The Inspiration - Ken Reece's 250

The Reality - My 250 Monza

Current

Progress Pictures

The original plan was a 250 loosely based on a 250 GT. I went so far as to get the tank, fenders, and tool boxes. But then I sold the tank to someone who needed it for a restoration of the first Sebring. Meanwhile, I had gone with valanced fenders on my 160 project, so I began to rethink the 250GT look. I decided this one would be more of a "cafe racer". Along those lines I sourced an Oldani replica front brake and a 350 Sebring engine. I eventually bought another Mach 1 style tank, but was in bad shape... and when I was trying to decide if I could even use it, I came across a picture of Ken Reece's 250 (shown above). That was it, decision was made, the beat up tank and other bodywork were sold and a deposit was sent to Evan Wilcox for some hand beaten alloy bodywork.

I spent some time at Evan's shop back in the '90s, and have wanted some of his bodywork ever since. When I saw Ken's bike, I decided it was time to finally do it. The tank and tail showed up June 8th and I have to say, they are beautifully built. The pictures show it sitting on a rolling chassis I threw together - the wheels and shocks are wrong, along with other details. The bottom picture shows the tank on my 160's chassis. I wanted to see how those colors went together - I'll be using different colors on the 350.

I've got other projects that take higher priority than this one right now, so progress on it will be hit and miss. I doubt much will get done on it before winter.

Ken also has some build pictures of his 250 project on his site: http://web.mac.com/m82a1/Kens_Ducatis/250_Cafe_Build.html