Ducati ST Cafe Racer Build

[magpie21]

My best mate and I booked in to do a cafe racer rally Malle Great Mile in August from John O Groats to Lands End mainly as a reason to kick our arses into gear to build cafe racers which we've always threatened we'd do.

I've been through loads of ideas and didn't really want to do the usual BMW RT or Honda CB route and have seen a few Ducati's done by the likes of Radical so set about hunting for a bike. The ST range seems to be quite popular if you don't have the deep pockets to chop up a Panigale or 1098 so the search was on. I originally bought a ST4s and then contacted a fabricator who told me he had pretty much what I was envisaging sat in the corner of his workshop. After a quick barter a deal was done and I was the proud owner of a half finished project!





It had some trick bits already added to it
- S4R swingarm
- Hypermotard SP rear wheel
- 999r magnesium front wheel
- 1098 forks
- custom top yoke
- 848 brakes
- custom forge motorsport radiator

The bike had been left standing for a while and had started to corrode where it hadn't been finished and the wiring left a lot to be desired









The bike already had a Radical seat unit which I originally liked but looking around there quite a few with this seat unit. Coincidentally, to help my decision, I stumbled across a carbon seat unit from a Norton Domiracer



I am no good with fabrication and was recommended to go and visit Viv Cowley at V-Moto just outside Oxford. After speaking with Viv about his time spent as an engineer with the Le Mans winning TWR Jaguar team and then with the Bloodhound SSC project and Kenny Roberts Proton Motogp Team I knew he was the guy to help me get this bike sorted. And that's when things started to escalate!!!

I wanted to have a really clean look to the bike and it soon became apparent that sorting the electrics is a big part of that so I spent a small fortune with motogadget getting parts that will be both reliable and compact and I've got Richard from wiring4bikes completely rewiring it. Being ex military and aerospace his attention to detail is second to none and a Ducati wiring loom is relatively straight forward for him. The loom has been with him for a week and should be back tomorrow to hook up to the bike. With the Motogadget parts I've been able to get rid of the ignition barrel and it will now run keyless ignition controlled either by a fob or via bluetooth on my phone!

So we then stripped the bike completely so Viv could work his magic with the frame













Viv has put little tabs on the back of the tubes for the loom to follow, de lugged, making mounts for the S4r swingarm so I can use conventional rearsets, re built the subframe, re located the battery and ecu and made space for the motogadget stuff to be hidden away









Whilst the engine was out we also took the opportunity to clean it up



To fit the motogadget dash the headlight bowl has been reworked so we can house it there so the yokes aren't cluttered







The frame was powder coated yesterday now its back to be built back up ready for a new exhaust system to be made for which I already have the end cans



The frame and headlight bowl came back last night so today we started to build it back up

Before


After






Whilst the frame was away Viv got on with venting the clutch case









And started working on replacing the rubber hoses with rigid ones with Wiggins clips



So today we started building the bike back up. Now the frame is all powder coated it made the swingarm look a bit sorry so we got that all cleaned up with a bit of vapour blasting and some elbow grease and got it back in the bike. We also swapped out the standard ST4 shock for an Ohlins one from a 996.







New oil lines fitted



Trial fitting of Gilles rearsets - these need to go back about 40mm



Motogadget components laid out ready for final fitting and connecting tomorrow



Headlight bowl fitted to custom bracket ready for wiring tomorrow



Starting to mark up rough placements for the custom exhaust system



The bike is booked for dyno on Friday and the Malle Great Mile is only two weeks away so no time to waste. I'll keep this thread updated but for those interested we're documenting the build on instagram look for the v_motoltd account

[magpie21]

Today was mainly lots of stuff that takes time but you don't see the progress until its' all done i.e electrics!!

Richard from wiring4bikes has made a completely new loom for the bike and today was attaching it to all the component pieces:

this is what was removed from the original loom


this is some work in progress







Richard finalised where he wanted the Motogadget components attached to in the dedicated tray Viv made and Viv set about drilling the holes for it all to be fixed to and made the bracket for the bottom before painting







Viv also made the tray for the battery to sit in the 'V'





I left them to it and popped back later in the day. Again visually not much to see but lots of progress had been made!



The standard switchgear has been removed and Motone switches commonly used on custom Harleys have been used instead. The Biltwell grips have been fitted along with the Motogadget M.Blaze bar end indicators





The new clutch and crankcase breather are now on too



Tomorrow the electrics will be finished as will the exhaust & water pipes. Then we cross our fingers as we hit the starter button ready for dyno on Friday

Edited by magpie21 on Wednesday 16th August 21:06

[magpie21]

TwoStrokeNut said:

Nice! There's some lovely work there!

