1966 Ducati 160 Monza Jr

In the show - Ducstock 2011. Made it!
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The 350 Sebring next to it gives a little sense of scale, this is a small bike.

Here's another shot that might give a better idea. That's a 796 Hypermotard behind it.
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And a quick recap of the trip to Barber

Well, I just got back to Michigan a few hours ago. About 13 hours each way... it was worth it though. I'm pretty wiped out right now so this probably won't make much sense. I just wanted to add an update on how the weekend went and how the 160 ran.

It was my first time at Barber, the place is amazing. Spent much of one day in the museum and was overwhelmed by it all. While on the 4th floor taking a breather I heard something and discovered an air show going on just outside the window. Window as in floor to ceiling the entire length of the building.

The next day I was volunteering at the Ducstock event and the airshow took place right above my head. I've never had a plane diving straight at me before. It was pretty cool, just like in the movies. Except there were no guns blaring, which was fine by me.

Amazing event in general. Wonderful venue. The Ducstock part of it was pretty impressive two, I'm sure there were over a million bucks worth of bikes in the tents not to mention all the spectator bikes at the show. The 160 didn't win anything but I didn't expect it to - not stock so it wasn't a restoration and not custom looking enough to appeal to that crowd. I did get a lot of positive comments on it though and not once did anyone tell me they used to have one just like it, so all in all I'd say it went over pretty well.

It had about 15 miles on it when I loaded it in the trailer to head down there. The shifter issue turned out to be something else but was still an easy fix. When I put it on the trailer I knew of a couple issues but they were nothing that would keep it from making the trip.

The first morning there we fired up the bikes and headed out into real world traffic, promptly getting lost. Within ten minutes I was climbing a steep hill which I then had to come back down. The guy following me knew my brakes weren't great and was a bit worried I wasn't going to stop. It didn't help that I had forgotten to flip on the battery power for the brake light... but no need to worry, everything was working fine (and I remembered to flip the switch a few minutes later). Long story short it got thrown into the deep end the first day out and I must say it handled itself much better than I expected.

I was planning on riding it to the track that first day and probably just leaving it there the entire weekend. But, the road from the hotel to the track (once we found it) was perfect for that bike and I rode it to and from the track each day, grinning pretty much the whole way. I think the bike probably ended up with well over 100 miles on it (no speedo/odo yet) and a significant portion of that was at WFO. Break in period? We don't need no stinkin' break in period! (Actually I think it was a great way to break it in but that's a subject for a different post.) FWIW our group consisted of me on my 160, one buddy on a 796 Hypermotard, and another buddy on a Streetfighter. Yes, I was chasing a bike with ten times the HP of my bike each morning and afternoon. No, I did not keep him in sight! But I did better than you might think.

Using the Hypermotard's speedo as a reference it looks like the bike will hit maybe 65mph on level ground with me sitting up, add a few more mph with me tucked in. We didn't get a firm number due to the lack of a long level straight but these numbers are higher than I expected so I'm happy. I haven't checked the magazines to see what the reported top speed was for a stock Monza Jr. Maybe I should before I get too happy about this!

I can also report that there are three big twin Harleys and one large-ish 70's era looking bike of unknown, possibly British, make out there that have been reeled in, passed, and run away from by a 160cc Ducati. And let me tell you, it wasn't due to my superior acceleration.

Long story short before I fall asleep at the keyboard, the bike did itself proud. The main issue so far is a bunch of false neutrals, I have to spend more time adjusting the selector box. When taking it easy it shifts fine, but when trying to hurry things up, like when a light turns green and an SUV is coming up fast, it would miss gears and generally act up. There are numerous other things too.

Some good stuff - The seat is more comfy than I imagined it would be. I'm surprised at how easily the bike rolls around. And the engine is running like a champ. This will likely jinx it but I can't believe how well it runs with what are essentially my first stabs at carb settings and timing.

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And that's it, my 160 project. Sorry for the banzai posting to get it all here in a day but it was easier to copy posts than to recreate them.
 
