1968 Ducati Desmo 350 Race Bike

In 1965 Ducati built a new concept bike that was to be raced in the 1965 season. This bike was the 350 Sebring and the largest Ducati to be made yet. As usual, Ducati built a racing 350 first. As the 350 classes were not well supported in the United States, when team rider Franco Farne went to the Sebring race, he was forced to race in the 251-700 cc class. Nevertheless he finished 11th overall and, more importantly, won his class handsomely. A glimpse of things to come came in 1966 when Farne appeared at the 1966 Modena 250 race meeting aboard a prototype machine fitted with an experimental Desmodromic head. In January 1968, the dream was realised and Ducati announced plans to build and market the Mark 3D (D for Desmodromic). The Desmodromic design had all four closing and opening lobes mounted on the same shaft, in a system similar to that found in the old Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 cars.

The Desmo offered here has been owned by the vendor for 14 years, the first 3 years of which the bike was raced with some success, with a 2nd place championship achievement and was a constant front runner. This Desmo is one of the finest examples available with upgrades such as a dry clutch conversion and a custom simplified exhaust system. After just 3 years of racing the bike was retired until its full restoration just 2 years ago.

During the rebuild the bike was completely stripped down and great effort was made to source and rebuild the bike with all original parts such as a rare Staccato fuel tank. Along with the complete restoration of the bike itself the engine was subject to a rebuild by John Hakket, which consisted of a new barrel and uprated piston. On completion of the engine rebuild it was bench run in, then fitted in to the freshly built bike and has not been run since. However the engine spins freely and the vendor states that it should run perfectly when started correctly with a roller starter. There is currently no rev counter drive fitted to the engine so one would be required to use the bike to its full potential.

The bike has been kept inside the vendor's house as a display bike since the rebuild completion and has occasionally been shown at motorcycle displays receiving several commendable achievements.