Phil wrote in response to Tony's original comment:
> >Like some other Italian motorbike makers no doubt Ducati made bikes in
> >their early days but has anyone ever seen one and if so was it top end
> >or more utilitarian?
> >
>
> Unlikely. Ducati started after WW2 as an electrical parts company then
> progressed to a 50cc moped type machine. they had no bicycle ancestors that I
> know
> of.
Ducati is celebrating their 75th anniversary this year as can be seen on their website http://www.ducati.com If you look on the heritage page and then look to part 3 you will also see their cucciolo (Italian for the word puppy) moped and you can see that they use pedals/cranks, hence very likely the source of the marked crank that Tony has. Since my earlier post, I have been able to speak to a friend in Italy who has said finding such a crank shouldn't be overly difficult if you go looking among the Vespa, Lambretta, Cucciolo, Mosquito and other moped/scooter collectors in Italy. While not anywhere near as common as the Mosquito, the Cucciolo sold quite well and widely.
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Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