Restoration of a 1974 Ducati 750 Sport – by Austin Vintage Cycle

The fine folks at Austin Vintage Cycle have completed another restoration of a classic Ducati, and I thought you’d enjoy seeing what it takes to make a bike better than new. It was originally delivered to AVC from a barn in New Jersey. The original owner rode it just 2,300 miles and then threw it in storage…

As told by AVC and lightly paraphrased by yours truly:

The original owner purchased the bike new and proceeded to ride it a mere 2,300 miles. We were a little skeptical about the mileage, but after the motor was disassembled it became clear that this was the low mileage bike we were told it was.

There are lots of clues that confirm this: the motor internals were as perfect and pristine as one would expect from only running for 2,300 miles and there weren’t any nicks on the Borrani wheels from tire changes. Since the bike had been sitting for decades, it needed more than just a simple clean up to get it running. The gas tank was badly corroded and all the painted parts were badly faded. So the bike under went a full restoration. Every nut, bolt and fastener has been gone over as well as a full motor teardown and reassembly. The wheels and spokes were done; retaining the original spokes and nipples. The only non-original part currently on this bike is the ignition as we did away with the old points and condenser set up.

Fitting the fairing was a bit tedious and even back in the day this was not a real great set up. Later years saw Ducati change the way these were mounted. As you can see in the pic, the headlight sits behind the lens of the fairing and turns with the bars as opposed to being stationary as per later years. This bike will be entered in the next years Quail Gathering and will be going to its new home in California very soon. In the meantime, it is our job to put a few test miles on this old girl and have a bit of fun as well. The brackets and fairing are sitting nice, tight, and straight on the bike. Disregard the top triple clamp that is on the bike. It is not correct and is a GT clamp:

As they restored the bike, AVC wanted to document both 1. Originality, as evidenced by batch tags on the inside of the fender and side covers, and 2. Low mileage. The odometer shows 2,300 miles, though you never really know if that is correct or not. The inside of the engine covers look brand new as does the clutch and exposed gears on this side of the motor. Even the stator wiring looks pristine.

Here are the original wheel spokes, before and after cleaning. Once they are painted they will be used in the restoration of this bike to keep it as close to its original state.

Here is a close up showing the batch numbers on the inside of the fender and side cover. Note the texture of the fiberglass.

Here is the motor as they split the cases open for inspection and media blast the bare aluminum. The more the AVC crew got into this build, the more certain they were that this bike was indeed put away after only doing a mere 2,300 miles. The transmission gears look nearly perfect and the crank and rod assembly is nice and tight with no play at all.

Here are the swingarm, center stand, and chain guard after sanding and priming so they’re ready for fresh paint. On the Sport models, the chain guards were painted black as opposed to polished stainless steel:

Here is one of the original Borrani wheels before being cleaned and polished. These old wheels usually took a beating from tire changes and use. They are typically very scratched up, dinged, dented and in bad shape. The condition of these wheels reveals that there was only one tire change on this bike before it was put away:

Left half of the crankcase with a tape job to protect the gasket surface while the bare aluminum gets media blasted:

That same half of the crankcase cleaned and ready with new bearings installed:

Freshly painted frame and swingarm. Wheel sets are done with freshly painted spokes as per the original finish, with new wheel bearings. The original Borrani wheels have been cleaned and polished with new Dunlop K81 tires mounted. The front forks are partially assembled and the bike is ready for the front wheel and brake caliper.

Restored rear wheel assembly with all the aluminum parts either media blasted or polished. Swingarm pivot has been refurbished and properly shimmed and greased. The original rear shocks will be mounted when they are done:

Here is the bike with the finished seat and fenders mounted. The motor and chassis are complete and it is now ready for the gas tank and fairing to be mounted.