There are many things to annoy the Ducati afficionado in this book - a lack of color pictures, and a lack of the gushing applause for the overall sex appeal and performance of the machines. This book is instead aimed at the brave who actually want to restore a single, and need to know the common pitfalls and problems associated with the bike. So it gets into the ugly details of where the designers went right, and where they went wrong, and offers helpful advice for fixes, straddles of the original design as well as how to keep the original design running (more or less). Needing pointers on the finer details of the restoration work is where this book works best. It is not exactly a restoration manual, but instead is chock full of helpful hints and ways to make yourself stop and think about what you are really trying to accomplish, and provides an excellent set of examples in order to get there; whether it's a cafe racer, a Sunday track bike, or a show bike. Like hanging out in a rustic, homey English shed shooting the breeze with fellow diehard Ducatisti, this book probably won't win you style points, but that's not really what it's all about.