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Thanks for the pics! A short trip back in time.

Hi folks, many of you know me well as I've been around for a long time and have also worked on many of your watches. I doubt that I can be of use to someone so far away, but just a few comments to add to those already offered. Andrew and Trusty Time are indeed easy people to deal with and as far as my own experience are straight shooters, at least by Chinese standards. We are located in Southern California and have been both collecting and working on replicas for nearly 20 years now. From my own experience I estimate that as much as 25% of replicas arrive either DOA or with serious problems. There may be many factors that cause this, dirt from unclean assembly, improper assembly, over or under oiling plus defective parts. As far as incorrect time-keeping results shown on the timegrapher in QC pictures there is a good explanation. The picture only shows the watch in one position, usually face up. Most timegraphers have an articulated mount that enables up to 6 positions for the watch. A watchmaker knows, that to properly regulate a watch, readings must be taken in at least 5 of these positions and adjustments made to average out the final result. Just because the timegrapher reads +-10 secs/day face up doesn't mean that it will perform to the same specs when worn by the owner. At best this is simply window dressing to convince novice buyers of something that is probably not accurate. For those of you a bit closer to the US we welcome all work on replica watches. You may contact me by PM here on the forum, or you can talk to or text me on my cellphone at 951-313-5119. Best Regards, Mike Rion

5513... W0W. Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

"My dad (now 83 years old) in the 60s had this Ducati 250 Diana." I remember the 250 Diana..it was about $100 more than the Monza and I did not have the $$. I had the 250 Monza first, next a blue/silver 250 Scrambler, a red 200 Sebring, and a black 450 Scrambler. 1966 Ducati 250 Scrambler - National Motorcycle Museum (nationalmcmuseum.org) Ducati 200 Sebring...'rare' today, not many sold in the USA. Ducati 906 Paso Cagiva Alazurra 650 Cagiva Alazzurra 650 (motorcyclespecs.co.za) I worked in a shop in the 1960s while in high school that sold Norton/AJS/Velocette/Matchless/Moto Guzzi/Ducati plus a few others and went to the area distributor a few times where I met Jim and Ken Hayes, AMA road racers. I was just a kid but guys like that were heroes back then to a young motorcycle nut and I got to eyeball their single cylinder Norton Manx road racer. The Manx won a lot of road races in the 1950s/1960s. I had Ken Hayes' autograph on a Norton brochure but lost it over the years. Norton Manx The 350cc and 500cc models looked exactly alike. No kick starter...they were 'run and bump'...you took off running then jumped on the seat letting the clutch out at the same time. You can read about Jim and Ken Hayes under '250 AMATEUR/EXPERT 100-MILE' at: A.M.A. Dayton A Nationals | Cycle World | JUNE 1965 Worked in a Ducati/Husqvarna shop in the late 1980s when the Ducati 750 Paso came out along with the Paso 906 in 1989, and I got to ride them. My last 'Ducati' was really a 'Fake Ducati'...a Cagiva Alazurra 650 made by Ducati with a smaller belt drive cam desmo V twin engine. I never rode it but sold it to the Dennis Carpenter Museum in Charlotte NC...'nos' never started. Went to a Ducati factory update course at the AMI M/C training facility at Daytona one year during Bike Week and the Ducati course lasted most of the day. Later in the afternoon we had the Husqvarna session. The instructor said: First, carefully inspect and clean all engine parts. Next, find what is wrong and correct it if possible. Last, put all the parts in a five gallon bucket along with the cases, gaskets etc, put the lid on the bucket, then shake the living hell out of it because that is as good as it will ever get. Why did he say that? Because Ducati had just purchased the Husqvarna Motorcycle Division from Electrolux in Sweden and when he went to Sweden to inspect the machine tools used to make the motorcycles, he discovered that all the machine tools were so badly worn out that you needed the Swedish machine operator go with it because only he/she could make it work. I always liked Husqvarnas. I have a Husqvarna lawnmower. A modern Husqvarna...made in India. Here’s a closer look at Husqvarna Motorcycles’ Indian lineup (yourstory.com) Still have my personally signed 8 by 10 inch glossy photo of Evel Knievel doing a wheelie on his H-D. It's been hanging in the garage 40+ years and the signature is almost faded away. He was a real character to say the least and I'll never forget meeting him.