<-=- Club Bevel Heaven -=->

Hi,

Just registered because I just purchased my very first Ducati, a Tartarini 450 bevel single.

During the past 34 years I have been very involved in the Laverda scene and I still active as custodian of the Int. Laverda 750 SFC Owners Registry and board member of the Dutch Laverda Club. There are however more machines that I have a soft spot for, and a Ducati single always was one of them.
I never could decide if it was the Silver Desmo or the Yellow Tartarini that I like the most so fate decided for me..
This machine crossed my path, I fancied it, so here I am!

It’s nice to explore new things, so here I enter the world of vertically split crankcases and desmo heads!

I hope that one sunny day the right 750 Yellow Sport will cross my path too, but not too quickly please..

Look forward to get in touch with some of you, I know I will have quite a few things to learn!

Marnix
Rotterdam
The Netherlands

Welcome aboard Marnix, can you post a photo of your cool looking 450 here for everyone to see?

Thanks Steve,

Took a moment to figure out how to show a picture but here she is..

Believe the bike has a history in Germany because it had the common 'Ochsenaugen' blinkers on the clip-ons.
Basically it's a 250, yet with a 450 Mark3 engine.

The engine smokes which may worn piston ring and/or the inlet valve seal.

The good news is however that it has the original steel tank, Verlicchi clip-ons with handles welded to them, the original headlight, good clocks and the original Borrani rims.

Would love a 450 Desmo head on it though!




Marnix

Hi Marnix,

Nice to see you here! Welcome!

Nice bike there. I wait to see it on the track ...

Ciao

Craig (yup, the guy with the RGS Corsa and the Zané Formula ... and a couple of Ducrappi singles).

Hi 'Craig from UK',

Likewise nice to see you here, didn't know you have Ducatis too. Didn't know that!

The single is smoking like hell, oil coming from the exhaust port. Have to find out if it's something trivial as an exhaust seal leaking (it does) a matter of the inlet valve seal, worn oil ring or worse.

The carb setting is main 135, needle jet 265M, V13 needle (middle) and unmarked idle jet. Anybody reckon that this should be OK with the original Silentium exhaust?

Would be fun to ride it on the track one day, thought my Egli Laverda was a lightweight..

Marnix

Hi Marnix

there is a dutch Ducati forum to beneluxheads.com

is this bike ex Hans Smid by any chance ?
he is still looking for a rear fender

Eldert

Hi Eldert,

Yes that's the one. Now I continue the quest for the rear mudguard..

Marnix

MarnixSFC wrote:Hi 'Craig from UK'

It's more 'Craig in France' these days, Marnix (Well, I had to go somewhere where the suns shines ... . Not that it was shining much at the Coupes Motos Légende when you bump started my Corsa - for which I thank you again! It was the IIS ignition that had failed, btw).

MarnixSFC wrote: .. didn't know you have Ducatis too.

Yup: a 1972 450 SCR; a 1982 350 Vento (made by Mototrans in Spain, but still proudly badged, 'Ducati); and a 1979 900 Super Sport Darmah.

MarnixSFC wrote: The single is smoking like hell ...

But the nice thing, Marnix, is that they're singles - and so relatively easy to re-build . Bits are generally easily available too - I can send you a list of suppliers, if you need. Just look out for some people trying to charge high prices, certainly compared to Laverda stuff (it's the price of fame, I guess ...)

MarnixSFC wrote:The carb setting is main 135, needle jet 265M, V13 needle (middle) and unmarked idle jet. Anybody rechon that this should be OK with the original Silentium exhaust?

This is with a VHB 29 carb? Sounds a bit of a mix. Mick Walker says this for the 450 (springer head):
Main: 135
Needle: V7 (middle groove)
Pilot: 50
Slide: 60
Atomiser/Needle jet: 260T.

The V13 + 265M combination seems to belong to the 250 engine - i.e what your bike started out as. Btw, you may want to think about fitting a 30/32 PHF carb. It was a popular modification at the time. Also, the slides on the VHBs wear and new ones can be hard to find. But Eldert will know more about this, I'm sure.

MarnixSFC wrote: ...thought my Egli Laverda was a lightweight..

These little Ducatis sure are great fun, Marnix. And compared to a Laverda ... well, let's not mention the word, 'Agricultural', ok? .

Ciao

Craig (in France)

Craig,

This was very unkind...

These little Ducatis sure are great fun, Marnix. And compared to a Laverda ... well, let's not mention the word, 'Agricultural', ok? .

You could at least have used the horse analogy of a thoroughbred sprinter and an armoured destrier!

Kev

machten wrote:Craig,

This was very unkind...<snip.

.

Let's just say that I was very glad that Marnix was around when my 550lb (quoted weight - yeh, right!) Corsa wouldn't start. But Marnix is a big lad (and I mean that kindly, Marnix ), plus he knows what he's doing ...

Ciao

Craig

But Marnix is a big lad (and I mean that kindly, Marnix ), plus he knows what he's doing ...

That will come in very handy when he puts Desmo heads on the 450 and loses the valve lifter!!

Kev

IIS failed,what caused that?Mine has been fine since John fitted it a very long time ago

Vince wrote:IIS failed,what caused that?Mine has been fine since John fitted it a very long time ago

Hi Vince,

I'll pm you to avoid taking this thead off topic ...

Ciao

Craig

Well Craig, the idle jet is a 60 so maybe that explains the difficult starting. Before contemplating modifications I first want to make it a healthy runner, and starter.. For me it's easier to push start a Laverda Corsa on any surface than to fire up this tiny yellow moped..

Kev, the engine has no valve lifter.

Yesterday we had the 'Italday' here in Holland, where the Italian bike clubs present themselves and where hundreds of Italian bikes showed up, remarkably few wide crankcase bevel singles though.
Made me conclude that mine is actually quite a nice unmodified example, save the engine of course.. Always nice.

Was wondering if fitting a Desmo head makes a big difference in performance or if you can simply throw in a hotter cam, maybe in combination with coil springs?

Marnix

Hi Marnix,

Yeh, when set up right, Ducati singles are easy starters - spark+fuel+compression = Go.

I'm pretty sure that all 450 spring heads should have a valve lifter, operated using a lever on the left handlebar. However, I stand to be corrected on this ...

I don't know enuf to comment about the 'real-life' benefits of fitting a Desmo head. Of course, the main benefit of the Desmodromic system was that you could/can carry higher revs, especially on entering corners; but just when the improvement in spring technology was able to match this, I don't know.

(I do know that Motorans never fitted Desmo heads, but went down the coil spring route instead. But maybe that was because Ducati never gave them the manufacturing rights.)

Best speak to some racers. And I'm sure Eldert will know ... As you can believe, there's lots of tuning mods that have been worked out over the years (hey, you can even get a dry clutch from Mario Sassi ...)

Ditto for the cam. From what I read, your cam should be a 'White/blue' (so-named 'cos of the paint the factory put on the end). Characteristics:

Inlet: open 70 degrees PMS (= punto morto superiore ='top dead centre'); close 82 after PMI (=punto morte inferiore = 'bottom dead centre')

Exhaust: 80 before PMI, close 65 after PMS

P.s I see Mario has a rear guard advertised on his web site. Looks like this ... Any good?