Although Ducati is now owned by Automobili Lamborghini, the Bologna company is regarded as the Ferrari of the motorcycle world. Since the 1950s, its sporting motorcycles have been a favorite target of racers, tweakers and customizers.
In the custom world, the SportClassic is regarded as the archetypal modern-day café racer. Designed by Pierre Terblanche and launched in 2003, the SportClassic was way ahead of its time and sold poorly until its demise in 2010. But nowadays, values of Ducati models are rising rapidly and the styling is uniquely pleasing to the eye.
The Pantah and Monster have always been popular Ducati bikes with builders, but we’re now seeing the purer sportbikes creeping into the scene—often with ‘retro fighter’ builds—and a huge number of Scrambler customs.
The spotlight falls on Ducati this week, as they reboot the iconic Monster. Plus we have a hot-rodded Buell XB12S from the Czech Republic, a classy Yamaha XS650 flat tracker from California, and a killer gift idea for the holidays.
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When Ducati launched the Scrambler line in 2014, it did so promising a template. A kind of 750cc, air-cooled blank slate, ripe for personalization with easily interchangeable body panels, seats, and cowls. A Ducati; just one reduced to its elements. The Scrambler line was envisioned to gently and stylishly entice new riders into the fold.…
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There’s no doubt that the Ducati 999 is set to become a future classic. Pierre Terblanche’s aggressive design polarized opinion when it first broke cover, but it didn’t matter; the 999 was proper fast, and took three titles in its tenure on the World Superbike circuit. And its looks have grown on most people over…
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The first generation Ducati Multistrada is one of the under-appreciated gems of the custom world. It’s got a well-earned reputation as a bang-for-the-buck bike with ‘good bones’—mixing competent performance and handling with quirky looks. That Terblanche-penned aesthetic is admittedly an acquired taste, but luckily for us, a handful of custom builders have figured out how…
Read more »The word ‘iconic’ gets thrown around a lot, but only a handful motorcycles truly deserve the title. We doubt that anyone would…
Read more »In this week’s Speed Read, we’re looking at a Ducati 749 from Romania, a two-stroke KTM flat tracker from the UK, and…
Read more »There’s a definite trend to stripping the bodywork off modern Ducatis. And we’re all for it. The superbike engines may not have…
Read more »How many custom builders can squeeze the last ounce of performance out of a modern sportbike and give the aesthetics a jolt…
Read more »The motorcycle designer Pierre Terblanche is famous for his Ducatis, but not always in a good way. Most folks would give the…
Read more »A jawdropping modified Ducati 1000SS, a very clever custom BMW R1100GS, a rare (and running) BMW R57 that could sell for $70,000,…
Read more »Even though the Ducati 900 SS is some three decades old, we still see a lot of customs based around the 90°…
Read more »Today’s ‘modern classic’ scramblers are more show than go. Stylistically, they hark back to the golden years of Californian desert racing—but you…
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