Most custom shops have a bike or two quietly lurking in the corner. They’re usually personal projects that only get attention during gaps between ‘real’ jobs. And that’s the story of this charming 1974 Ducati Scrambler 350.
Paul and Linda—the husband and wife team at November Customs—first spotted the Ducati when a nearby shop imported it from Spain. They literally bought it as it was being off-loaded, with the intention of giving it a light sprucing. But once they had it road legal and registered in the UK, it got relegated to the corner.
“It sat in the back of the shed for a couple of years waiting to be worked on,” says Paul. “Well—when I say shed, I mean the either the living room or the dining room as well as the shed. We don’t have much space for our bikes, so we have to move them around depending on needs!”
Paul’s not exaggerating—November Customs is run out of a cramped wooden shed in their backyard, in a small town in the northeast of England. But that didn’t stop them from blowing us away with their Zephyr 750 a few weeks back.
When they finally found time to turn screws on the Ducati, it only took a few months to complete. It was supposed to be a simple resto, but it morphed into something more—and we’re glad it did.
To start, Paul and Linda altered the rear of the frame to straighten out the Scrambler’s kicked up tail. Then they modified the original rear mudguard to sit lower in the frame and fit the rear wheel better.
The stock seat pan was too rusted to be useful, so the duo made a new one, capping it off with black leather upholstery. Then they raised the fuel tank’s rear mounts a touch, so that everything would sit nice and level.
Off came the air box, along with any unneeded frame tabs. November then fabricated up an aluminum bell mouth for the carb to breathe through, covering it with mesh to keep debris out. The exhaust system consists of the original headers, cleaned up and wrapped, with an aftermarket muffler.
As you can tell, the motor was treated to a supreme cleanup too. Paul and Linda stripped it, aqua-blasted the cases, and then rebuilt it with a coat of satin black paint. (They originally tried polishing them, but the look wasn’t working.)
Knowing that they weren’t planning to use a rev counter, the couple realized they could mess with the bevel drive casing without any side effects. So they took it off, bored out the center on a lathe, and turned up an aluminum ring for it. With the addition of a Perspex insert, they now had a window for their bevel drive.
It’s not just the motor that looks brand new—November also went to the trouble of updating the suspension. The rear shocks are from Tec, and were originally intended for another project. And the front forks are a set of WPs from either a KTM 125 or 390 Duke (Paul’s not sure which).
Fitting the forks was a serendipitous process. First, the Ducati steering stem could be fitted to the KTM yokes with just a few mods. Then, it turned out that the steering stops on the frame still worked perfectly with the new front end.
Things got even better when Paul was mocking up the front wheel, and discovered that the diameter of the Ducati’s front axle matched the KTM forks perfectly. So he simply trimmed its length to match.
That also meant running the Scrambler’s original drum brake up front, so November shaved off the radial brake mounts on the forks, then refurbished them with new fluids and seals. A brace was made to lock the drum brakes, and to hold a small, custom-made fender.
For the rest of the project, Paul and Linda mixed restored original parts, with carefully selected upgrades. Both the taillight and headlight are original, but they were refreshed with NOS lenses. The taillight also had its plate mount trimmed off before being powder coated, and the front light was repainted and mounted on new brackets.
The cockpit consists of Renthal bars, replica Triumph levers and new cables. The speedo’s a new old style unit from Smiths. To keep things tidy, the switches were relocated to just below the seat, on the right side.
November also sourced and installed new footrest rubbers with Ducati logos molded into them. The tires are Firestone copies: “I know this will get haters saying stuff about them,” admits Paul, “but we like them, and after all we build bikes for ourselves first. We do actually have some enduro tires we can put on though, should we feel that way.”
The frame, swing arm and wheels were all powder-coated gloss black. And the bodywork was painted in an old Jaguar burgundy, complemented by some off-white panels, and original Ducati badges.
November Customs have struck a balance between customizing the Ducati, and still staying in touch with its origins. And that makes this one of the neatest restomods we’ve seen.
November Customs | Instagram | Images by Tony Jacobs
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