DUCATI'S FIRST MOTORCYCLE, THE CUCCIOLO A JEWEL OF AN ENGINE EXPLORED AT TWEED'S GARAGE

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  • Опубліковано 3 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 72

  • @shedbythetracks
    @shedbythetracks Рік тому +3

    Gee whiz... a new project and a history lesson! The only Italian I ever bothered to learn was "Ya got a nice business here... be a shame if sumthin happened to it" Guaranteed to get you a discount. Cheers

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому +1

      Iowa's answer to Don Corleone.......sounds like you've got the hardware store's attitude sorted out.

  • @redtobertshateshandles
    @redtobertshateshandles 5 днів тому +1

    Thanks for showing.

  • @StuartsShed
    @StuartsShed Рік тому +2

    What a charming motor. Thanks for the detailed look around. 👍

  • @petermckee1061
    @petermckee1061 Рік тому +1

    What a great project and that's a sweet little engine. I look forward to seeing progress.
    Cheers, Peter.

  • @whalesong999
    @whalesong999 Рік тому +2

    Intricate, small four strokes are fascinating. In the U.S. we had the Whizzer, a side valve kit engine, about 150cc IIRC. The transmission method with the balls actuated by a rod was apparently fairly popular with small motorcycle makers. My 1957 Zundapp 200cc had that as well as some Japanese makes, Tohatsu (50cc two-stroke, 3 speeds) being one from 1963 or so.

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому

      Excellent information, I´ll store that away in the old noggin for future reference :-)

  • @glenmiller3783
    @glenmiller3783 Рік тому +2

    Cool little engine with a very interesting back story.

  • @coplandjason
    @coplandjason Рік тому +1

    Beautifully engineered little thing that. My father had a BSA Winged Wheel in the shed for years, if I remember rightly it got swapped for a pair of replacement sills for his Volvo he was trying to keep on the road. Looking forward to seeing you work some magic and getting it running again.

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому +1

      I did have a Cyclemaster which was very similar but with its rod brakes in an old bicycle it was slightly terrifying so was moved along once I got it running .

  • @chrislee7817
    @chrislee7817 Рік тому +1

    Wow thanks for that. Been a Ducati rider since 1976 but never seen inside one of these, or owned one come to that. Good luck with locating the chain wheel pedal thing. 👍

  • @dwillett7281
    @dwillett7281 Рік тому +1

    That’s fascinating, beautiful piece of engineering

  • @andreasvenator
    @andreasvenator Рік тому +2

    Just don´t have the guts to open those cans of worms, Mr. Tweed. But I know you have those wonderful lathes in your shop so you can order all sorts of parts if they´re available and produce the rest...now there´s a rootin´-tootin´trailblazer in the fixer-upper scene! Especially that shifter shaft needs your special attention for sure! I wouldn´t be surprised if you´d tried your hand at making spare needles and cages for some of those bearings. The sky´s the limit for a gifted ingegnere (little Italian there)...

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому

      Thanks Andreas.......and nice bit of Italian there 😀

  • @gbentley8176
    @gbentley8176 Рік тому

    Always good engineering from the Italians Mr T. Alvis compares well as they used their in house foundry. Variety is the spice of life at the Tweed garage clearly. Thank you for posting.

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому

      I didn't´t know that Mr B, one to squirrel away in the old noggin.

  • @russcole5685
    @russcole5685 Рік тому +2

    Hello from New Zealand. Thanks for this video, ive a '64 Ducati 100 Mountaineer. 2 stroke near complete restoration. Just need the rear mud gaurd/tail light assembly, and the rrar carrier rack. Very interesting looking at this engine. I always thought they were a 2 stroke, nice to see its not

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому +1

      that would be one of the cowled fan cooled motors, very rare over here as they were never imported, but much rated by Alan Cathcart

    • @russcole5685
      @russcole5685 Рік тому

      @@TweedsGarage yes sir, yes it is. 3 speed on the left hand, cable pull, pull system. Twin sprocket rear. Mines running, a get a lot of looks riding it around. Not fast 60kph with 12 tooth front sprocket, 1 made a 16 tooth for on road. But with 12 in front, 60 on rear. you'll be lucky to get 35kph, but it will climb any gill you point it at. LoL 🤣. It's a bit to ride

  • @snubbedpeer
    @snubbedpeer 3 дні тому +1

    So the reason for choosing 4 stroke was to be able to run on inferior fuel, I wondered why they didn't do the usual 2 stroke. Cheers! 👍

  • @teamjdb
    @teamjdb Рік тому +1

    That's a cracking bit of kit, slightly different engineering to an Excelsior! Well Villiers, really.

