Laguna Seca Superbike Concorso and Ducati Island 2008
Story by Vicki Smith Photos by Vicki Smith and and the ever excellent Steve Leukenech.
Tim Keyes and his brother Tom brought this pair of Beautiful Bevels. I'll let them tell you about them:
1FunDuc - This bike was sold new through Champion Cycles in Costa Mesa, CA. Bought from the 1st owner when it was about 18 months old, around early 1979, The odometer now shows about 16,000 miles. It was disconnected early on when I reversed the fork legs to mount the brake calipers behind the forks. The bike has been used for commuting for many years. It's great for splitting lanes! It's total milage is unknown but its well past 50K. In 1982 I hit a very large chuck hole on the freeway and bent the rear rim. It was a good reason to toss the original Borrani rims for DID, a wm4 front and wm 5 rear, laced with stainless spokes and nipples. The wm 5 was the widest rear rim you could run without shaving the tire or spacing out the sprockets. The contemporary Ducati racers ran a 4/6 combo. The bike was raced once at Riverside raceway. It lunched its trans and DNFed. I figured out pretty quickly that my meager income would not support road racing.The engine now has a stepped pin crank and 87mm high compression pistons from Woods Motors, modified Surflex clutch plates w/ 450 springs, trans gears modified for reliability, the transmission windage tray is ventilated for oil return. It has later SS heads with hardened valve guides and seats. After a slow low-side drop about 25 years ago I painted the bodywork in metalic silver and early Ferrari red using Ditzler lacquer with a two pack clear. The bike is shown with it's optional double seat. It has been a fun rider. I want to begin rebuilding/restoring it soon.
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