First off, let me say that I'm going to limit my guide to the most common singles and to the 750GT's. I've had no small experience with these bikes and they form the bulk of the Duke offerings for sale on Ebay. The first thing that I just have to tell people about is my disgust with sellers who blare out about the correct and original state of the bike they have for sale. Very few of these motorcycles exist that have not been altered in some way. The ENTIRE line of Ducati motorcycles suffered from problems caused by shoddy workmanship, poor metallurgy, poor design in places, and hilarious electrical systems. Extremely rare is the bike that could be used to any great extent without some modification. If someone touts a Ducati as being "correct" then that means that the motorcycle will be rolling on tires of the type that it was delivered with and that all the other pieces between those tires and the rider will be the parts (either original or original replacements) that the bike came from the manufacturer with. If that is not the case, then the bike is just not "correct" and any claim that it is is simply a misinformed lie or an intentional one. Frankly, I believe that the latter case is the prevalent one. So be extraordinarily careful when you are searching for a very authentic Ducati if this is what you are looking for. Do not take the seller's word for it. Unless, of course, he's a well known and respected restorer. Unaltered examples are very, very rare. Look at and read the restorer's guides carefully and be aware that it is impossible to guage a bike's condition from all but the most detailed of photographs.

Now if you are looking to buy a single or a twin to actually ride as opposed to letting it sit in your garage, mystified by the crappy Lucas shaming electrics and ignition that refuses to do much of anything, you need to know a few secrets. You already know these secrets if you owned these bikes during the sixties and seventies so just sit there and nod your head knowingly.

1) They are all not very fast, if that matters to you. The exceptions were Mach 1's and Mark 3's if you fitted the factory megaphone. Then they were slightly faster than a Honda CB350 of the same era which is actually pretty good considering the antiquated cylinder head design of the Ducati single. Unfortunately, you would have to live in a State or Province where the Police have "Damn, we sure love really, really loud motorcycles" written on their cruiser's doors. As well, all the singles shook quite a bit. If you rode any of them near top speed for any distance, say 200 miles, parts of the motorcycle would be miles behind you in the ditch somewhere, usually the rear light with a section of mudguard along with the toolboxes. 750's had no vibration, unless Bruno was suffering a hangover that morning in the crank balancing department. Generally, they were smoother than any Japanese four. The 750GT's were exactly as fast (acceleration) as a 1973 CB750 Honda. So if you go riding with your pals and they are on early Kaw Z1's or triples or Laverda triples (awful, just awful) you will have to wring the neck of your Ducati to even keep up to semi spirited acceleration by your buddies. As far as the singles go, RD350's and Hustlers (X-6) of the era will be just smoke in front of you. Now if this does not matter to you, it is very hard to beat the pinpoint handling and airy lightness of the singles. Except for the RT's, which were dogs. The stability and handling of the 750's is just on a higher plane compared to almost any other motorcycle of its time. In fact, it is exemplary in comparison to even recent bikes. A properly aligned and shod 750 in top mechanical condition is upset on the road by virtually nothing smaller than a jackrabbit. The handling qualities of GT's deteriorated slightly with every new model but it is a very small difference that was the result of changing fork specifications and front end geometry. It takes some grunting to get any of them to change direction quickly but are we men or mice?

These motorcycles take above average mechanical skills to be kept running properly. They also require a complete selection of metric tools of all descriptions as well as some factory tools for repair and service. If I have not described your condition, you will need a very good mechanic to be able to use your Ducati whenever you please. Mechanics conversant with the foibles of these bikes are becoming scarce, in my experience. So if you intend to ride your Ebay bike, make sure you have the support network in place. And another thing I want to say is that these bikes are not that rare, they sold lots of the singles and no small number of the twins. Wait and watch for what you want. Decent ordinary 250 Scramblers are not worth $7500.00 and decent ordinary GT's are not worth $15,000.00. About half that would be about right. A friend and I have both recently bought really good 750's for around 8K. Of course if you have enough money that it does not matter and you JUST WANT IT then I would like to be you or at least have your financial reserves. Everyone else should consider that buying old motorcycles by photograph and possibly suspect description can carry no small measure of risk. Now I'm told by she who must be obeyed that I want to go clean the pool.

Well that didn't take long! The pool is only 6 feet in diameter and it's for the dog to cool off in. Why does it have to be clean? What else can I tell you potential first time vintage Ducati owners?

