1972 Ducati Laverda SFC 750 Mk1 Race Ready Motorcycle

1972 Ducati Laverda SFC 750 Mk1 Race Ready Motorcycle, right profile

Motorcycle racing is at the heart of all two wheeled culture. It doesn't matter when you hop on your trusty steed, but with the pull of the throttle, speed addiction sets in faster than the comfort zone when hitting your favorite easy chair. Seeing a bike like this up for sale, makes the internal fire for racing climb the charts and want to pull the trigger on obtaining such a perfect period piece of motorcycle racing history. Old Ducati's have a true collectible factor and this one exudes the notion.

Walt Siegl's Ducati 900 SS Race Motorcycle

There is just something really special about the builds from Walt Siegl. What I see on first glance is quiet perfection. He doesn't need to scream out how great his build is or make it feel over done just to get attention. The details ask you to glance them over and then with a subtle nudge make you realize just how much actual design went into every nuance. Thankfully true craftsmen like Walt exist and we can marvel at their work day in and day out.

View Walt Siegl's Puma build on BikeExif

"I’m a big fan of keeping it simple when it comes to color schemes. Orange for a Laverda, black for a Vincent, yellow for a Yamaha. But this funky Ducati 900 SS from Walt Siegl is an absolute treat.

Siegl is quite rightly getting noticed by some big names, and this machine was commissioned by the German multinational Puma—which has a strong connection with motorsport, and sponsors the Ducati MotoGP team. But it’s no trailer queen. “In my search for a good donor, I came across a BCM Ducati that I’d seen on a racetrack,” Walt reports. “It’d been through the hands of Bruce Meyers, so I snatched it up instantly.” 



 
Meyers is a legend in Ducati circles, and his dealership BCM was home to one of the best racebike preparation workshops in the States. “The bike started its life as a 1993 SS,” Walt says, “and it was turned into a racer three years before I bought it. Race bikes have it hard, and only the engine turned out to be salvageable. Even so, it just needed new pistons, valves and belts.” 

The motor is a 989 cc big-bore “fully blue-printed torque monster,” with 41mm flat slide Keihins on custom manifolds. Walt built a lightweight chrome moly frame around it, and installed Showa suspension. The brakes are operated by high-end Magura controls, acting on Brembo Serie Oro calipers and lightweight rotors. 


 
Walt crafted the bodywork in his New Hampshire workshop, using structural urethane that he also painted “to get a better visual.” Once he was happy with the mockup, he had the bodywork scanned and molds machined. The parts were then recreated in kevlar-carbon—an expensive, labor-intensive process that guarantees a perfect fit and finish. “You can hide lots of shortcomings by filling in imperfections with Bondo, but that won’t get you a lightweight, high-end, high-performance result.”


 
The exhaust is a custom stainless steel unit with an Italian Mivv muffler. The electrical system is minimal, as usual on Walt’s bikes, and built around a Motogadget m-Unit to get rid of all the relays. 

For now, this 900 SS has pride of place at the Puma International office in Boston. But probably not for long: “I hope that one day someone will be willing to use it to its full potential,” says Walt. “Believe me, that thing goes like snot. And makes your hair stand up, it sounds so good.”

Images by Michael Rubenstein. Check out Walt’s builds on his website and follow his news via the Walt Siegl Facebook page."

Ducati 1199 Off Road Superbike

Ducati 1199 Panigale TerraCorsa

How do you make something cool, even cooler? Yep, just add some knobby tires and take it to parts unknown. I have always liked Ducati's, especially their dry clutch sound. Now they go to another level when they are turned into trail beasts. Find out more...

View original post on RideApart

"The guys at Portland area Ducati dealer MotoCorsa are building and riding some pretty unique bikes. Like this 2013 Ducati 1199 Panigale S, modified to go off-road. They just got back from a three-day, off-road trip and here’s exclusive photos, video and details of what they’re calling the Ducati 1199 Panigale TerraCorsa.