I love the edgy lines of the 999/749 tank, at least I think that's what it is?

I do prefer the air-cooled though. All of those fins and much cleaner pipework.

I guess that's why the Sport Classics are so expense these days.

Yeah its a 999/749 tank although that will be getting modified too

Agreed on the pipework but we wanted to do something different with the water lines so its not a major issue

[magpie21]

Things are starting to take shape now, Richard has finished the electrics and we now have power









Viv has also fitted the Domino QA throttle



And then got on with the aluminium pipework which is replacing the rubber hoses. He's using Wiggins clips from aerospace applications for a watertight fit









Over the weekend the pipework will be finished and the custom exhaust made. We're also modifying the tank ready to go to paint on Monday

[magpie21]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I asked the same question when Viv suggested it. There is a rubber mount inside the wiggins clip so they aren't rigid. You can wobble the pipe by hand so no worries with vibration. If it can handle the vibration from an aircraft engine I'm sure it can cope with my little duke

[magpie21]

Like this

Both ends have a rubber O ring



A Wiggins sleeve is then placed over for a watertight seal



The Wiggins clip goes over to hold it all in place



And close

[magpie21]

Water system is now done





Airbox is modified and fitted





Under tray made and fitted



Then we moved onto getting the tank modified to fit the Domiracer seat unit











Now its off to paint. Viv has a couple of contacts and so we dropped it off for paint with a 24hr turnaround. Judging by the metal sat round in prep I'm sure it's going to be a top job!













The exhaust system is being made as we speak so in the next couple of days it should be finished!!

[magpie21]

WinstonWolf said:

The original bike looks strangely familiar, has it been seen on PH before?

Hmmm not sure, it's been on ducatiforum before

[magpie21]

Today Viv finished up shaping the undertray....







And we picked the tank and seat unit up from paint















What do you think?

[magpie21]

Elli5 said:

cbmotorsport said:

Luvley, simply luvley.

[magpie21]

Some more pictures

[magpie21]

Exhaust will be finished today

[magpie21]

Thanks all - yeah I'm not sure i could have built this at my home. Viv is a skilled engineer with '000's of pounds worth of tools and invaluable experience. Regardless of home build or not though I'm glad you like it.

[magpie21]

SteelerSE said:

Will be interested to see the final pics from the front. The early shot (Friday 18th pic) felt like the radiator was the dominant piece of the machine. I'm sure that once the tank is on and the various finished items it will blend in much better. Also I think you've had the radiator painted which looks much better.

And full marks for taking something like this on. It's going to be a totally unique, beautiful machine.

Edited by SteelerSE on Wednesday 23 August 17:13

Thanks, yes we did the radiator black and I've now fitted the black levers and smoked brembo reservoirs so the bike looks pretty menacing and its softened the impact of the radiator. In due course I'll get a nice chunky set of Ohlins forks to finish it off.



So final update before its done and we show it to everyone.

I wanted the seat pad we put on it to be the same high quality as the rest of the bike so sticking some foam usually found on a race bike wasn't going to cut it.I also didn't want to stick on an off the shelf vinyl pad which wasn't designed for this seat to be put on. Whenever I've had cars trimmed in the past I've used Dave The Trimmer based in Milton Keynes. He's usually knee deep in classic Aston's, Porsches and numerous other exotica so I knew my seat would be in safe hands. True to form with the rest of this build I needed a quick turnaround so I dropped it off with Dave this morning looking like this...



By 11 I had these pictures from where he'd made a fibreglass base for the seat and had the foam cut and on...

















And by 4pm had these...





Charcoal alcantara with a red stitch. The fit and finish as expected is perfect

Tomorrow we are going to build the bike back up. Check every nut and bolt and take it for its maiden journey.

I'll post pictures of the finished bike with very special exhaust asap

Edited by magpie21 on Thursday 24th August 22:21

[magpie21]

So It's finally finished. We had a scramble over the last couple of days trying to chase out electrical gremlins which turned out to be a weak crank position sensor signal.

In the mean time Viv has completed the exhaust system. The Akrapovic end cans are from a Moto3 bike which a friend of mine runs and the bit I love the most is the secondary upright complete with Lamba sensor boss which is from a Jaguar XJR-14 Le Mans car which Viv worked when he was part of the Silk Cut Jaguar Le Mans Team back in the 90's.