  • @billdyke9745
    @billdyke9745 Рік тому

    That, Mr. Tweed, was absolutely fascinating. All the way through I was thinking Blimey, that can't have been cheap... I had an Italian designed bicycle engine in the late 60s. A Mini-motor. Made or imported by Trojan, who made bubble cars and things.(Went on to manufacture condoms in America, as far as I can tell... Quizzical eyebrow raising)... Looking forward to this project. Would be nice to see it fitted to a period pushbike. Sit up and beg, rod brakes, bicycle clips... Well done, that man. 👍

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому

      that is a strange business diversification .......must of been one of those " blue skies thinking " boardroom meeting ( probably conducted in a pub . :-)

  • @robjw66111
    @robjw66111 Рік тому +1

    ciao bella cappuccino duo nice lilltle engine!

  • @JRattheranch
    @JRattheranch Рік тому +1

    Wow! Just wow! Typically Italian engineering but that gear selection system, even by their standards, is so elegant! Spent a lot of time in Italy training over the decades and I was always impressed by their ingenuity and design prowess, compared to brutal German engineering!

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому +1

      And don't forget their ice cream 😋

    • @JRattheranch
      @JRattheranch Рік тому +1

      @@TweedsGarage I actually managed, when challenged, by a lovely cafe owner in Sorrento, to taste everyone of his 54 varieties! Success was FOC.... Failure would have been extremely expensive 🤣😔🤣!

    • @howardosborne8647
      @howardosborne8647 Рік тому +1

      @@TweedsGarage Gelato,old boy. You mention Icecream to Italians and you'll get crushed nuts without asking for them.

  • @984francis
    @984francis Рік тому +1

    This is priceless!

  • @retromechanicalengineer
    @retromechanicalengineer Рік тому +1

    Ivan from Shed Racing has two very nice examples of these and he's often over in Italy. He may be able to help you out with a source of spare parts.
    Best wishes, Dean.

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому +1

      I´ll have to pull my finger out and get the Riley over there ( I did say I would after chatting with him on a visit ). He has got a nice collection of tiddlers .

    • @retromechanicalengineer
      @retromechanicalengineer Рік тому

      @@TweedsGarage yes, he has a nice set up. You'll enjoy meeting John, he is a legend.

  • @colinbeadle7109
    @colinbeadle7109 Рік тому +1

    I remember the Power Pack. I found a reference to Lee Warner who was ambitious enough in 1955 to use a Power Pack to get him to Australia from Britain returrning via San Francisco to New York. In your estimation how far do you think he he may have gone? No reference to the manufacturers willing to sponsor him!

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому

      he's mentioned in " The Stink Wheel Saga" which says " the four figure mileometer on the Power Pak read 5´501 miles on the second time round (15´501 miles ) on the one spark plug!!!!!
      The British have always been terrible for spotting a marketing gift when it's presented to them on a plate......just take "The Italian Job" which elevated the Mini to an icon, the film company had to buy all the Minis used in the film as BMC refused to supply them any when asked......if it wasn't for the producers being so patriotic the film´s starring cars would of been Alfa Romeo as Fiat and Alfa where on too willing to supply cars for the film.

