[Ducati] Ducati or Mototrans?

[John Lyon]

Hey all,

I spotted this cheap little '72 250 single on ebay, and it looks like it
might be a fun project:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ducati-1972-Ducati-Road-Racer-250cc-Motorcycle-72_W0QQitemZ150155401191QQihZ005QQcategoryZ6026QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Something that concerns me, though, is the bevel gear cover where the
tachometer drive is: it says "Made In Spain".  I understand that Mototrans
built singles for many years under license, so I was wondering if anyone had
any advice on how to tell if this is a Spanish built bike, or a 'real'
Ducati.  Of course, this cover could have been changed at some point, and
the engine cases do say "Made In Italy", and it has a Dellorto carb
(supposedly Mototrans bikes have Amals), but the body work doesn't look
right (maybe aftermarket?), and the engine case says "DM350", while the
camshaft bearing support says 250.  I don't think it would really make much
difference to me if the Mototrans bike was a 100% copy, but I've read that
folks ought to be very wary of the Spanish bikes, as they had inferior build
quality, and often significant internal differences - including different
transmission gears and even different bore and stroke, making replacement
parts particularly hard to come by.

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

JL