Stud extractors arrived, can't budge the seized brake nipple, bollox, but at least I havent snapped the extractor
Andys suggestion of left hand drill bits then?
Ducati 250 Desmo Rebuild
- Thread starter ebbo
- Start date
Andys suggestion of left hand drill bits then?
Maybe, I haven't drilled down too far or too wide so it's a possibility.
After this I still have to get the old pistons out and they is well stuck
Thanks Simon
I'll drop you a PM over the w/e rather than clog up ebb's thread
Andres
Good idea Andres, life is complicated enough without talking about Spain in public ...
... and before I go off
any more just to say that the 250 Strada is a great little bike but I can't spend any money just now with the building going on 
but it'll be a useful benchmark for what to aim for maybe this time next year!Regs
Simon
I'll try the air line, I'm a long way from having a working master cylinder yet
I've done that successfully in the past - but wrap a towel or something large around the caliper, there is a hell of a bang when they pop and someone could get hurt by flying parts !
Bob.
OMG - I still have nightmares about helping a mate shift the front fork spring spacers on his Suzuki 250GT - the one with the Ram-Air thingy - the 'procedure' was him pushing the bike like billy-oh until I slammed on the brakes. About 30 seconds later - it seemed much longer at the time! - we heard a 'crash-tinkle' as both spacers landed on a nearby roof, rolled down to the gutter where we recovered them both with a borrowed ladder - not before I realised that I'd nearly blow my f***ing head off!
Regs
Simon
PS I've tell you all about 'Simon_100' on another thread
mate of mine uses a grease gun to pressure the pistons out - again wrap the calliper to save the trouble of grease and bits all over the lounge
Sounds like the plot of one of those forensic murder detective series!
Regs
Simon
This is relevant to ebbo's tread if only to keep him motivated ...
Bitter, bitter irony dept. - we went over to Andorra yesterday to take a glim at some f***-off expensive Italian cookers, dishwashers, etc. before sneaking home and buying the same on-line, the way you do.
Among other things these gewgaws* are responsible for me not having any spare dosh to buy that 250 Strada which is still for sale in tatty but original condition - a bit like me really! - but in one store my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw this little beauty 'hiding' at the back of the enormous showroom:
While I was snapping away the elderly owner, of the shop as well as the bikes I guess, strolled over and was gobsmacked when I told him I'd owned two single cylinder Ducatis back in the '70's - when I was about twenty-two!
Bad place for photos but a few details for ebbo's restoration and just drooling in general:
I'd forgotten just how absolutely tiny these bikes are - I suppose the modern day monster bikes have doctored my perception but I don't recall thinking them so very small at the time - mind you the Mk III's and the other bikes, e.g. the Strada that I've been looking at have 19" wheels in place of the 18's here so that makes some difference and now I come to think of it I do recall noting the difference when I got my 450 Desmo.
Both of my bikes had the twin sided single leading shoe drum brake on the front. IMHO a better brake than the disk at that time, given the useless pad materials. And I guess ebbo would give his back teeth for this variant given the PITA the disk has been ...
The headlight doesn't look right, seeming more at home on earlier models like the 24 Horas and I wanted to fit a full chrome one like a guy - Paddy? a mechanic not one of the owners - at Oxford Motorcycle Engineering had done on his 250 Desmo back then. This bike only had a speedo mounted on a home made ally plate rather than the speedo-rev counter unit made by Veglia - known as 'Vaguely-a' for obvious reasons - and that mirror sucks. Neither of my bikes had mirrors at all - oh those were the days ... and not so dumb as you wouldn't have been able to see anything in them anyway - apart from the occasional blue flashing light!
That seat unit is probably the best thing about the Desmo - arguments please!
Apart from that amazing engine ... but you can just make out a Dell'Orto carb which on my 450 Desmo was crap - so if you have the same dump that and fit an oversized Amal concentric like I had on the Mk III - more arguments please ...
Moving totally off topic, encouraged by our little chat about the Ducati the old chap showed me his pride and joy way out in the back of the store - a Motobacane - even Mrs S was enthused by then so you never know ...
Regs
Simon
* actually Mrs S is an amazing cook and once you've had a dishwasher there's no going back ...
Bitter, bitter irony dept. - we went over to Andorra yesterday to take a glim at some f***-off expensive Italian cookers, dishwashers, etc. before sneaking home and buying the same on-line, the way you do.
Among other things these gewgaws* are responsible for me not having any spare dosh to buy that 250 Strada which is still for sale in tatty but original condition - a bit like me really!
- but in one store my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw this little beauty 'hiding' at the back of the enormous showroom:
While I was snapping away the elderly owner, of the shop as well as the bikes I guess, strolled over and was gobsmacked when I told him I'd owned two single cylinder Ducatis back in the '70's - when I was about twenty-two!
