Marianna

 

My buddy Bob, the Ducati singles specialist, came down yesterday. I fixed a cylinder head for him quite a while ago, so he wanted to pick that up, plus it's been a long time since we've chewed the fat. He's got an opportunity to ride the Giro in Italy again next year, so we talked Ducati singles and he brought up the Marianna. Seems the bike has a rather unique gas tank on it. The tank is held on with a leather strap as was the style back then, and it has a cut-out on the right side for the velocity stack. After he left I did a search for the Marianna to see a couple of photos and came across the above video. It's about 30 minutes long but if your interested in vintage bikes, especially Ducatis, you'll find it interesting.

The shims for the Sportster came in the mail Friday. After Bob left I mowed the back yard and then Pulled the side cover off the bike to see about getting the gears timed. I need to turn the engine over a tick but I think I've got all the gears aligned. After I double check everything I'll install the shims, double check the end play and then seal it up. Progress is slow but it is progress.

While mowing I noticed the third lily of the ones I planted this spring finally popped up. It's the little green spot on the left side of the photo. Obviously hasn't kept up with the one on the right side but it's going to fill in the spot so I don't have to buy another one.

I went to the college on Thursday to get some info on getting the grandson certified. Three courses are required to get to that point. I think I can get him tested out of the first one which is just an overview of the welding processes, safety and an online OSHA course. The other two classes are stick welding 1 and 2. I've taught those and the success rate is not very high for passing a vertical bend test, the vertical test qualifying you for flat, horizontal and vertical positions. There's just not enough practice time built into the two classes to become proficient. I also talked to the boss man about going back to work. I'm still sitting on the fence with that but me being employed there would make it easier to help the grandson, especially if he wanted to continue with the program.