Hello to all in this community I am really pleased to have found this forum and hope to access the wealth of accumulated knowledge. My bike is a Ducati 1974 450cc Scrambler which i bought and am preparing for the tech. inspection prior to registering for road use. I have the following problem which I have not seen discussed but must be symptomatic to this model if mine has the standard parts fitted. The chain adjustment on my 1974 450 Scrambler is insufficient to correctly tighten the chain, the adjusters are at the limit and the chain is so slack that there are grooves worn into the swinging arm and engine casing on the tight strand and into the frame loop on the slack strand. The chain set appears to be new and not worn. Installed are sprockets with 13 teeth front and 35 teeth rear. The chain is 520VX2 with 98 pins. I’m sure there is a bevel drive enthusiast out there who can throw some light on this, I would be very thankful.
“Installed are sprockets with 13 teeth front and 35 teeth rear. The chain is 520VX2 with 98 pins.” Is this the standard for your bike? Sounds like sprockets are too small or chain is too big.
I’ve googled this for you. Sprocket sizes are acceptable. So you probably need to find someone to shorten the chain for you.
Thanks for checking, I should have mentioned that I shortened the chain by 1 link (96 pins), but this moved the axel so far forward that it could not be installed.
The rear shocks may be replacements but are from Marzocchi, mounting points are original. The idea with a 12 tooth sprocket and shortened chain is worth trying. The only other option I see is to machine the swinging arm fork, extending it so that the axel can be installed. Although I cannot believe that to be necessary on a standard config bike.
