Ducati 1000 DS custom build #10

[buzzer]

December 2022 and my Guzzi build is finished, So onto the next project, a Ducati Multistrada 1000 DS.  I bought this as an unfinished project and it has some nice parts with it...  light wheels, 4 pad brakes, and many more nice parts.

I wanted to make this build a bit different. I have in my head what it will look like, and some criteria for the build. It must be light, single seat, less old school,  Carbs (I like carbs!) underslung exhaust... no tail piece, and above all minimal...  I will ask myself do I need to fit this!  Here is where it all starts!





I have ordered a load of stuff, but due to strikes and the time of year nothing will be here till the new year… It was also very cold in the main workshop, and with the cost of heating I don’t want to put the central heating on in there so the first job on this build was to make the throttle of all things. I can do this in the side workshop which is small and cheap to heat! As I am using flat slides I want some positive means of closing them, which means a pull to open, pull to close set up. I tried splitters in the past to do this but disliked the action, so decided on a 4 cable throttle. I made similar for the Guzzi build and it worked well, so this is an enhanced version of that with a slightly smaller cable wheel as the Guzzi throttle is a little too quick… I refined my silver soldering technique after watching the repair shop, and I have to say it worked rather well!

[KTMsm]

Jesus Christ !

Another one, so we all feel even lazier and less skilled



I'm in !

[Krikkit]

I'm in too

Echo KTMsm's thoughts on making the rest of us look very bad indeed.

[buzzer]

Krikkit said:

I'm in too

Echo KTMsm's thoughts on making the rest of us look very bad indeed.

don't feel bad guys.... now I am retired its all I have to do! that and DIY, whichat the moment is on hold because she cant decide on which kitchen

[airsafari87]

That messy drawing is making my eyes bleed. I would batter my apprentice if he gave me a drawing like that to check

But I’m in anyway

[KTMsm]

buzzer said:

don't feel bad guys.... now I am retired its all I have to do! that and DIY, whichat the moment is on hold because she cant decide on which kitchen

A kitchen I can help on... google "DIY Kitchens" they are fantastic, better and cheaper than Howdens / Magnet / Wren etc and you can choose internal colour of the cabinets too

[buzzer]

KTMsm said:

A kitchen I can help on... google "DIY Kitchens" they are fantastic, better and cheaper than Howdens / Magnet / Wren etc and you can choose internal colour of the cabinets too

for Christ sake don't say that the plan is to delay the decision until March, and then say " sorry love, but the riding season is almost here, lets discuss it in September"

[buzzer]

As I wanted this to be different to the other builds, I tried several other tanks… I had an ST4 tank and a Monster tank that had too many holes to repair, so I cut these down… while I liked the ST tank, I couldn’t get the seat to tie in… I didn’t like the monster tank… So off to the bike breakers… he gave me the key to his storage unit... and said "say hi to the ghost!"


I walked around looking at the hundreds of tanks in there, discounting the plastic ones, of which there were many… the slope of the frame makes the choices limited... Nothing took my eye. Its a VERY old building though, and I have to say it spooked me somewhat being in there on my own, lots of creaking noises, and scuttling sounds which were probably rats... I didn't stay longer than I needed!

In the end I went back to the 999 tank I have used before. Another with some holes in the bottom where its rusted out.

[Rushjob]

I'm in!

[xyyman]

Looking forward to see how this progresses. These always make my own efforts seem somewhat feeble in comparison, but I love them.

[Chipchap]

Buzzer
Without realising it you have created a brand. B.O.C. Buzzers Orange Customs. You could easily sell these on, recover the outlay and a small profit and that way you can continue the builds which seems to be what you enjoy.

There will be a solid line of Hipsters and Old Farts alike wanting to place orders for you to build them a bike over winter ready for the new riding season.


DM me a price if you want to part with the Guzzi please. I am an old fart not a Hipster

[buzzer]

Chipchap said:

Buzzer
Without realising it you have created a brand. B.O.C. Buzzers Orange Customs. You could easily sell these on, recover the outlay and a small profit and that way you can continue the builds which seems to be what you enjoy.

There will be a solid line of Hipsters and Old Farts alike wanting to place orders for you to build them a bike over winter ready for the new riding season.


DM me a price if you want to part with the Guzzi please. I am an old fart not a Hipster

I do eventually sell them on... but I have kept the last two Ducati's.... When I built # 6, I loved it so much I decided to keep it. The problem was, I found that my wife was complaining that we never took the Harley out anymore as I was always on the Ducati, and it was single seat...she was right! So I built Ducati #9 which had a dual seat. Last year the Ducati did more miles than the Harley did in the last 8! That told me something.

I may sell some in the future, but at the moment I am enjoying owing/riding them. here are some of the bikes (and engines) over the years...