  • @NoelASpalding
    @NoelASpalding 8 днів тому

    While it’s always good that Cucciolo’s get attention, there is a lot of confused and jumbled writing on them that is simply made-up or repeated without much research. A number of points;
    1. Only the T1’s had eyelets to the pullrods, T2’s had locknuts. “Grinding” to the caps was never an option; the T1-b and T1D engines needed to be removed from the cycle and entirely disassembled to correct valve clearances. They were shimmed at the base. Partly the reason Siata developed the T2.
    2. That carburettor isn’t for the T50. it is a 14/8 from a T1-V1. T50’s had a characteristically larger bellmouth of a 14MFC or later shared a 14MFM1 with the 55M that had a chromed bellmouth cap.
    3. For the clutch armature mounting, one of the metallurgical features of Silumin alloy is it can’t be welded. Silicates precipitate in the welding process within the heat affected zone and constitute a contaminant that forms a stress fracture point on cooling. It will break again.
    4. Showing a Britax Hurricane while discussing compression as some tuning example is misleading; Hurricane engines were not tuned in any way. Cucciolo’s leave little in the way of tuning opportunities.
    5. T50 clutches have 19-plates, not 8. T1’s had 13.
    6. Prior to the T50, which is a ‘Type 1950’ marketing label, as they are T2-V2 “Secondo’s”, the “original” engines were the T2-V1 “Primo”, a Ducati derivative of the Cansa SC. Prior to that was the T1’s, the Siata T1-b and the licensed Ducati T1D, which were in turn derived from the T1-a 45’ and T1-a 46’, each of which had two further variants (There were fully eighteen different Cucciolo’s and parts are not interchangeable).
    7. The gear selector system is a Jonghi design. Your primary shaft is severely chipped and will be unusable when you get it running. It is certainly an “issue” as the gears will jump and further chipping creates catastrophic swarf in the case. Yes, it will need TIG welding but replacing the ball bearings won’t be necessary. Neither will replacing any of the barrel or needle rollers. None take enough stress.
    8. As for history, well done, at least you started with Siata, but Farinelli was never anything other than Siatas Lawyer and later Commercial Manager. It was probably Enzo Forio who designed the T1 and Aldo Leoni who built it. The original intention in 1943 was a 2-stroke however, not unlike a Trojan. Unfortunately, like the Ducati brothers, they were all “cronies” of Mussolini. No money whatsoever came from the Vatican, it was from the government and Ducati was denied war compensation because of its fascist connections. Ducati were only the second company to be given licence by Siata, Cansa was the first and Ducati didn’t “buy the rights up”; Siata retained them and were paid royalties. A lot of the early history of Ducati is written in retrospect by Bruno Ducati and the Museum/Institute and a lot is glossed-over, wilfully omitted and/or hopelessly biased. Remember that the Ducati brothers were forcibly ousted.
    9. Wheeler, Philippa and Beare, David; The Stinkwheel Saga 2004, Stinkwheel Publishing, Episode1 and 2 (ISBN 0-9547363-0-3). Doesn’t really cover the Cucciolo. There is only one publisher who has ever specifically written on the Cucciolo.

  • @453421abcdefg12345
    @453421abcdefg12345 Рік тому +1

    Ha Ha! You could make that desmodronic and get a few more revs out of it! Very interesting. Chris B.

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому +1

      Have you seen my video on adjusting desmodronic valve gear Chris?.......it was the first abd last time 🥴

    • @453421abcdefg12345
      @453421abcdefg12345 Рік тому +1

      @@TweedsGarage That must be the only video of your I have missed! I will view it straight away! Chris B.

  • @retromechanicalengineer
    @retromechanicalengineer Рік тому +1

    They are lovely little things Tweedy.

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому +1

      They say the best things come in small packages ..........nudge nudge wink wink (in a Monty Pythonesk style)

    • @retromechanicalengineer
      @retromechanicalengineer Рік тому +1

      @@TweedsGarage that's what I tell people. I have my reasons!

  • @pauldeane9849
    @pauldeane9849 7 місяців тому

    I carried one of these over to Australia from New Zealand as hand luggage. They only checked it on the Aussie side...unzipped the bag, and zipped it up again straight away. For a mates mantlepiece.

  • @RichardHarding44
    @RichardHarding44 Рік тому +2

    really is very nice, can I assume you are in some kind of competition with Dominic Chinea to have as many projects on the go as possible? :) - I've partially dismantled my recently acquired BMW r25 so I assume the correct thing is to try and acquire a new project at tomorrows autojumble before I complete it? ;) - love the videos - now have urge to acquire a lathe

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому +1

      You'll never regret the day you buy a lathe Richard ( just do some research or take someone along who has a bit of experience on them, ( don't dismiss a used English lathe because it's imperial, or milling machine, just budget for a dro and imperial/metric maching is easy ) .
      You probably need another project whilst you're awaiting parts for the current project 😁 ......and I'd be fibbing if i said i didn't have something on my eBay watch list 😉

    • @RichardHarding44
      @RichardHarding44 Рік тому

      @@TweedsGarage do you recommend any beginner channels or books - I'm of the age that when I was at comprehensive school we had a pretty good machine shop (having a local builder of helicopters probably helped) but we also had the beginnings of a computer lab so while my first car was an MG midget the same age as me that needed a lot of fettling (one of the last to site O levels) I've not touched a lathe since then having spent the last 30 yrs in software engineering

