (belt-drive) DOHC 500cc V-twin designed for Ducati by Renato Amaroli beneath Taglioni’s supervision.” –Motorbike Classics

Within the early Nineteen Eighties, Ducati had been in a foul means financially. Their sportbikes had been costly to make and their government-backed house owners had been planning get out of the bike enterprise altogether till fellow Italian model Cagiva swooped in to avoid wasting them, buying the corporate.

The Indiana was the primary Cagiva-Ducati joint venture, and it was meant to take a chew out of the profitable cruiser market and get the corporate again on its toes. The Indiana itself was a industrial failure — it will take the introduction of the Monster in 1993 for Ducati to strike a mighty gross sales success — however the Indiana stays an attention-grabbing bike nonetheless, an 80s non-Harley cruiser with an unique powerplant.

Enter our good friend Francesco of Francis Von Tuto Moto Works — one of many world’s top-flight builders, who relocated from Australia to his native metropolis of Florence, Italy, in 2021. Francesco knew Italy could be a a lot harder place to make a dwelling as a customized bike builder, however household comes first for the Florentine builder:

“Typically I immediately get up at evening, and once I see my spouse and my child subsequent to me I do know that there’s nothing extra vital than what I’ve already bought… So ultimately, even when I needed to begin from the underside once more, I’m nonetheless within the customized bike world, nonetheless receiving invites to bike reveals, and nonetheless constructing cool stuff. That is what counts. Interval!”

Amen to that. And we’ve got to say we’re rattling pleased to have Francesco again with a brand new construct. It’s a little bit of a departure from his regular builds — a tough and hard tracker constructed from an ’87 Ducati Indiana that spent the final decade in a college professor’s backyard shed:

“For as soon as I needed a customized bike which I wouldn’t care if I scratched it or it falls off the stand or I crash it… a motorcycle I can rapidly restore nevertheless it’s nonetheless bought balls and appears rad. A enjoyable bike…”

Highlights embrace spoked aluminum wheels, XJR rear units, one-piece tracker tail and seat pan with BF Tappezzerie saddle, entrance quantity plate, Öhlins rear shocks, a set of Dell’Orto 36mm carbs, and a few slash-cut straight pipes:

“Simply to verify nobody says, ‘Sorry mate I didn’t hear you coming…’”

Sadly, throughout the bike’s first outing on the El Rollo flat monitor race throughout the annual Wheels & Waves Competition, Francesco ended up with two damaged ribs. So the “Von Tracker” is being transitioned right into a road tracker, and a number of street-legal mods are coming down the pike.

“Undoubtedly trying ahead to having enjoyable on the streets of Tuscany or wherever we resolve to go…”

Francesco, we’re simply pleased to have you ever again within the pages of BikeBound, and we look ahead to seeing what wheels out of your workshop subsequent.

Ducati 650 Tracker: Builder Interview

• Please inform us a bit about your self, your historical past with bikes, and your workshop.

It has been over a 12 months since my final characteristic on BikeBound, looks like a lifetime!

These are unusual occasions around the globe and I’ve felt the the necessity to ponder about my present state of affairs and life basically…

As you understand in Could ‘21, I moved again to Firenze, my hometown, and began a small customized bike lab. The Italian customized bike scene has positively bought totally different numbers in comparison with Down Beneath, however I certainly didn’t go away Australia for work causes. As an alternative I did it for my household, so when it was time to place every part on a scale and select what was finest for me, I accepted the truth that relocating FVT in Italy would have been a step (perhaps two…) backwards.

I’ve had many individuals speaking me by way of the “do it and the don’t do it,” however In the long run I made my very own decisions. Just lately I’ve determined (not and not using a heavy coronary heart) to cut back the customized bike actions, downsizing my workshop and addressing my fingers and experience to a gentle revenue.

Typically it occurs that I immediately get up at evening, and once I see my spouse and my child subsequent to me I do know that there’s nothing extra vital than what I’ve already bought, for every part else if I feel on the future I solely see clean pages to fill day-to-day.

So ultimately even when I needed to begin from the underside once more I’m nonetheless within the customized bike world, nonetheless receiving invites to bike reveals, and nonetheless constructing cool stuff. That is what counts. Interval!

• What’s the make, mannequin, and 12 months of the bike?

It’s a 1987 Ducati Indiana 650. When you haven’t heard about it earlier than don’t fear, even in Italy isn’t very well-known.

• Why was this bike constructed?

The query is: why did you purchase it Frankie?!?

Properly, I shouldn’t since I have already got too many…however I at all times look out for bikes to change and this got here to me fairly simply since a professor from the College of Florence used to personal it and it was solely half an hour away from me.

