1971 Ducati 250 Café Racer – BikeBound

Black Cycles Australia builds a 250cc Ducati café racer…

Beginning in Nineteen Fifties, brothers Joseph and Michael Berliner of the Berliner Motor Company have been the US importers for Ducati and plenty of different European marquees. Because the story goes, Michael transformed a 250cc Ducati Diana right into a flat tracker, which brother Joseph preferred a lot he requested Ducati to provide one thing comparable — and street-legal — for the American market.

“Berliner…implored the manufacturing unit to construct one thing comparable however with lights, in order that Ducati would have one thing for the street-scrambler pattern simply getting began in America within the early Nineteen Sixties.” –Bonhams

The end result was the Ducati Scrambler collection, which debuted in 1962, serving to to solidify Ducati’s place within the US market. The 250cc model has usually been thought to be the smoothest of the bunch, with the later huge case fashions providing round 19 bhp from their single-cylinder engines.

Not too long ago we heard from our pal Noel Muller of Black Cycles Australia, who’s turned out a few of 2023’s highest profile builds right here at BikeBound and past, together with his 1950 Triumph pre-unit bobber, Ducati 916 turbo, and Yamaha XT500 restomod — simply to call a number of! Truly, the construct you see right here was accomplished for the proprietor of that 1950 Triumph. Says Noel:

“A superb shopper of mine (Ben) requested me to construct a small capability Ducati cafe racer for him this 12 months.”

When Noel found it was practically unimaginable to scare up a standalone Ducati 175 or 250 engine, the one choice appeared to be beginning with an entire 250 Scrambler. After a lot consideration, the shopper determined he needed to maneuver forward with the construct, preserving as a lot of the unique classic components as potential.

The body is almost untouched aside from detabbing and gloss-black paint, and the tank is a modified Benelli Mojave unit. The forks have been lowered and now embody exterior springs to forestall bottoming out, whereas the tail was hand-shaped from 1mm metal with a {custom} saddle trimmed by Subarashii Seats. The addition of the fairing was a serious a part of the design and fabrication:

“The highest of the fairing and the unique headlight is mounted with a home made 8mm stainless-steel body, which bolts to a 10mm thick bracket I’ve made on the neck tube (as I actually needed this to be a real mounted fairing bike).”

Different highlights embody the 18″ custom-laced rims, custom-built stainless exhaust, minimalist LED lighting, simplified wiring because of Popbang Classics, and the “patina” paint remedy, utilizing Audi’s Mocha Latte colour. Beneath, we speak to Noel for extra particulars on the construct.

Ducati 250 Scrambler / Café Racer: Within the Builder’s Phrases…

A superb shopper of mine (Ben) requested me to construct a small capability Ducati cafe racer for him this 12 months. He significantly requested a Ducati 175 or 250 single to begin with, and after some inquiries I discovered an engine alone is close to unimaginable to seek out! A enterprise pal later knowledgeable me of a 1971 Ducati 250 Scrambler that was on the market from an importer in Brisbane, so Ben agreed we’d begin with this for the construct.

Whereas ready for components and ending different builds I mentioned to Ben, “Are you completely positive you wish to change this mint situation scrambler right into a caferacer?” After a bit extra thought, he mentioned, “Sure, positively, let’s proceed!”

So I suppose the nickname for this bike is clearly “the cafe-scrambler.” The construct started — I actually needed to maintain as a lot of the unique bike’s classic components as potential!

The body is sort of untouched aside from eradicating all now unused brackets, mounts, and battery tray, and including a brand new seat, tank, fairing mount, and a flush electrical tray (beneath the seat).

Additionally, later, we shortened and reshaped the facet stand and centre stand to swimsuit the a lot decrease forks — now with solely 25mm journey and a few outer springs to make sure no bottoming out!

The gasoline tank is a Benelli Mojave and has been prolonged ahead to help the decrease a part of the fairing.

The highest of the fairing and the unique headlight is mounted with a home made 8mm stainless-steel body, which bolts to a 10mm thick bracket I’ve made on the neck tube (as I actually needed this to be a real mounted fairing bike).

The tail was hand-shaped from 1mm metal, and a home made seat was then connected.

The seat was trimmed in a classic type by Andrew Morehouse (Subarashii Seats) and features a small Ducati defend badge.

Chrome clip-on bars and new levers have been added. We additionally added some 18″ valanced classic type rims with stainless-steel spokes to the vapor-blasted hubs. 4.00 x 18″ Shinko tyres have been used.

Kellerman micro all-in-ones have been used on the rear and motogadget bar-end indicators used on the entrance.

The engine is all unique (simply cleaned up) — all stainless-steel fasteners have been used all through!

The exhaust is made in-house from 316 stainless with a 25cm baffle completely inside.

The rear shocks are the originals and even the rubber manufacturing unit gaiters.

We went with gloss black 2k paint on body, stands, and many others., and with the tins I made a decision to go along with the “patina” look over Audi “mocha latte” colour.

It was then off to Justin at Popbang Classics for some wiring and all new clutch, brake, and choke cables to be made.

At this stage the bike has not been ridden and never even seen by the proprietor Ben in Sydney (who by the way in which owns the 1950 Triumph pre-unit 500 that was featured right here earlier than).

Particular thanks:

Comply with the Builder

Black Cycles Australia: Black Cycles Australia | @blackcyclesaustralia

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