The magazine for classic Japanese motorcycles

Bachelor boy

Pete Calles was leading the way through Langley, Washington DC on his Ducati Darmah when we pulled up at traffic lights alongside two beautiful women in a Ford Taurus with diplomatic plates. He looked at the passenger, gave her a huge smile and patted the pillion seat on the Duke. “Hey, baby. Wanna ride?”

Langley is home to the CIA and somehow I couldn’t see the sharp suited blond swapping the air-con Taurus for any motorcycle, even if it was an Italian V-twin. But Pete is an optimistic bachelor who keeps trying his luck, never mind the odds. And he has to keep trying, because he has trouble keeping girlfriends.

“I was getting on great with my last girlfriend until I brought her home,” he says when we reached his suburban bungalow. “She took one look at all the bikes in the living room and left before she even checked out the Mk3 in the bedroom...”

Pete’s home is stuffed with motorcycles and memorabilia. There’s at least one classic bike in every room – except the bathroom.

The first thing you see when you walk into the living room is a yellow 750 Sport that Peter bought as a half-finished project. “There were lots of wrong parts fitted, but I managed to source a lot of unused original spares to build this 1972 model to catalogue specification. I finished this one six years ago.”

Behind the sofa there’s a 1964 Mk1 250. “This is the finest Ducati I have,” says Pete. “It is the production racer I dreamed of owning when I was a kid.” He lavishes praise on Henry Hogben, the Ducati singles specialist based in Canada. “When I saw the standard of work he was turning out I asked him to find a Mk1 and restore it for me. Before he shipped this bike south he took it to a motorcycle show where he was offered double what I had agreed to pay. But Henry is a man of his word.”

Parked next to the bookcase is a pristine 1977 silver 900SS. “I bought this one from a dealer up in Michigan in 1984. It only had 30 miles on it. I clocked up another 183 before I brought it into my living room. Everything about this bike is original – even the air in the tyres.”

On the bookshelf sit a couple of Dell'Orto pumpers, Veglia speedometer and rev counters and a couple of 24mm carburettor bellmouths that look like shot glasses in need of a rich mixture courtesy of Jack Daniels. There’s also a neat pair of bookends made from a cylinder head cut in half – a Christmas gift from Henry.

Tucked away in the hall is a prototype minibike made by Ducati in 1964 for importer Berliner of New Jersey and tested by several American motorcycle mags. It’s really neat – a 50cc two-stroke with three speeds and a square-section top frame tube that telescopes down so that the minibike becomes small enough to pack in the trunk of a car.

“Reno Leoni was on loan from Ducati and worked at Berliner,” recalls Pete. “He ran a race team called Team Leoni, with Jimmy Adamo as number one rider. I'm proud to say I was part of the team and raced a Ducati TT2 bought from Reno.

“Reno used the minibike as a pit bike and kept it when Berliner closed its doors. I told him that if he ever wanted to sell it to just give me a call, and a year later it was mine. The factory knows I’ve got it and one day soon it will go back to their museum on loan.”

Most people take off the stock mufflers and fit Contis, but instead of junking them Pete stacked his against the wall so they look like organ pipes – although some of his friends think it is a substitute gun rack.

In the TV room there’s a 750 F1A that’s never been fired up. Pete started racing Ducatis in 1985 and the F1A was going to be his track bike. “Just two were shipped to the US,” he says. “I bought it brand new, brought it home from the dealer, took it out of the crate and parked it here. I knew I needed some track time before I took this one out so I raced a 600 Pantah. Then I realised that the 1985 F1A was something special and I had to save it. I tried to buy the second one as well so that I could have one for the track and one for posterity, but I was too late.”

Next to it stands a 1985 Mike Hailwood Replica Mille. At 973cc it is the biggest bevel drive twin that Ducati ever made. It was only listed for two years, although Swiss enthusiast Gerold Vogel was behind an exclusive batch of 25 in 1988.

And then there’s the low-mileage 600 Pantah. It’s a 1983 European model that Pete bought from Austria. “I wanted a red one to match the Hailwood Mille and F1A. The American models were painted in that blue-silver colour.”

But while Ducati may be Peter’s first love, he does have a bachelor’s wandering eye. In the guest bedroom there’s a 1997 Dream 50, a homage to Honda's early racing history. The 49cc dohc single with an 11.7:1 compression ratio cranks out 7hp at 13,500rpm and at first glance looks just like the 1962 works RC110 or a CR110 Cub Racer.

In the master bedroom is the Mk3

that Pete’s last girlfriend never got to sit on. “Pretty much the same as a Mk1 but not as glamorous looking – for a start the Mk1 had red frame,” says Pete. Henry Hogben found the Mk3 in the back room of an old Indian dealer’s shop in Michigan. It was a brand new bike when it was parked up in 1967, with just 97 miles on it, but over the years the seat and a few small parts went missing. Henry managed to find the correct parts and put it back together. It is all original paint – that’s why there are some small scratches in the tank, decals and side panels – but at least it is Ducati paint.