Photos and Video: Taylor Ramsauer



“We do an annual off-road trip with a few friends, down in Southeastern Oregon, out in the middle of nowhere,” MotoCorsa’s general manage and Nair customer of the month Arun Sharma told us. “I was planning on taking my Multistrada, but happened to have my track Panigale on the lift next to it.”
“I had a set of Continental TKC80s to put on it, when one of my friends comes in and says,’You know what you should do? Put those TKCs on the Panigale!’”

“It was one of those spontaneous moments that just turned into, ‘Game on,’ he told us over the phone.
When early photos appeared on MotoCorsa’s website, reaction was…controversial. “The funny thing is, everyone seems to think we wasted all this money making it. And, actually, it was really, really easy and really, really inexpensive. One minute, a set of tires was lying next to the bike and, the next, we had a crazy off-road Panigale.”



“It looks mostly cosmetic and, frankly, it largely is. We painted the bodywork that Desert Storm color then, depending on your perspective, raised or lowered the suspension. We dropped the forks as low as we could in the triple and raised the shock’s ride height as much as possible; the idea being to max out the ground clearance. it probably only got us a half inch or so, but that’s something. Then, we went through the suspension settings and made everything as soft as possible so we could mimic an off-road bike’s travel.”

“As you know, with a Panigale S it’s all electronic, so we just went into the dash and altered the programming.”

“Then, we put the TKCs on there and, because we didn’t want to ruin nice Panigale wheels and rotors, we bolted on a set of 1098 wheels. We had to shim and space them to make them fit, but we just had them knocking around, so it was worth it.”



“I didn’t want to trash my nice Termignonis, so we took a stock 1199 exhaust and cut and welded a formed crash guard. The whole bottom of the bike is now this really cool formed metal skid plate that protects the exhaust, it’s pretty rad.”

“So far, even just with a few pics on our website, it’s gotten way, way more reaction than I thought it would. Manigale is blowing up too, I never would have thought AOL would pick that up. I never would have thought this would have become some viral thing. But with both, there’s haters. There’s all these guys saying, ‘that’s so stupid’ or “why would you ruin a good bike like that?’ Well, why not just have some fun and be silly?”

“And, the thing is, it works!”



“The ride ended up being five people. One Multistrada, one TerraCorsa and three GS’s. We went and did a 1,200 mile ride over three days in all kinds of conditions. Rain, mud, gravel, grass, street. I’d like to think we did as much of an adventure ride as anyone normal person would, be it on a GS, a Super Tenere or a KTM. We were in the middle of nowhere with no excuses, there’s nowhere we went that the Panigale didn’t just go right along with us. It was super impressive.”

“Here’s the thing with the Panigale: it’s a surprisingly comfortable bike to ride. Yeah, you have to have equal parts confidence and ability to ride it in a lot of the situations where you’d want to have high bars and stand up, but it just works.”



“It’s amazing what a huge difference just tires make. The Panigale was the only bike that had TKCs and, there were some places where it was the only bike that could get through. We had this one stretch of really, really hard mud and the Panigale with TKCs was the only bike that made it. Those are incredible tires. We had a couple stretches where we were going really, really fast and were like, ‘these are bias plys, we shouldn’t be doing 120 mph!’ We had this horrible revelation where we realized how dangerous this could be if we really let loose.”




“Look, we didn’t single track it. We didn’t go off into the mountains with the intention of going somewhere no one else had ever been. But, we went to the normal places you’d go on a relatively decent adventure ride: dirt roads, fire roads, open fields and a couple of tighter places and some tame single track. The Panigale handled all of it.”

“Next, we want to do a video where the bike is being used like crazy off-road, then rides into the shop and we do a time-lapse where we convert it from dirt to track and take it to a track day. Now, we’re just going to put the bike back into track form and I’ll be a track day on it down at Thunderhill next month.”

“This wasn’t even planned. It was a stupid adventure, and one that just worked.”