[buzzer]

While I love the look of a nice velocity stack they are not really practical for the road, hence while I make them for the photos I take, I like to use foam filters on the road. this of course means I need some suitable adaptors, which although you can buy them are REALLY expensive. these took a while to machine out of billet! I sometimes get asked where I get my material from for the lathe and miller. I am really lucky that there is a scrap yard locally that lets me hunt through the bins! They take scrap in from some of the aerospace companies so there are sometimes some nice bar ends in the skips. What is great about that is the bar ends are often etched with the material specification!

I don’t usually pay as I take my scrap in there and he writes the value in the back of his desk diary, and then as I take stuff, he takes the value off! he has done this for me for over 30 years! A few years ago I went in early in the year… he was no longer there as he had retired and I learned that his grandson had taken the company over. We chatted and I mentioned about the diary as I had a few pounds credit… The lad said he knew all about it and it was in the back of the book!

[buzzer]

Time to start the fabrication of the back end. I decided to use some rose joints as I like the look they bring to a build. Experience has taught me to tack everything up first before welding fully! its going to be a very stubby back end, I have also used three 10mm LED as a stop and tail light. they are amazingly bright

[patchb]

I've followed 4 or 5 of your builds and always enjoy them, and have a massive amount of respect, appreciation and jealousy for your engineering skills but do you not ever fancy trying something a bit different?

Please don't take this the wrong way but maybe the trellis frame, long suspension and orange paint thing could be mixed up a bit?

I appreciate this may just be what you want and I respect that but I'd like to see your skills put to a different use! (Not that what I want you to build matters in the slightest!!)

[buzzer]

patchb said:

I've followed 4 or 5 of your builds and always enjoy them, and have a massive amount of respect, appreciation and jealousy for your engineering skills but do you not ever fancy trying something a bit different?

Please don't take this the wrong way but maybe the trellis frame, long suspension and orange paint thing could be mixed up a bit?

I appreciate this may just be what you want and I respect that but I'd like to see your skills put to a different use! (Not that what I want you to build matters in the slightest!!)

To be honest... yes! I deviated away from Ducati to Guzzi on the last build, and really enjoyed the change! The plan was to look for something different this time, but then I got a call from a guy with this bike... It was a stalled project, with lots of really nice new parts which i will be using. Initially I said I didn't want it, but then he tempted me with a really low price that I simply couldn't refuse!

So here we are.... I am already thinking about the next build, and looking around at what's out there, and if something comes up I will buy it and put it to the back of the garage!

However, before I start anything else I need to do a bit of a refresh on our MK1 MX5,,,

[Marquezs Stabilisers]

In again as a practical use for old Multistradas. I loved mine but I had to get rid due to plastic tank and stey sidestand issues. If I was on pistonheads then I'd have got you to build me something special. When they work the basic frame, suspension and motor makes a fabulous point to point road bike...

[buzzer]

Marquezs Stabilisers said:

In again as a practical use for old Multistradas. I loved mine but I had to get rid due to plastic tank and stey sidestand issues. If I was on pistonheads then I'd have got you to build me something special. When they work the basic frame, suspension and motor makes a fabulous point to point road bike...

spot on! the tank problem is killing many of these bikes, along with failing clocks and LCD screens. they are a superb machine... Testament to that is I did more miles on my other Multistrada build last year than I have done in the last 8 on my Harley! Its been may years since I found myself just "popping out for a ride"

Making the exhaust retaining flange out of 15mm alloy plate was quick and easy…

As an aside, that tin of marking blue is 50 years old, given to me by my Dad, along with one of my treasured possessions, a 0 – 1″ micrometre when I was 15 years old. Not much left in the tin now, but its still usable.

when I was a kid, I used some of that blue on the eye pieces of my brothers binoculars.. he still mentions it now!

The stainless steel collar however took an absolute age to make! I should have really used some stainless pipe, but its an odd size and I couldn’t get any that would fit, so I ended up machining it out of a solid piece of bar stock. I hate working with stainless… everything you do with it makes your life hard, just like the material!

[Marquezs Stabilisers]

Problem with the clocks failing is that's where the immobiliser is - I had to get mine repaired more than once. If you could have made me a big steel tank and a centrestand I'd probably still have it.

[buzzer]

I tried for a while to make a seat out of alloy sheet, and failed. the shape is just to complicated! in the end I decided on an alloy and glass fibre approach. I lifted the tank slightly so the finished seat will have some clearance, and then covered it with duct tape, followed by some tin foil to act a a release. This actually worked quite well! Cutting the foam to shape took a while and is a dusty job, but with the fan blowing on me and out the door it wasn't too bad. The key to using resin is the mix ratio... I used 2.5% as it was a cold day, in the summer that would have gone off in 5 mins! I will send it to the trimmer to do his magic... this is one of the few jobs I send out.