Nifty potential ducati project

[albertaphil]

So this showed up recently on local kijiji: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-business-industr ... nFlag=true

$200 cad. The owner claims it ran well last summer. He has never used the engine for anything and knows nothing about it.

It is labeled as a wisconsin diesel motor WD2-100. First of all it must be a WD2-1000. It is a 1000cc 2 cyl air cooled rated at 24hp. I can't find any further specs about weight, but I am guessing it would be equivalent to the ruggerini rd 210, or maybe rd 270. Not particularly motorcycle-ish.

But the thing is that Wisconsin diesels were actually rebadged Ducati motors sold in the New world for a few years.

How about putting this engine in a Ducati frame and having a completely Ducati diesel bike? I know less than nothing about past or present Ducati bikes...this motor wouldn't look or fit very well in a sportbike.

The catch: this engine is probably the only one of it's kind on this continent, and parts are apparently very hard to find. The only piece of equipment I know of that used anything like this engine were a model of bolens compact tractors sold for about 2 years in the early 80s, and they used this engines 860cc little brother.

Are Ducati diesels around europe any more. Does anyone know anything about them? Btw this would be a Ducati is24.

[Blunt Eversmoke]

So this showed up recently on local kijiji: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-business-industr ... nFlag=true

$200 cad. The owner claims it ran well last summer. He has never used the engine for anything and knows nothing about it.

It is labeled as a wisconsin diesel motor WD2-100. First of all it must be a WD2-1000. It is a 1000cc 2 cyl air cooled rated at 24hp. I can't find any further specs about weight, but I am guessing it would be equivalent to the ruggerini rd 210, or maybe rd 270. Not particularly motorcycle-ish.

But the thing is that Wisconsin diesels were actually rebadged Ducati motors sold in the New world for a few years.

How about putting this engine in a Ducati frame and having a completely Ducati diesel bike? I know less than nothing about past or present Ducati bikes...this motor wouldn't look or fit very well in a sportbike.

The catch: this engine is probably the only one of it's kind on this continent, and parts are apparently very hard to find. The only piece of equipment I know of that used anything like this engine were a model of bolens compact tractors sold for about 2 years in the early 80s, and they used this engines 860cc little brother.

Are Ducati diesels around europe any more. Does anyone know anything about them? Btw this would be a Ducati is24.

I only ever saw a Ducati diesel on German eBay once or twice(as result of first auction having been prolonged or re-lotted), and that was two or three years ago. Even the little agricultural two-stroke diesels from ILO, Holder and Hirth, hell, even those from Slavia or Stihl appear more often. So, Americas are not the only continent where Ducati diesels are rare as hell. Sorry to disappoint you.

But, maybe if we ask someone from Italy proper?..

[coachgeo]

....How about putting this engine in a Ducati frame and having a completely Ducati diesel bike? ....

Now that would be PERFECT since there exist a Ducatti Diesel now.

Of course its not Diesel fuel.... but instead Diesel as in like Vin Diesel........ as in.. bulky monstorous, powerfull, ego humping.

http://www.ducati.com/monster_diesel/index.do

[albertaphil]

Which makes it that much harder to search for any Ducati diesel engines. Or is pretty hard to disambiguate the Ducati "Diesel" motorbike from a Ducati diesel engine. And then of course eBay Italia comes up with 502 pages of fiat ducato parts... Sheesh.

[boutje]

Somethimes , about twice a year , i see ducati diesels for sale on dutch sites.
Sites like http://www.marktplaats.nl and http://www.speurders.nl

And mostly they are ducati rovatti waterpumps.

[albertaphil]

So it would seem that a ducati bike powered by a Ducati diesel engine would be interesting as a showpiece, but not too feasible as a bike to ride. I would be too afraid of not being able to find parts. Pity.