A Custom Ducati Called Street Tracker Betty

If you do any sort of google search on all things custom build related, the links are absolutely endless. We get stoked when friends post links about other builds they have found and share their findings. Thanks to Del over at Mutiny Cycles for posting up on the Street Tracker Betty on facebook. Looking forward to following their progress.

This tricked out Ducati has a great stance and is the perfect city bike

Really diggin' the pipes flowing out of the left side

"Street Tracker Betty" is coming together quite nice

Ducati 750SS Supersport

Can Donna Feldman Get Any Hotter?

Who the hell isn't a sucker for a gorgeous Woman? Add in some scantily clad clothing and motorsports and we are all foaming at the mouth. So yes, we had to view a cheesy high production short commercial film made by a credit card company, just so we could look at Donna Feldman in all of her glory, enjoy! 

Check out the original commercial on Vimeo for more info

Donna Feldman is stunning in her black swimsuit

Lingerie, amazing looks and a great body equal the beauty of this image of Donna Feldman

Donna Feldman in Visa Black Card TV Commercial from Donna Feldman on Vimeo.

Donna Feldman is one gorgeous lady in leather

Are We Just Suckers For A Beautiful Woman On A Motorcycle?

Are we all just suckers for a checking out a beautiful woman on a motorcycle? Yep, we probably are, but the hell with it. As long as ya don't buy into the hype of these fashion houses trying to sell their version of the counter culture, they maybe it can slide.

We totally understand that the fashionistas will hop on every trend band wagon, along with all the poseur hipsters, when it comes to underground culture. But this is all cyclical and they will mosey on as fast as they rolled into town and life will continue to move forward as it always will.

With those opening words and a justification of our posting fashionta photos, please forgive us for staring at such beautiful women. We just can't help ourselves and our Martian ways.

Keira Knightley en Ducati 750 SS pour Chanel ! Vidéo automoto sélectionnée dans Moteurs

Moschino advertising with gorgeous lady on a Captain America inspired Panhead

Ralph Lauren has a lady by a Triumph

Super model Gisele Bundchen always looks amazing

Chanel even went so far as to have a custom bike built

Gorgous lady on a Triumph

Keira Knightley on a Ducati 750

Gisele Bundchen on a Mad Max inspired bike ready for the apocalypse

Keira Knightley in an ad for Chanel

Sexy lady on a older Honda

Bimota Concept Bikes Powered By S and S XWedge VTwin

Bimota has come out with some very sleek designs in their concept drawings for a new cafe racer style bike aiming towards the US Audience and those wanting a performance driven v-twin powerplant. Personally I think these are amazing looking and from looks alone appear to be well thought out when it comes to performance and handling. No lines seem to crazy to adjust to and look to be a rider right off the showroom floor. Ok, when are they available?

Link to Bimota Motorcycles USA

Bimota Concept cafe racer style developed by Oberdan Bezzi

Find more concept motorcycles on BikeGlam.com

"The Italian designer Oberdan Bezzi is always very prolific of interesting ideas and fascinating projects. The latest offering from Oberdan Bezzi is known as Bimota XXX Concept. This mighty Drag-cruiser is more than a nod to the American audience than the Europeans.

 

The chassis is made of high quality items and best brands, as always in Bimota. According Oberdan: “The driving position is quite absurd for the pilot of the Old Continent, but it seems like the American biker.” The engine uses Power Cruiser Custom typical American with a look that will delight the most of the cafe -racers."

Bimota Concept cafe racer style developed by Oberdan Bezzi

Bimota Concept cafe racer style developed by Oberdan Bezzi

Bimota Concept cafe racer style developed by Oberdan Bezzi

BikeExif Featured Ducati From CAV America

There are a plethora of places online to view cool bikes online but one that never fails to deliver is BikeExif.com. Their keen eye to detail and showcase of quality machines propels them to the top of the charts for great new bikes. We also can't thank them enough for featuring our Cafe Bike last year. 