Well done! Just read it all. I'm no bike guru by ANY stretch, but it seems like you did it all really well. I find your build pretty inspiring, actually, for an odd reason. I bought my '79 CX500 Custom years ago, but I've never been able to work on it as much as I'd like due to economic factors/living moving a few times into different apartments/failing repeatedly, etc. So it's inspiring to see something so nice that took so long to finish. Hopefully mine will look as good as yours someday. Congrats
 
goddamnit sir, that is a beautiful build.
thank for sharing, this has made my day.
 
Thanks for the comments. There's still work to do but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out already.

Hichhkrjo said:
So it's inspiring to see something so nice that took so long to finish.


Over the past year or so I've sold a few projects because I finally accepted how long these things take me to do. I tried to figure it out last night but I can't really remember when exactly I bought this. From what I can figure out it took about six years to do this one but I let it sit for a couple years in there.

The sad part is I haven't gotten very far on the companion bike to this one, a '66 250 Monza. That one could easily turn out being an 8 year project (or more)...

Here's what that one looks like at the moment. The fenders will change before it's all over but you get the idea.

mockup_1790.jpg


More info on it here:
http://www.teamyikes.com/Bitsa/index.html
 
You know that the entire DTT crew was just up the hill from DucStock.

I have watched this build for a long time now. Very nice man.
 
JustinLonghorn said:
You know that the entire DTT crew was just up the hill from DucStock.

Yeah I spent some time poking around up there too. I meant to get this build posted here earlier but just didn't get to it until now...
 
Awesome work! Love it :D

I have a Ducati Cucciolo engine here I haven't decided what to do with yet but hopefully I can get it in something and looking half as good as that!

It took me nearly 10 years from taking my GS450 off the road and finishing just before Christmas... so I know what you mean ;)
 
Thanks again for the comments. It was a fun project that ended up being a lot different than what I thought it would be when I started.

A Cucciolo engine.. I've always wanted to do something with one of those but so far haven't put my money where my mouth is. Maybe someday.. but I'm not so sure I'll be taking on many bike projects after the next couple I have planned/underway. I started a thread for my current build here:
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=33229.0

I've got one other Ducati single project stuffed in the corner too but it may never see the light of day, so no word on that one yet.
 
DesmoDog said:
Thanks again for the comments. It was a fun project that ended up being a lot different than what I thought it would be when I started.

A Cucciolo engine.. I've always wanted to do something with one of those but so far haven't put my money where my mouth is. Maybe someday.. but I'm not so sure I'll be taking on many bike projects after the next couple I have planned/underway. I started a thread for my current build here:
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=33229.0

I've got one other Ducati single project stuffed in the corner too but it may never see the light of day, so no word on that one yet.

My dad had the Cucciolo lying around and gave it to me last year, it appears to be complete with the tank and some spares... no way I could afford to just go and get one either ::)

Completely undecided what to do with it yet as there's just the engine. I might try to get bicycle of a similar age and restore that also or I might try to build a racer maybe...

I'll check out your current build for sure :)
 
While I'm thinking of it... who has a large selection of K&N style filters? I'm looking for something like the filters on this:
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To replace the stack on this:
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That'd be a UB22, The flange diameter would be about 31.8mm (1.25") and I've only found larger sizes at my typical sources. As much as I love the looks of the open stack, it's probably best for shows. If I'm riding it regularly I'd like to have a filter on it.
 
DesmoDog said:
I've got one other Ducati single project stuffed in the corner too but it may never see the light of day, so no word on that one yet.

You know, itll see the light of day if you give it to me... just sayin ;D
 
Dime City has a variety of smaller sizes - http://www.dimecitycycles.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?q=Air+Filter+Pod&x=0&y=0&limit=all

Michigan is close to Toronto... if you ever want to sell a Ducati single project drop me a line :)
 
Yes indeed love the Italian bikes. They're just sooo right. I have an Aermacchi SS250 on the block to be a ala d oro replica. I have the fibreglass seat and tank from Italy. It's next
So much fun watching your Ducati come to life, bravo.
I'm also in Michigan, Saginaw to be exact.
Cheers, 50gary
 
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