1) The electrical systems really are bad and the 750's got crappier with every new year which even now amazes me. Expect none of the handlebar switches of late 750's to work worth a damn. These are the switches that look like black cubes grafted onto the bars. They made me so unhappy working on them in their day that I would have beaten the designers severely had they been made available to me for that happy purpose.

2) All the valvespring models, both hairpin and coil style, wore out their valve guides pretty quickly and you can expect to find rockers and cam lobes scuffed on bikes that had poor maintenance and infrequent oil changes or sometimes even if they were babied.  If it looks like a pig on the outside, don't be surprised if it is scruffy inside. Head problems cost A LOT to set right even if you are, or know, a good wrench. Desmo valve gear was much easier on the guides, rockers, and cams. 

3) Bottom end problems are very expensive to fix. Buy as low mileage a bike as possible. If you need rods, bearings, and a crankpin for a twin, have a couple of grand at the ready.

4) Chrome costs dearly to renew. Try and buy a bike with nice brightwork although the plating on all of the models was pretty poor and rusted quickly.

5) Narrow case singles are just not to be counted on. If someone has one that can be trusted to run, on demand, 365 days a year, they have spent a whole bunch of money and very savvy effort to get it that way. Yamaha and Suzuki twins from back then were 1578 times more reliable. I still preferred Ducatis. What an idiot.

6) If you manage to buy an early 750, take a close look at the front fender/mudguard. If it is the type supported solely by chromed wire stays without a centre brace, you have the potential for a very nasty accident. If the right bump or series of bumps were encountered  it was possible for the front stay to flex downward enough that the two 6mm. securing nuts would contact and imbed in the tire. At low speeds on concrete, this would cause a brakie that would put you over the bars. On gravel, you simply fell over. At high speed, the fender would usually depart the motorcycle and damage the tire a little. I was once hit in the chest by one that I caught up to while it was still airborne. Possibly, the locking Scarab brake caliper thing might have got its start on a bumpy road somewhere? I've never had problems with reasonably well serviced Scarab calipers. If you have some that you are afraid of, I accept donations gratefully.

7) On 750's, the rear axle on the right side could be counted on to wear through the Conti muffler as the suspension worked through its range. It was frequently necessary to do a little adjustment (bending) to end up with 2mm. or so clearance. Any more and there was a problem with the kickstart hitting the muffler. If you install new mufflers (big bucks) make sure you move things around so that these two irkings don't happen.

8) If you want the maximum protection that any mineral lube has to offer for your bevel, I have always run Aeroshell W100 or Aeroshell 15W50 in my Ducatis. These or the Phillips equivalent are probably the finest non synthetic oils available for air cooled large displacement engines. Aeroshell has the added advantage of an additive designed to protect very high load scuff prone surfaces (that's most of a spring head Ducati's valvegear) although the additive, called Avblend, can be added to other oils. Ask an aviation type where to go for these lubricants. You won't regret the expense if you rack up the miles or run your bike hard.

9) Big Dukes that have slipping clutches are more numerous than those that don't. Before you monkey with spring pressure and different materials, have your friction discs and steel discs made flat on a surface plate. It's a time consuming hand operation but will result in a silky take-up and no slip unless your springs are well and truly knackered. If you install higher than stock rated springs in a 750 clutch you will be dismayed at the effort that it takes to unsqueeze it and your hand will HURT after city riding. Heavy clutch lever effort is almost always down to a crappy clutch cable but sometimes that's all that can be had, new or used. Extended clutch operating arms may be the only solution for some to avoid clutchpull tunnel syndrome. This mod cuts down the total lift at the clutch so some bikes won't be happy finding neutral at a stop due to cable elasticity and other flexing present in the system.

10) The sellers that I like are the ones that make no outlandish claims about how bloody perfect their bikes are. The low key guys and girls that post lots of pictures and frequently offer to take the bike back if you are unhappy with it. That usually means that they are ambivalent about selling the bike. In other words, it's been a good bike, but there's something that's tipped them into selling. Maybe just the crazy money some fools are paying without even a pre-purchase inspection. If the vendor reminds you of a patent medicine seller (snake oil merchant), they most likely are. Obviously though, there has to be a few loud people out there selling fine examples.

So good luck with the old Ducati in your future. If you are not or don't know an accomplished mechanic and electrician, you'll need lots of it.

Best regards and do not get driven over and killed horribly by a moron.

KGB