Johan contacted us and wanted to build a Café Racer out of a Ducati, he perhaps wanted a bit more retro than what we like but we said sure and recommended him an 98-02 Ducati SS ie to get most bang for his buck. He got a hold of an -99 Ducati 750SS ie and we took it in at late autumn 2015 with the goal to have it finished mid winter. We then sort of persuaded him to go a bit more Racer than Café.

With the Ducati SuperSport's truss frame and sloping fuel tank you can't really get that horisontal Café line with fairing-tank-seat parallel to the ground so we opted for a more aggressive look and tilted the front fairing and rear section upwards to follow the lines of the tank and give it more race stance. Inspiration came from Endurance Racing bikes and Classic Racers We wanted to capture the 90’s already in the bike and blend smoothly with the 70’s, not just build a classic Café Racer to look like every other, make it more of our own unique design..

We started of taking a replica 70's Imola race fairing and modifying it slightly for the wider forks, chopped off the lower back parts to get enough room for Johan's long legs, cut down the windshield to a more modern size and cut an opening off center for the small round headlight. We reworked the original fairing frame to fit the new headlight and fairing. Next up we sawed off the back half of the frame completely and redid it with lengths and angles that continues from the original front part but with room for the under seat muffler and mounts for the tail section, a Rickman style seat cowl that we modified with sunk in tail lights and tapered in front to match the tank width. Built a stainless steel seat bottom, covered it with high density foam and dropped it off at Bullitt Leathers for the cover (perforated and pleated reminiscence a 70´s sport car), he also redid the tank strap in leather instead of the rubber original. The exhaust was built with the first part using the old chopped up one and after the self-made 2-into-1 collector new stainless 45mm pipe was used all the way up to the second-hand Yamaha R1 titanium muffler that we gutted and made into a slip-on style muffler. That Ducati engine now sounds awesome, and together with the K&N air filter and Power Commander it runs like a champ!

A lot of attention was given to details, like the gap between the tank and frame is the same as between tank and seat, curves of the fairing match the tank indents, lines of the faring end rear section seems to be a continues curve and so on, just to give it that complete overall impression and better then factory feeling. And getting away with the mix of 70's retro and 90's nostalgia without the eye getting caught on anything. We left some electrics and wiring visible to enhance the race feel, looking like you could take it all apart and put it together again in minutes if needed. Some smaller parts where modified as well: heel protectors where drilled in race fashion and brushed down to the raw aluminium, CNC shorty levers, turned some slim bar ends in the lathe, a small handlebar mirror was added again with the help of the lathe making an shaft for it to go in the the original mirror's place, also turned some aluminium paddock stand bobbins on the lathe, lastly the Renthal grips add just the right feel both functionally and aesthetically. Supermoto tires (Dunlop Sportmax Mutant) gets the job done on the road and looks the part. The beautiful Porsche 1971 Orange paint was sprayed by our friend and master painter Dennis Rohlén, he also sorted the modified frame back to original bronze-gold and recoated the swingarm and foot peg mounts in engine grey.

The bike was finished just in time for the bike exhibit here in Gothenburg and drew much attention, we're real happy with the way it turned out and know that Johan will enjoy it!

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