Caramella Dell'occhio

CARAMELLA DELL'OCCHIO

Sweet little Ducati Single

AT THE RISK OF INCITing angry mail from the misguided in Chicago, Kansas City and elsewhere, everyone knows that the best barbecue comes from Texas. Who'd have guessed, however, that the Lone Star Republic would also give us one of the country's tastiest Ducati classics? Stop by the Up-N-Smoke BBQ House in Keller, just north of Fort Worth, and you may be lucky enough to sample both. The well-reviewed eatery is owned by bike collector Phil Dansby, who often displays his motorcycles inside the restaurant.

One of his latest is this Ducati roadracing special, a year-long build that started as a basketcase RT450, the Italian company’s unsung early-Seventies scrambler.

“That original $80 purchase was by far the cheapest part of the project,” reports Dansby, who unbolted the desmo motor and traded the rest of the chassis for wheels and a streetbike frame, year unknown. Next came fiberglass patterned

after the factory’s midFifties 175cc F3 racers, sold by a British company called Staccato, unfortunately now out of business. A nice competition touch is the oil catch tank molded into the rear fender.

A 650 Benelli Tornado donated its 38mm Marzocchi fork and steering damper to the cause. Spokes and all fasteners are stainless-steel, and the polished and ported motor’s crowning item is its “geargazer” inspection glass, the better to see Dr. T’s beveldrive handiwork in motion. Taglioni, no doubt, would also approve of the bike’s color scheme.

“While the paint job reflects back to the F3, the colors do not. I preferred the silver/green of the roundcase 750SS, but elected for a brighter shade of green,” says Dansby. “I also had the words ‘Eye Candy’ handlettered on the rear fender. I think it is quite appropriate.”

On that there’ll be no argument.

David Edwards