About Us

I saw my first bevel drive DUCATI in 1981. It was in San Luis Obispo, California where I went to college. I was on the way home from running the dog at the beach and was stopped at a traffic light on Highway 1 - the coastal highway. I had my stereo up and was thinking about my day..... All of a sudden I hear this loud engine noise right along side. I look over and beside me is a black 900 SS, rider sporting all black leathers and helmet, the lumpy idle from the Conti mufflers I am feeling as much as hearing. I turn off my stereo to get a better feel for this wonderful machine, the rider looks over and although I couldn't see his face behind the dark visor, I knew he was smiling as he nodded to me and blipped the throttle a couple times for my amusement. I gave him the thumbs up then took a good long look at this machine - I had never seen one before, what is it? DUCATI? One of them Eye-talian bikes...... Kewl.

The light turns green and the guy takes off leaving a cloud of Conti music for my ears to enjoy... I decided then and there that one day I would own a DUCATI.. I will never forget the day and find myself thinking about the sight every now and then.....

That was the beginning of my Ducati Lust. I have owned motorcycles for years prior, and had a 1979 GS750E Suzuki and a couple dirt bikes in the garage at the time - I already was a moto slut. Bikes came and went for me over the years, all brands Japanese, British and Italian - I road raced a few different machines in several classes from 1990 - 2000 including a 24 hour race at Willow Springs... But I never seemed to end up with a Ducati until sometime around 1997 I think it was.

I owned a restoration and hot rod shop in San Luis Obispo, CA at the time and had managed to acquire a "T-Bucket" that had been built in the late 60's - orange kandy paint with gold leaf and gold pinstripes, brass and chrome everything, side pipes, huge tyres in the back, the whole 9 yards. Anyways, I sold it to a guy in So Cal and had delivered it - and I notice a bit of gold motorcycle wheels under a cover in the corner of his garage. I ask the guy "what’s that?" We go over and he pulls back the cover and I see this faded red paint all over, silver stripes, clip-ons, fairing, a twin cylinder, and there on the tank - I see "NCR" & "DUCATI". My heart rate starts to go through the roof.

Now you gotta imagine the scene here. We have just finished this transaction and I am still holding a wad of cash in my hand. My van and trailer are in the street, we are standing next to this DUCATI smiling and out comes the guy’s better half. She asks if we are hungry, he says "sure can you make us a couple sandwiches?". The little lady says "Hey Greg, I guess you FINALLY are going to live up to your end of the bargain and get rid of that old motor-sickle, huh?" and she looks over at me and smiled.

Without hesitation, I hand the guy my cash that he had just handed me and I say without looking at him "yup, it's going out the door in a few mins.....".

[You know, I was just trying to promote marital bliss with this nice couple as this bike was obviously a sore spot between them......]

She nods and spins around and tells us she will be right back with some munchies.....

Anyways, the guy gives me a look of death but then takes the money out of my hand. I tell the guy, "Look, I am just playing here, don't want to get you in any trouble or anything".. He interrupts me and says that his "deal" with his wife was that when their daughter turned 13, he would quit car racing, sell all his motorcycles and they would take up a more "family orientated" sport - which is why he bought this hot rod from me. This Ducati was his favorite and he said he was hoping that after selling all his other toys, she would allow him to keep it..... Guess not.

I tell him that he can take it or leave it, I only came to sell a car but that I would trade it for this Ducati - straight across, that was it. He agreed after grumbling for a bit and we pushed it up into my van.

On the way home I stopped at a friend’s house who I raced with at the time at Willow Springs and pull her out and we step back and take a looky see. NICE! We agree that this is a pretty nice score and also that we really don't know what specifically it is besides being some sort of special bevel drive Ducati. Weeks go by and I chase leads then finally get pointed to Guy Webster who was a pretty well known collector in California. He suggests that I contact the folks at Ducati Spa. After a few days I get a message from Mr Livio Lodi, the Ducati Museum Curator. He tells me that I have an early pre production SSD, made in 1978. He also had this to say about her...

Kewl, now I have something to go by. . But why the NCR stickers, interesting shaped aluminum gas tank, solo seat, EPM Magnesium wheels etc? After digging through the papers I got with the bike, it turns out that this bike was put together using old race bike spares to be used as a hopped up street rod in 1987-8. The gas tank is a genuine NCR hand made aluminum affair, the fairing and solo seat again are NCR items. The previous owner had asked the folks at Woods Motors in Glendale, CA to put this together. The motor has NCR cams, big valves and high compression pistons, lots of headwork, 40mm Dellorto pumpers and Conti mufflers. The brake rotors are all full floating 280mm Brembo units from an F1 so she stops as well as she accelerates. What a joy to ride.

Sometime very soon after the motor was put together and the bike delivered to the previous owner, the starter sprag gave up the ghost and the owner tried to fix it himself, ultimately installing incorrect parts and some parts in the wrong order etc so it almost immediately started to sound like a coffee grinder once more. The guy gave up and put a cover over her, which is where it sat for nearly 10 years until when I found it.