We saw this particular Ducati a few weeks back and several things caught our attention, first and foremost it was from a local builder in our neck of the woods and second is the absolute precision detail on this bike. Our new Buell street fighter and land speed racing build is slow going due to how busy we are with the music label but this bike is quite inspiring. Read on for the details on this ride and definitely check out more on Johann Keyser of CAV America as damn if he doesn't have some great things cookin' here in the south. 

Link to feature article on BikeExif.com 

Johann Keyser runs CAV America, one of the leading builders of Ford GT40 replicas. He’s also the only GT40 builder with the rights to replicate the official Gulf Oil livery. Keyser is a motorcyclist too, and describes his custom Ducati as “a bike that I had to build … It had to be very mechanical looking, naked and lightweight.” It’s hard to pin down the exact lineage of this aggressive-looking machine, because the donor parts came from several different bikes. The frame is from a 749S—modified to accommodate a torquey, air-cooled 900ie motor—and the single-sided swingarm is from a Monster S4R. The engine is running K&N air filters, an open clutch and Speedymoto covers, and it’s hooked up to a custom two-into-one system terminated with a lightweight SS muffler.




The forks are from a 916 SPS, upgraded with new springs and valves, and the wheels are also from a 916—but painted to mimic the BRM wheels fitted to GT40s back in the day. The brake system is Brembo and sprinkled with superlight titanium parts; the seat and seat frame are from Radical Ducati in Spain. The tank is a modified 999 fitment and the fairing is a modified glass fiber SS upper.



With just over 300bhp, the road going version of the GT40 could hit 60 mph from a standstill in around 5.3 seconds. I’m betting that this machine could knock at least a second off its bigger stablemate’s time.

PS: A big thanks to one of our favourite clothing brands, Aether Apparel, which has just come on board to support Bike EXIF. They have a terrific blog too: check it out here.

More images from the work of CAV America 

 

Collectors Weekly - Search For Vintage and Antique

Collectors Weekly took us by complete surprise as another article got our attention and we happened to click on a link talking about collections. Well damn, low and behold we stumbled onto a goldmine of a site or a search quandary that will take up much more of your time. Entirely up to you, but our first searches started out with music as we perused some vintage vinyl, then we wandered over to posters and then we really got stuck. Yes, go ahead and do it, click on search "Motorcycles" and damn if you won't pull up some great info. Don't blame us for your new addiction, we are just posting what we find to be clever and interesting...

Collectors Weekly

And a few of the great bikes we just found for sale, click on over to the site and then for each picture, it will take ya to the auction.

1936 VLH 80" HARLEY DAVIDSON SPORT SOLO

1970 Ducati 350 Mark 3 D AHRMA Racer

1955 BMW R50 With Original 1951 Steib Sidecar

1972 Triumph Triumph T120

1948 Sunbeam S7 S8 Restored Bike

What is Zach Ness Building, Swingarm For A Ducati?

Word was passed along of a bad ass lookin' custom swingarm being fabricated by Zach Ness. Not sure exactly what its for but heard it could be for a Ducati. Any which way it goes on, its going to look damn good and make for a killer asymetrical style to the rear.

Soundtrack by Tom Waits from Mule Variations

Zach Ness custom swing arm

Ducati And Gorgeous Ladies

Ducati not only makes great motorcycles with killer lines but they also have a bevvy of beauties ready to pose by them all the time. We have yet to own a Duc of our own but looking forward to the day of having an Italian streetfigther in our garage lineup. Our buddy Homewrecka just got a 1996 Ducati Supersport SS and that thing sounds great and runs like a raped ape. How can anyone own just one bike? We need at least one for the back roads, one for the city, one for the mountains and then one to do 3000 mile runs on.

Also if you didn't hear the news the other week, Claudio Castiglioni, the man who single handedly raised the bar on Italian motorcycles passed away. His legacy with Ducati, MV Augusta and Husqvarna will be remembered for a long time to come. We wish the family all the best and know they will continue his vision.

For the images below, just do a search on google and you will find quite a few more...