Also in the bedroom is a wide-case 350. “It’s either 1969 or 1970, it’s kind of hard to tell. But you’re looking at the world’s first production Desmo bike. I bought this one from Henry as well. I like the speedo in the headlight and the white faced rev meter mounted on the handlebar. I bought it in 1984 and I’ve slept with it ever since.” Pete forgot to mention the stash of bike mags. Makes a change from what you usually find under the bed.

The walls of his trophy room are covered with pictures from his race days, but under the window is another original paint bike – this time a 1967 100cc two-stroke Cadet. This has a high-tech chrome cylinder bore, and the gearchange is operated by foot instead of the more common Vespa type twistgrip. It has only covered 198 miles from new and still has the original Ducati tyre pump clipped to the chain guard. “Most of these lightweights were ridden into the ground and thrown away. Few survive,” observes Pete.

Walk into the kitchen and you’ll see an MV Agusta, Triumph Bonneville and a Honda Hawk tucked under the breakfast bench. “The 1972 MV 750 Sport is much nicer than the slab-sided America,” Pete says. “I prefer the look of the drum brake, race fairing... oh, and that curvaceous, feminine gas tank...

“People say you that can feel the quality when you close the door of a luxury car like a Cadillac, but listen to this,” says Pete as he opens and closes the seat and the latch clicks into place with a satisfying thud.

He paid $800 for the 1962 305 Honda Super Hawk at a Jap swap meet up in Pennsylvania. “You see a lot of 1967-68 models around, but early ones like this are really sought-after,” he says. ”The engine was perfect, with just 7000 miles on it. All I did was take everything apart and paint or chrome the cycle parts. I went to a Honda dealer, gave him a list of items and he had at least 75% of what I needed. It took me six months to restore.”

Then there’s the 1968 Bonnie that Pete bought in 1970 through a little subterfuge. “My parents wouldn’t let me have a bike, but my brother was two years older and they couldn’t say no to him so he bought it for me. It’s still in his name.

“We’ve been together longer than anything else I have ever owned. But it hasn’t always looked so pristine,” continues Peter. “I blame Peter Fonda. After I saw Easy Rider I just had to chopperise it. Went the whole 10 yards – extended forks, ape bars, custom paint...”

Pete ran the chop for a couple of years before returning it stock. “But by 1990 it was getting to look a bit tatty, so I stripped it down to the last nut and bolt. It took me eight years to get it to this condition.”

If the house is stuffed with motorcycles you should see Pete Calles’ garage. Alongside the 1982 Fiat Spyder 124, which Pete thinks is a ‘kind of a neat car that the girls dig’, are a couple of rusty Honda step-thrus. “The most underestimated bike in the world,” he says. “I’m going to restore them over the winter.”

There’s even a couple of Beemers – a 1967 R69S bought 28 years ago and an R1100 that he uses to get to work. “I think of it as the SUV of bikes and I ride it winter and summer, every day except when it snows... or rains!”

But we’re here to talk Ducati. So we check out the 1971 750 GT round case, which Pete bought in 1989 sight unseen from the original owner in Canada. “I enjoy riding this one more than any other Duke I have,” he says.

Then there’s the 1979 Hailwood Replica. Ducati were only going to make 200 to celebrate Mike’s famous Isle of Man win but when they found out how popular they were they made a load more. “I wanted one of the original limited edition batch with the glass fibre cover over the steel gas tank, different solo seat and one-piece fairing. And it had to have a certificate authenticity,” says Pete. “I had to go to England to find this one. It is No 30 and has covered less than 13,000 miles.”

Pete describes the ducktail Darmah he rode in on as a basic 1978 commuter. “It’s a fun bike and easy to ride, and thanks to the Bosch electrics it fires right up and has been very reliable.”

Picking a favourite must be difficult if you’ve got 24 motorcycles to choose from. But ask Pete to make the choice and, quick as a flash, he replies: “That would be my next bike.” Let’s hope it’s small enough to get into the bathroom...

In the garage

Now for the ones in the house...

1967     BMW R69S 1999     BMW R1100S 1972     Ducati 75 GT 1978     Ducati 900 SD Darmah 1979     Ducati Hailwood Replica 1967     Honda 90 1967     Honda 50 1972     Harley Sportster 1964    BSA Thunderbolt Rocket

1967     Triumph Bonnie 1972     MV Agusta 750 Sport 1964     Honda 305 Superhawk 1997     Honda 50 Dream 'replica' 1985     Ducati Hailwood Replica 1985     Ducati 750 F1 1983     Ducati 600 Pantah 1982     Ducati 900 SD Darmah 1977     Ducati 900 SS 1972     Ducati 750 Sport 1964     Ducati 250 Mach 1 1967     Ducati 250 Mk1 1969     Ducati 350 Mk3 Desmo 1967     Ducati 100 Cadet 1964     Ducati 50 Prototype

 Words and Photos: Phillip Tooth