Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > General Motorcycles only > Ducati Speciale Challenge gallery on ducati.com

[sye73]

Originally Posted by dukess1999

I think these are the finalists here:

http://www.ducati-upnorth.com/forum/...ead.php?t=2577

Cheers sye73, that's my bike. It's a '91 900ss with a pretty standard motor but various other upgrades (748 ti-nitride forks with Ohlins internals, slipper, 5 spoke marchesinis etc). I was aiming for something like the cafe racers of my youth (1970s) but with better everything!

dukess1999, you've done a really nice job with that.
Interesting you say about the cafe racers : For some reason I have had a burning need for one of these recently! Strange really 'cos normally anything other than a modern sports bike doesnt really do much for me.I think it was when I saw a picture of a manx norton, a triton and a velocette norvel a few weeks ago that got it all going. Obviously the manx norton is financially out of reach, but maybe the other 2 are attainable... I just need to know more about them.
Do you happen to know any good sources of unbiased information on cafe racers c. 1960 ?
cheers

[dukess1999]

sye73,

don't know much about Brit cafe racers except that I like the look of them. Probably stating the obvious but the classic bike mags seem to provide a lot of useful practical and technical info, and I'm guessing web resources would be the same. I found the Gold Porfolio books by Brookland Books very useful for getting a feel for the period; they're reprints of road tests and reviews from when these bikes were brand new, and they do British marques as well as Dukes.

Here's a thread that covers a lot of the pros and cons:

http://www.ducati-upnorth.com/forum/...ead.php?t=2529