Morning, I wanted to create a thread about my Darmah. So, in July one of my friends was helping to clear out a barn of classic bikes and sat in the middle was the Darmah. It had a massive front cowl, didn’t have a key but the log book with some of the history was present. The bike itself has 15000 miles and hasn’t been on the road properly since 1983. It’s changed hands three times since then and been through a motorcycle auction back in 2014 where it ended up here. it’s black and gold and that’s the colour scheme I’ve wanted since I have been able to ride bikes. The engine was seized but most the parts seemed to be present so finding most of the parts to put it back together isn’t an issue. So, the frame, wheels and fork legs are with CSP Powdercoating in Tonbridge. The engine is with Ray Petty in Greenwich. Ritual Motorcycles in Kent will piece it all together and add the finishing touches. My plan is to create a more flat track / cafe style Darmah and along the way I’ll be updating all the pieces that need improving. Motogadget wiring, Speedo and headlamp will be on the cards and ignition system improvements. Watch this space. I have a rolling budget as I plan on this taking me about 8months to build as I’ll be doing bits around my day job. Let’s see what obstacles a vintage Ducati throws at me.
I notice the bike has 5 spoke Campagnolo wheels and once they have been crack tested they are worth a pretty penny.
Btw - if the speedo is marked in both kph and mph then the mileage will be kilometres. A cafe racer is pretty much what the SS & to a lesser extend the Darmah SSD is. But with a long stretch to the bars & foot pegs quite high it's built more for a Orang-utan than a human. As you've probably noticed the bike is long, low & raked out primarily driven by the horizontal front cyclinder so the flat tracker look is tough to get right with these old bevels without some considered & well executed work. It's quite easy to make summat that just looks like it's had it's arse bitten off. This one don't look too bad https://thekneeslider.com/ducati-xr900-bevel-drive-street-tracker/ Tourer & comfort is a good description of it's original design brief and a well sorted & prepared one can still provide that to this day. I recently did 150 miles in a day on mine with no trouble at all.
Thanks Andy. The XR is so nice isn’t it. I’ll have a play about with the bike and see how it looks with different seats and different bars. The engine placement can make it look unfinished in a way but I’d like to find a company who can make me a hi level scrambler style exhaust
half the budget of the bike… luckily I have all the working parts as spares are like rocking horse… I assume it’ll run me up to 20k for the whole build