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому +1

      @@RichardHarding44 UA-cam is a great source, I would recommend @blondihacks, go back a year or two and follow her engineering journey starting on small projects and now building a 5¨gauge locomotive. @joepie is really good for work setups on lathes and milling machine and
      , screw cutting tips and working with rotary tables etc and @Abom79, again go back about a year as the latest stuff is based mainly on setting up his new workshop and getting started on CNC machines, but the older stuff is at his home workshop on his collection of older machinery and lastly for superb quality engineering check out @InheritanceMachining. Books are a bit harder, I´ve got a collection of older books, a selection of Workshop Practice Series ( tend to be based on single subjects ) and an edition of Machinery Handbook,Some people find books a great learning format but I struggle with books, I start reading but after a few pages when it starts getting technical, brain fog sets in and nothing else goes in, but seeing it and doing it is the way I learn. The trouble with most of the books are they are either very basic ( selecting tools, machinery and setting up a workshop) or go full on technical ( for those with a good engineering knowledge ) and most of them are reprints of books written a long time ago so don't cover the advances of tooling / machinery that's about today ......so as I said at the start UA-cam and the internet is your friend........hope this helps

  • @howardosborne8647
    @howardosborne8647 Рік тому +1

    Oh,yes, the legendary Ducati desmo-comic valve train.🤪

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому +1

      it's a great idea.......until you have to adjust them.

  • @VinceJones-uj3cm
    @VinceJones-uj3cm Рік тому +1

    Time for another video Mr Tweed, I'm getting withdrawal symptoms. 😂😂

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому

      Patience my good man.......there's always the back catalogue 😉

  • @davecass9486
    @davecass9486 7 місяців тому +1

    Thank you for one of the best video's i have ever seen on you tube. i was engaged and mesmerised for the duration of the presentation. on a mechanical level, i dont understand how a single bb within a drive shaft can hold a gearbox cog in place ? if you have time one day, maybe you can you tell me ? keep doing what your doing xx

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  7 місяців тому

      Hi Dave, there are three ball bearings equally spaced within the shaft that when raised engage with three half round slots within each of the two gears, quite ingenious. Thanks for the kind words, the cheque's in the post 😁

  • @colinwellman9480
    @colinwellman9480 Рік тому

    That looks like an interesting engine, I don't think I've seen one before. Seen plenty of add on motors to run on the tyre or fitted to the wheel. A local bike shop was an agent for them and they seemed to be regularly in for repairs.
    The French version would have been the VeloSolex, which sold in vast numbers. I bought one from an old chap who'd had his since his school days back in the 50's. I paid 50€ for it, running but a bit scruffy. They're popular again and a rough one will set you back at least 400€ today.
    I think your next purchase will have to be a bicycle of the period to fit the motor to. Might have to have better brakes though unless you fancy letting Jenkins take his chances.
    Nothing wrong with showing the viewers your feminine side.👍
    Thanks for a very interesting look at the Cucciolo.

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому +1

      I did have had a selection of Mobylettes, Paloma and a Velosolex, most were good but the velosolex was dreadful, might be good on flat Northen France , Belgian and Holland's roads but absolutely hopless on the Hampshire hills ( it was actually quicker cycling to my favourite cafe than riding the Velo, which had to be pedalled a lot, broke down quite often and kept shaking itself to pieces on a regular occurrence)......i was glad to see the back of it. I think the Cucciolo will be a happy experience......and chassis options are being looked at 😉

  • @Tal5258
    @Tal5258 Рік тому +1

    Makes all British designs look crude and this was well engineered

  • @asciimation
    @asciimation Рік тому +1

    Bloody continentals and their odd shaped balls!

  • @terryblackman6217
    @terryblackman6217 Рік тому +1

    Who was that sexy beast in the intro. 😆 well you've got me hooked. Chow.

  • @clivelee4279
    @clivelee4279 Рік тому

    Molto bene Mr Tweed , a most interesting dissertation , only caught a brief view, looked like the ring groves well oversized , or was a trick of the light ? Anyhoo thanks and good luck .

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  Рік тому +1

      thanks Clive, I´ll have a closer look at the piston grooves

  • @carloleinardi5695
    @carloleinardi5695 11 місяців тому +1

    At the time it was sold into a nice wooden box

    • @TweedsGarage
      @TweedsGarage  11 місяців тому

      Thanks for that, that's interesting, i wonder if any survived🙂