Bad place for photos but a few details for ebbo's restoration and just drooling in general:
I'd forgotten just how absolutely tiny these bikes are - I suppose the modern day monster bikes have doctored my perception but I don't recall thinking them so very small at the time - mind you the Mk III's and the other bikes, e.g. the Strada that I've been looking at have 19" wheels in place of the 18's here so that makes some difference and now I come to think of it I do recall noting the difference when I got my 450 Desmo.
Both of my bikes had the twin sided single leading shoe drum brake on the front. IMHO a better brake than the disk at that time, given the useless pad materials. And I guess ebbo would give his back teeth for this variant given the PITA the disk has been ...
The headlight doesn't look right, seeming more at home on earlier models like the 24 Horas and I wanted to fit a full chrome one like a guy - Paddy? a mechanic not one of the owners - at Oxford Motorcycle Engineering had done on his 250 Desmo back then. This bike only had a speedo mounted on a home made ally plate rather than the speedo-rev counter unit made by Veglia - known as 'Vaguely-a' for obvious reasons - and that mirror sucks. Neither of my bikes had mirrors at all - oh those were the days ... and not so dumb as you wouldn't have been able to see anything in them anyway - apart from the occasional blue flashing light!
That seat unit is probably the best thing about the Desmo - arguments please!
Apart from that amazing engine ... but you can just make out a Dell'Orto carb which on my 450 Desmo was crap - so if you have the same dump that and fit an oversized Amal concentric like I had on the Mk III - more arguments please ...
Moving totally off topic, encouraged by our little chat about the Ducati the old chap showed me his pride and joy way out in the back of the store - a Motobacane - even Mrs S was enthused by then so you never know ...
Regs
Simon
* actually Mrs S is an amazing cook and once you've had a dishwasher there's no going back ...
Sandtribe
Registered user
moto Di Marino in West Sussex May also be worth a shout for parts and advice etc
https://www.dimarino.co.uk
Good luck!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
https://www.dimarino.co.uk
Good luck!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The headlight doesn't look right, seeming more at home on earlier models like the 24 Horas and I wanted to fit a full chrome one like a guy - Paddy? a mechanic not one of the owners - at Oxford Motorcycle Engineering had done on his 250 Desmo back then. This bike only had a speedo mounted on a home made ally plate rather than the speedo-rev counter unit made by Veglia - known as 'Vaguely-a' for obvious reasons - and that mirror sucks. Neither of my bikes had mirrors at all - oh those were the days ... and not so dumb as you wouldn't have been able to see anything in them anyway - apart from the occasional blue flashing light!
I've just remembered that he eddied that this bike had been exported to the USA for racing, this would explain the non-standard headlight and speedo 'assembly'
Regs
Simon
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Wow!
That's really beautiful and yellow, the only colour for a baby Desmo! I actually really like the light unit (very popular on the modern crop of Hipster bikes at the mo).
The scooter looks rather special too ~ what's the blue bike in front?
Andres
I didn't say that I didn't like it!
The blue bike was a Peugeot - much better at bikes than cars perhaps ...
Ugh! There's a genuine epidemic here so I'm staying up here in our isolated village!
I think you're right about the brake, I don't remember that air intake although they were very popular with racers to improve cooling and that passed on to the café brigade.
Keep up the good work!
Simon
Work slowly restarted after the flu bug (it really takes it out of you...)
Head races knocked out, bottom one came out quite easy, top one was a fair bit tighter. Both were in quite a state, this picture is after a bit of a clean up.
You can buy new ones in S/Steel, we'll have to wait and see.
Head races knocked out, bottom one came out quite easy, top one was a fair bit tighter. Both were in quite a state, this picture is after a bit of a clean up.
You can buy new ones in S/Steel, we'll have to wait and see.
Attachments
Lots done today prepping for paint. Air and toolbox trial fitted and I'm so glad I did! No way did these boxes ever fit when it was assembled in Bolognia! Brackets hammered into the right position, weld ground off and one elongated hole elongated even more. When these come back from painting they will just drop in place now 
Attachments
The fork legs are to be painted black so I've been working on them. Good news was the stanchion tubes do fit (they had been re chrome some 30+ years ago but never reassembled).
Bad news a stud sheared off, Drilled it out to 7mm and chased it out with an 8mm tap, all good
Bad news a stud sheared off, Drilled it out to 7mm and chased it out with an 8mm tap, all good
Attachments
The service kit arrived Friday after three weeks wait
The company I was going to have resleave the master cylinder wanted me to tell them what the bore size is
I was thinking of putting the new piston in and check the gap with feeler gauges to work out the bore size, but who gets the job is a bit up in the air now.