Me taking 350 Macchi out for it’s first go at Mallory a couple of years ago, in the Ducati leathers of course.
Mal
Bike looks Great mate ! No nothing about it ??? Tell us more !
Sorry to say you dont look any better in the Ducy leathers tho 
Well the leathers are red, white & green, proper Italian colours!
Anyway, bought the Macchi for £350 from eBay, turned out total scrap really and only got the frame and back hub out of it. A bloke at Stafford told me he knew where there were 3 motors so I drove 700 mile round trip to get a 350 and two 250 motors. You can get 40hp from a 350(sounds great yes?) so I went for that.
Passed a small fortune over to a man well known in Macchis for all the bits needed to make it top notch, spent about two years building and modifying it, applied to get my old racing licence renewed and then had a heart attack that year so pi**ed on my chips bit.
Next best thing seemed to be VMCC 1000 bike event so there we were, sadly looks like they might not run that again so need to find some track days not running super fast Dukes and the like. I’ve since bought a frame from a later model c/w log book so might just do a couple of minor irregularities and get a number plate on the bike. Doesn’t have a kick start though and with 11.5:1 compression needs a good bump to fire it up, might bring a bit of a sweat out on a hot day on an old codger like me!
So if anybody fancies building one, I can give you several thousand reasons for having another think about it.
Mal
Hi Mal , Thanks for the insight.
So Macchis is the make of the frame, a racing frame ? What are the forks ? and did you tune the motor much ? If so who done the work .
You look cool by the way 
hope you get some luck on getting the bike out soon .
Regards Brian
Ah well Brian it’s a long storey really and not sure the Ducati forum is the right place. But Macchi is short for Aermacchi, last known 50% owned by HD but ended probably mid 70s I guess.
It’s basically just a road bike, they started with a 175 then made 250 & 350 versions I think. Mine was a US import 250 originally. Forks are Ceriani GP, front brakes a Czech copy of an Italian racing brake, 4 leading shoe Fontana or Ceriani. Dick Linton is the acknowledged expert on tuning and has spares plus special bits but I did all the work myself with help from a local guy to machine the head. Handling was typical Italian single, brilliant, pretty light of course but not lots of power.
Top guys came up on the podium in world championships, former MotoGP, on some of these back in 60s & 70s but really just museum pieces now or toys for old men reliving the past. Just need Covid to move on really and then might get out on a track again.
Mick Walker wrote lots of books on Italian bikes and has a good one on the Aermacchi.
Mal
Mal to take on any project you have to have knowledge of the Marquee ( may be miss spelt ) .
I’v done a few projects myself so I also know the 1000 reasons why not to and you would still do another . Lol .
Its been a pleasure chatting and I’m sure its fine to put it on here . Your an interesting person with passion. Thats what clubs need .
Please keep posting if you get a track day .
Thanks Brian
Thing is keeping busy in old age is essential or you end up like a cabbage. 70 next year but had a great innings and wouldn’t have missed bikes for the world. Just like the engineering problems and you feel good when you’ve solved something to get a result. Plus who doesn’t like to get the bike out on the open road for a good run? Raced all over in the U.K. and done the IOM too in my youth so no chance of giving up just yet😛
Had a thought to do another Ducati ride experience at Mugelo on the 959 Panigale maybe next year but guess that Covid may scupper next year’s action too.
Enjoy your bikes and the good company that nearly always goes with them.
Mal
Great story Mal, keep on keeping on. I have a similar addiction for my 350 Ducati racer, hopfuly we will be back out on the bikes again next year…