40 MOTORCYCLE MOJO SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019
began – and keep in mind these were
the days before the Internet. Phone
calls and letters led Tayler to a supplier
in Seattle, from which he managed to
purchase an original parts book.
“I was very impressed by the
high-quality diagrams that really
allowed me to zero in on what was
missing on this Ducati,” Tayler says.
“The headlight was wrong [and] it was
missing the taillight and the air cleaner
and so many other small parts and
pieces.”
Tayler is no stranger to motorcycles
and restoration projects. That’s thanks
to his dad, Ted, who was trained as a
mechanic in England before the family
immigrated to Canada. Tayler was
seven when they arrived in Calgary in
the late 1950s, and Ted got a job as a
mechanic at Bert & Jack’s Garage, then
a well-known service and repair shop
that focused on British automobiles.
Mechanical Background
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British manufacture should come as
no surprise. He and his dad put an
early-1950s BSA Bantam back together,
and the small 125 cc two-stroke, single-
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A brand-new Honda 90 followed, but
Tayler’s attention soon turned to British
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still owns it and several other British
cars that he’s reconditioned from the
ground up.
In the early 1990s, when the opportu-
nity to buy a 1968 Triumph Bonneville
presented itself, Tayler bought that
bike. Then he purchased and restored a
1969 Norton Commando. It was only a
short time after completing the Norton
restoration that Tayler discovered the
languishing Ducati.
The Way the Factory Designed It
In 1966, the 250 cc four-stroke, single-
cylinder Ducati line consisted of the
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models. These singles feature a bevel
gear-driven overhead camshaft, and
compression ratios varied across the
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- All three models featured a similar
single downtube steel chassis, but the
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the cleanest lines, complete with its
clip-on bars and racing-style saddle.
As purchased, Tayler says, the only
CUSTOM DUCATI SCRAMBLER
TAYLER IS NO STRANGER
TO MOTORCYCLES AND
RESTORATION PROJECTS