As for the style of the exhaust I wanted it to be high level as a a nod to the 916 which bike has the engine from and was the poster bike of my childhood. I also really like the style of the new 1299 Superleggera system but didn't want it to be exactly the same and wanted something unique - I think Viv has got it spot on.





















So late yesterday we checked every nut and bolt, cleaned it up and put all of the final parts on the bike for the first time. All I can say is it's better than I'd imagined it could look Viv has absolutely taken my dream and made it a reality.















A quick vid of Viv leaving to take it for it's first run. It's running rich so we can lean that out with the power commander. LOUD doesn't come close......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgBLVJJdQuo

I then loaded it up in the van and took it down to London to drop off to be taken up to the tip of Scotland ready for the start of the Malle Great Mile on Thursday morning.







I'll keep the thread updated with how my maiden 1000+ mile journey goes!!!!

[magpie21]

Thank you
Yeah Viv built it all himself including the exhaust. I told him where I wanted the end cans to be and he created the rest. If you look on his Facebook page V-moto Ltd there is a picture of his own Monster for which he made his own full Ti system.

[magpie21]

abw280 said:

OP - did you make it, or did the Ducati make the trip in the back of the recovery van

Pics or it didn't happen.........

Ahhhh were you on the trip?

It didn't do the whole trip on the back of the recovery truck Having been in such a rush we didn't get the chance for any dyno time which evidently turned out to be a bit of a mistake. With removing the airbox at the last minute and with so radically changing the exhaust it made the bike run really rich. It coughed and spluttered for the first few miles then seemed to clear itself and as long as I was smooth with the throttle it was manageable to ride. However 300 miles on the first day with it running so rich obviously took its toll and the bike died just outside of Glencoe. Disappointing - yes, but those 300 miles were some of the best I've ever done on a bike and it handled so well.



















After the bike broke down I returned home and picked up my Hypermotard, which was great for the roads of North Wales and the lanes on Dartmoor and Exmoor











Not quite sure how the cafe racer would have dealt with some of the flooded roads!!

I get the cafe racer back tomorrow and will start work on getting it back on the road - probably with a 996 engine in it now

[magpie21]

A little update on this....

So when I got it home, hastily, I started the hunt for a new engine and found a low mileage 998 unit out of an S4rs and duly fitted it, only for the bike to still not start! Now thinking my luck couldn't have been that bad to have bought a duff engine which I'd compression tested before handing over my cash I did what I should have done in the first place and checked the fuses and relays...turns out the fuel pump relay had cooked itself!! So now I have a 916 ST2 engine sat on the shelf in the garage!

In the short time the cafe racer made an appearance at the rally it got a lot of attention with many people appreciating the time and effort that had gone into it, so much so that we were asked if we would like to submit the bike to be considered to be included in The Bike Shed Show! Viv did the paperwork and submitted the entry and it was accepted!!

Now that we had this in the diary we had another deadline to work to and I wanted the bike to go the the show having all the niggles sorted. The first was the seat unit, I wasn't overly happy with the paintjob done on it as I wanted a smaller number board rather than the one that went alongside the whole seat unit. We spoke with the original paintshop and they said they'd rectify it for me so stripped it down and did it again!

Next up was the forks, they were one of the few things I hadn't touched from the original cafe racer I bought so took them off, stripped them down and sent them off for anodising, whilst they were away I also spotted a nice set of NCR triple clamps sat in Vivs workshop so did a deal with him on those too.

Now the front end was going to look a lot tougher I wanted the brakes to look the part too so sourced a set of Brembo M4 calipers and some HPK discs.

The final bit for me was the wheels. All the cafe racers I've ever lusted over have had spoked wheels so I specced up a set of Kineo wheels and sent my order off for the 6 week lead time for them to be built. To match them I also got an AEM sprocket and carrier to match.

Here's the bike as it sits now....

















The bike was really well received at the show and one of the best compliments for me was that someone said - you can tell it's not just a show bike it's obviously been built to ride and have fun on - which is exactly what I wanted. Viv got a couple of commissions from the bike being at the show and someone even offered me 30k for my bike - which I respectfully declined.

A certain Mr Agostini even stopped by and had a chat with Viv about the bike and told him it was his favourite at the show..... praise indeed

[magpie21]

patchb said:

Just spotted on Facebook, thought I recognised it from somewhere!

Yeah the guys at Bike Shed fell in love with it at the show and asked if I would let them have it on display for a while. They even made a video of it when we dropped it off....

https://youtu.be/95jRu4U7sXU