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Ducati 1000 DS custom build

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well I had a little ride on the Buell.... it goes VERY VERY well! I cant believe how they have got that old Sportster engine to produce so much power and torque! It spins up amazingly fast... It's nothing like the 2006 Sportster 1200 I used to own, that had about 50 BHP

Its certainty MUCH more powerful than the Guzzi and I dare say a fair bit more than the Ducati as well! It was only a brief ride but the handling feels very sharp as well, but I didn't push at all as the tyres are new...

Does it vibrate? well... yes, but not as bad as I imagined. I will report back once I have ridden it in anger

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I have done around 300 mile now, its running well! I love the torque, and it actually feels quite quick! It also handles and brakes beautifully. However, it does vibrate, and I had my first casualty… a bolt from the air filter dropped out! Maybe I didn’t tighten it enough, the design of the filter is not the best so I didn’t fully tighten the bolts. sods law it was a special bolt with a breather hole in it… I tried to make a couple in stainless, but I couldn’t broach a hexagon in it as it was way too hard.. I ended up making a couple of bolts in brass. I have now drilled the head on these so I can wire them in place.

the other thing that definitely wasn’t right was the gear change… When the foot lever was in a comfortable position, the angles of the rod and levers was not right… I ended up making a new gear lever to get it all right. the difference this small thing made was HUGE! Its these sort of changes that make a real difference to how a bike rides.

I have mentioned before that I like to get a bike at the back of the garage for next winters build… I thought plenty of time over summer to get something sorted… Last week a message dropped into my facebook messenger… I was from a lady who said she had followed my posts on there and had seen what I had done with bikes… and did I want another project! If all goes to plan it will arrive next Monday… so watch this space!

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Lovely job with the gear shift, I had a very similar situation with my brake pedal, a minor tweak made all the difference to the riding experience. Great thread.
 
Good work Tony 😃 and holding our collective breath for the big 25/26 unveil ! Please keep the project for next winter….it keeps us going during the dark days….. CR
 
crawsue said:
Good work Tony 😃 and holding our collective breath for the big 25/26 unveil ! Please keep the project for next winter….it keeps us going during the dark days….. CR
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I have been told quite firmly that I have to keep my hands in my pockets until at least september !!
 
Well this has arrived... its a 2004 XB12R... I really didn't need another project just yet, but when this came along at a bargain price it was simply too good to miss! its done 12k miles and is in really nice condition! lots of aftermarket carbon parts on it, plus all the original parts as well!

Not sure what I will do with it yet, I am tempted to just ride it for a while! We will see...

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Now if I was ever tempted to go a bit HDwise it would be a Buell, but if that was mine I'd just have to do something about that headlight fairing bit, it looks all wrong to me.
 
Certainly “left field “ in motorcycle design…..It was a pity that Eric Buell didn’t really have access to more modern engine designs…..The fairing / headlight design looks like an afterthought, hopefully Tony has the answers , you wouldn’t bet against it ! 😝
 
buzzer said:
well I had a little ride on the Buell.... it goes VERY VERY well! I cant believe how they have got that old Sportster engine to produce so much power and torque! It spins up amazingly fast... It's nothing like the 2006 Sportster 1200 I used to own, that had about 50 BHP

Its certainty MUCH more powerful than the Guzzi and I dare say a fair bit more than the Ducati as well! It was only a brief ride but the handling feels very sharp as well, but I didn't push at all as the tyres are new...

Does it vibrate? well... yes, but not as bad as I imagined. I will report back once I have ridden it in anger

20250214_095222998_ios-1-copy.jpg
Click to expand...
Used to race Sportsters back in the series in 1980s and 90s the old Iron heads we took out to 1277cc and ran 11-1 compression they dynoed at 83 Bhp and 73ftlb torque but were fragile and only 4 speed box ,, later evo sporties in race spec could get up to 92bhp and 81ftlb torque and they were very reliable and tough and Buells must be about the same .. we used to cut almost 100lb of weight off ,, i had a Buell S3 in Thailand for a while
 
Another victim of vibration...I lost a seat bolt…. No problem I thought, bound to be one on Ebay…. there was… sold for £100!!! seems its now a rare item! I measured the thread and set the lathe up to the pitch of the thread… been a while since I did any screw cutting, so I had to get the book out, which is the original one that came with the lathe! there is even a commissioning sheet, dater May 1959! I love making stuff like this!

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I did say this build would sit at the back of the garage until the end of september when we come back off holiday... But there is not much riding weather of late so I couldn't resist doing a few jobs!

I have however been doing quite a few miles on the last Buell... and I have to say that I love riding it! I love the wall of torque, pin sharp handling, and the sound!

My ideas are starting to form in terms of how this one will look… one thing for sure is that the clip ons have to go, so the first job has been to make a new top yoke. I drew it up in CAD and sent the file to the water jet cutter along with a 25mm billet of aircraft grade alloy, it came back perfect!

I had to machine a recess in the top, and this needed a bigger lathe than mine so I popped in to see my mate… Nice and easy job but I did come away with Lathe envy!

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