Ducati Desmosedici RR custom tracker
Roland Sands has been contracted to turn a $100,000 Italian exotic into a custom street tracker, in what could be one of the most expensive custom jobs ever attempted
The Ducati Desmosedici RR is a rare bike, so rare in fact that the Italian factory made only 1500 examples of the V4-engined road bike.
The entire allocation of extremely expensive race replicas for the United States, something like 500 motorcycles, sold out in less than day.
Powered by a screaming 989cc desmodromic V4 engine that cranked out 197hp (147kW) when it was launched back in 2006, it revved to more than 14,000rpm and made grown men weep. Regularly.
It's an incredible machine and always will be, but a collector in the USA reckons it's time to customise the bike. And as the owner of not one, but three Ducati Desmosedici RRs, he's taken a punt and enlisted one of the world's most famous tuners, Roland Sands, to do the work.
Priced at more than $100,000, the Ducati Desmosedici RR has zero kilometres on the clocks and, if everything goes to plan, will be transformed into a custom street tracker.
As these early development photos show, a new rear subframe has been fabricated for the project and flat tracker tyres have been fitted in lieu of semi-slicks. It will be interesting to see what happens to the swing arm.
The Ducati tank has been removed and replaced with a custom unit which will help transform the sports bike into a street tracker. The design will be dramatic, no doubt about it, but we wonder how the powerful 197hp V4 engine will function with changed geometry, running gear and so on...
What are your thoughts on the new Roland Sands project: Is it a good idea or the desecration of a sacred motorcycle? Let us know in the comments box below.
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