Finding a race dash brace for the 749 was far harder than I thought it would be. Nobody listed the part new, so it was off to eBay I went. Even there the options were very slim. I found one in Europe, and another here on the West Coast of the US.

The part in Europe was one of the highest recommended solutions, but price was over $150 not including the costs and issues with international shipping. The other option was a part made by Lockhart Philips, located just 70 miles north of me in Santa Rosa. I pulled the trigger on the local part and had it within a couple of days.

Having removed the street bodywork last week, I found that having it on the floor was not a good option, so a quick trip to the hardware store to get some bicycle hangers solved the problem. Up, safe, and out of the way.

With the street bodywork away, the search is one for suitable track bodywork. Much like the race brace, it’s not the simplest to find. More information on that once I have my decision made in that regard.

Having the bodywork issue resolved, and the race brace in hand, the front assembly for headlights and dash were dispensed with. Despite the size, they were not nearly as heavy as I had anticipated. But they were a little challenging to remove with more than 9 bolts holding the two halves together, and another 4 attaching them to the frame. Access to some of the bolts was not the simplest either. Never the less, it’s done.

After a couple of hours of test fitting and trying to decide where to mount the fuse block, the bracket was installed and the wires tidied up.

The updated view of the cockpit.

Having the bike in the shop for a few days now, and have been putting the plans together for the transformation.

First order of business was to remove the street plastic and start working on removal of all the street parts.

Having ridden the bike more than 100 miles from Redwood City to the shop, I knew it was in good running order, with a couple of exceptions. All the same, have the bodywork off makes it easier to examine things closely and determine if any additional work needed to be done.

I plan to run the bike at Laguna Seca, and the maximum sound limits are pretty strict. So, the cool Remus exhaust…
had to be replaced with the very heavy and not very sexy looking stock component.

The dash and headlights are in great shape, and I hope to keep them that way. However track bikes do not need lights. Most organizations will let you run the bike on the track if you tape them off. But I plan to remove them all together and replace the entire assembly with a race bracket. One other item that needs to be dealt with, is the lack of a factory steering stabilizer on the Ducati 749 Dark. :/ That’s not going to be cheap.

One of the repair issues I have is a leaking right front shock fork. It’s not easy to see, but it’s much wetter than it should be, and it’s known to be leaking. I knew this when I bought it. Since the forks will be re-worked for the track, I’m not too worried about it, especially since the previous owner supplied me the repair parts.

Another bit that I want to address is the clutch cover. This is looks very sturdy, and I’m sure will work far better than the stock stamped sheet metal cover in a crash. However I plan to replace it with one identical to that which I run on my 1098. It’s made by Woodraft and has a replaceable slider.

Here it comes, yet another bike project. The question you might be asking… “Will he actually finish this one?” OF COURSE!!! Well, that intent is always there. One major difference in this project, is that the bike I’m starting with ACTUALLY RUNS!. And not just runs, but is perfectly road worthy. After buying the bike, I road it 100 miles home, over some of the best local twisty roads this area has to offer (to be honest, these are some pretty good roads by any standard!).

Here is what I’m starting off with. A 2004 Ducati 749 Superbike. She sure looks good, doesn’t she? Why I’d take a perfectly nice looking bike like this and turn it into a track sled might seem boggling to some (and perfectly sensible to others). Well, let me start off by saying that the bike was CHEAP! I mean, 1990’s 600 sport-bike cheap. A 1990 Honda CRB600 generally goes for more than I paid for this bike. Beside the fact the Ducati really is a track weapon, this one was also eminently affordable. 🙂

Now stay tuned as I work my way through this bike, get it ready to hit the track, and of course, shoot some video along the way! 😀