I spent nearly a year researching the bike and gathering parts, then took her all apart and did a mechanical restoration of sorts cleaning and refinishing as I went. The then fresh motor [as it was new in '88 with only a couple hundred miles on it before the starter woes] has always run like a champ and never left me stranded - the typical ride for me back then on this bike was 2-300 miles through the California coastal twisties with my friends. I have ridden this bike thousands of miles since…. It may not be that black 900SS but I think it is now every bit as nice [if not nicer] and fun to ride and then there is that sweet ever present CONTI rumble that sets off car alarms whenever I ride through town...... Over the years I have finally found a black & gold 1980 900SS (the bike that started this craziness) owned several actually, a couple 750 Sports, a few 750 GTs, Darmahs, 860s, a Bronco etc. I have my own little ‘collection’ of bevel drive Ducatis it seems…

I hear they have 12 step programs for people like me.

Back to the bike that started it all. One of the parts that eluded me is the chain buffer on this Darmah, a factory item that was meant to deal with the chain rubbing on the case issue on all previous model Ducati twins. I couldn't find one anywhere so I decided to make one. I figured all I had to do was find another Darmah and take a look or even quickly take one off, duplicate it and that would be that. Well, I must have looked at a dozen Darmahs before I found one that actually still had it's original buffer in place. Hmm..... seems I am not the only one with this problem. So I make one out of Delrin, install it and tell some of my friends. My buddy asks me if I could make one for his 750GT and hands me a frame slider off a modern bike and we wonder if it could be modified to do the same thing as the Darmah part - to keep the chain up off the case.

After a bit of forehead scratching then tinkering, I come up with my own version of a buffer, which I called a "Case Saver" for his 750GT. One of my other friends asked about me making one for his 900SS..... Within no time I have kits for all bevel drive twins available and just like that I am selling to people all over the planet.

When I was first trying to find parts etc, the easiest thing to do is take pictures of the bike etc and post them on the web. That way I could tell folks that were helping me to look here or there at what was bothering me and they could see right away what the heck I was talking about or after, regardless of my description! I had several pages put together already and decided to put my Case Saver kits on there in an attempt to drum up some sales for extra pocket money. Next thing you know, I am making them up in batches of 50 and selling them all over the world.

Sometime in there, I started posting all the info I had been gathering including brochures, technical articles, etc. for everyone to see... The site started to grow. And grow.... And grow! This brings us to the beginnings of BevelHeaven.com..... What started as a simple place to post pictures to help me find stuff has turned into a virtual online museum. I now have more than 150 brochures posted, all kinds of technical articles and posters, adverts etc. hundreds of people have sent in pictures of their personal bevel drives.... All kinds of interesting bevel drive stuff. The site has been growing and evolving with thousands of page views a day. We also have a vintage Ducati forum on my website where anyone can post pictures on their own of their bikes, find answers to their problems and make some new Ducati friends.

Some more background on me.... In 2000, I sold my restoration shop, got married and moved to the city. But my interests were still in restoration and I had managed to uncover many sources for hard to find parts through the process of getting my bike roadworthy again...... I started getting things for my riding buddies when I ordered stuff for myself. My hobby had turned into a growing part time business, and I was stocking hundreds of parts all over my house.... I kept coming up with and fabricating more items for our bevel drives as well. I quit my ‘day job’ in 2006 and moved the business into a 1200’ warehouse….

Now as I approach my official 21 years in business anniversary, I find I have turned this little thing into a bigger thing. My 3000’ warehouse holds thousands of part numbers and I ship all over the planet, all the time. People come to my state of the art online shopping cart and easily purchase what they need for their Ducati or other European bike, both old and new. I stock hundreds of new BREMBO and DELLORTO parts. Folks send me Dellorto carbs to do my restoration and rebuild work on. Same with Brembo brake calipers and master cylinders. Guys that just bought a bevel drive will rely on my advice to form a plan of action on what and how they should take the next steps. Business is growing steadily for Bevel Heaven and that is OK with me! Bevel Heaven has weathered the storm so to speak, with so many other moto businesses going out of business we are still at it.

Anyways, vintage Ducati bikes have interested me for many years. Now I find myself very involved with them. In the past, Ducati North America have appreciated my efforts as I helped them out in various capacities doing special projects and contract work. I created then put together a vintage museum on 'Ducati Island' every year during World Superbike and MotoGP at Laguna Seca 2003 - 2007. I was also involved with the US introduction of the Sport Classics by arranging and organizing the displays and press introductions at the Long Beach and New York City International Motorcycle Shows. It is all good.

Motorcycle folks are usually good folks, especially the vintage crowd. I like dealing with people, helping them get their old or newly found treasures back on the road. It gives me pleasure to also help collect and disperse important information about how to keep these things alive for future generations to enjoy. Even in today's throw away society, I see that these old Ducks just keep getting better and better as we collectively figure out ways to rebuild/invent better than factory original in so many ways.

Why me? I think folks like to deal with me because I will talk to them, ask questions, try to figure out really what they want and most importantly I treat them like I like to be treated - fairly and with respect. I don't just try to take their money and get them off the tele.

Check out my website, if you need some parts or if you just want to look at some interesting vintage Ducati memorabilia. There is something there for you!

Viva La Bevel-ution babee!