It was saved in a reasonably tough backyard shed for over 10 years, nevertheless it was surprisingly nicely saved due to being meticulously coated in cling wrap. The primary concept was to make a chopper since I have already got a inflexible body appropriate for the venture…

• What was the design idea and what influenced the construct?

As I’ve stated, it was imagined to be reworked right into a inflexible however because it was in pretty fine condition regardless of the age and mileage, I’ve determined to not modify the body — and the again finish actually suited the tracker tail so…

Additionally for as soon as I needed a customized bike which I wouldn’t care if I scratched it or it falls off the stand or I crash it… a motorcycle I can rapidly restore nevertheless it’s nonetheless bought balls and appears rad. A enjoyable bike…

So a tracker was good and the concept of creating a freaking cool one with out utilizing a Sportster as a donor actually resonated in my head, the Pantah engine is fairly handsome too. I used to see an Ironhead dressed up like an XR750 sitting in a restaurant again once I was dwelling in Australia and that made me assume that even in case you use an Harley, if it’s not an actual XR — it’s only a copy roughly devoted, however nonetheless a duplicate or a lookalike. So why not select one thing utterly totally different to begin from?

• What customized work was performed to the bike?

As soon as stripped from the unique tins and exhaust the primary downside had been the edges and the too cruiser-ish footpegs.

So I’ve ditched these horrible trying 15” rear and 18” entrance mags and changed them with spoked aluminum wheels in a extra versatile 17” rear and the identical dimension 18” for the entrance, taken from different Italian bikes. And I used rear units from an XJR to vary the driving place to a extra aggressive one.

I additionally needed it to appear to be a race bike, so every part aside from what was strictly crucial was eliminated: headlights, gauges, entrance brake, and so forth. needed to go.

The chassis is one piece and I haven’t touched or eliminated a single tab on it; I’ve saved the tank and made a tail utilizing a type of common fiberglass tracker seats and a pair of fiberglass facet covers. Just a few hours of intense modification (needed to chop the seat pan in half and make it go well with the body) and made my one-piece tracker tail and seat pan, then upholstered by my only-choice BF Tappezzerie in Firenze.

The entrance quantity plate is a fibreglass copy I’ve made out of an previous MX entrance plate I had laying across the storage and it fits completely.

In fact having sat for over a decade, it wanted numerous TLC: oil, belts, valve clearances, suspension rebuilt, and so forth.

An answer for the rear shocks was present in a pair of Öhlins, and on the entrance the forks had been rebuilt utilizing a extra appropriate oil.

The previous 32mm Bing carbs had been first rebuilt after which packed in field and there they sit, changed with higher performing Dell’Orto 36mm package particular for 750cc fashions and matched with a push and pull throttle management to substitute the twin cable pull solely unit.

The plastic airbox beneath the seat has been eliminated however the chassis itself works as an airbox too, and by putting in a foam air filter on the finish of it the job bought simply performed, the battery bought subsequently moved from beneath the seat to beneath the tail, and the exhausts are slash-cut straight by way of pipes, simply to verify nobody says, “Sorry mate I didn’t hear you coming…”

• Does the bike have a nickname?

Francis Von Tuto constructed a road tracker…
Proper, I can’t consider something higher than “Von Tracker”!

• Are you able to inform us what it’s prefer to journey?

To this point my solely driving expertise with this bike has been at “El Rollo,” the flat monitor occasion from Wheels and Waves Competition, and I ended up with two damaged ribs… Undoubtedly trying ahead to having enjoyable on the streets of Tuscany or wherever we resolve to go, however its monitor days are over. An actual flat tracker has utterly totally different geometries and it may possibly’t be ridden with street tires particularly on sand tracks.

In the long run it is a STREET-TRACKER, so its form is impressed by a flat tracker however it’s positively a motorcycle for street use.

Feels good once I journey it across the block, in order quickly as I’m performed deciding which headlight and the place to mount it, I feel I’ll register it and begin driving it round city.

Oh nicely…I could match a entrance disc, and no matter else is required to make it cease with out utilizing my shoe soles, ahah!

• Was there something performed throughout this construct that you’re significantly happy with?

I’m pleased that for as soon as I’ve a motorcycle that didn’t value me a fortune and I’m not afraid to make use of; additionally glad that I’ve discovered a design that works with that fairly large tank and square-tubed body.

Observe the Builder

Web site: www.francisvontuto.com
Instagram: @francis_von_tuto
Fb: Francis Von Tuto
Picture credit score: Rafael Montañes Ruiz

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