Got a note from Randy Martin with a few photos of a Ducati Monster he’s just rebuilt, or should I say, reframed. Randy opened StradaFab, a fab shop for building titanium frames and carbon fiber parts. He found a 3 year old Monster S4RS with just 600 miles for his first project, so it hardly needed a rebuild, but it was perfect as the foundation for a new titanium frame to showcase what his shop could do..
Here’s Randy:
The bike was brought home and completely disassembled. The next step was to fabricate a welding jig from mild steel for the titanium frame to fit the stock Ducati frame. The titanium frame uses larger diameter tubing than the stock frame because titanium has a little more spring to it than chrome moly, so the diameter increase maintains the stiffness of the original frame plus I wanted to give the bike a beefier look. The stock frame weighs 28 lbs. and the titanium frame weighs 15 lbs., almost a 50% weight savings. The frame plugs were custom machined for the larger diameter tube.
In order to make the bike look somewhat like a café racer and save more weight I decided to make the seat pan from carbon fiber. First, foam was carved to shape then fiberglass was laid over the foam to make the mold for the carbon fiber. Four layers of carbon fiber were laid in the mold and vacuum bagged. The bracing under the seat is foam and carbon fiber which is then bolted to the frame. The seat pan and gas tank were painted Jet Black Metallic with Silver stripe.
Assembly of the bike went smoothly until I discovered that the stock headlight bracket would not work with the clip-on bars. A titanium bracket was made that allowed me to mount the gauges underneath the triple clamp and lower the headlight about two inches, one of those small things most people don’t notice that makes a custom bike. A titanium bracket for the tail light and signals was the final piece I needed to make.
Driven clip-ons and Rizoma grips and mirrors were chosen for the controls, along with CRG levers. The clutch cover is another carbon fiber piece made by StradaFab with a machined aluminum trim ring. The exhaust is a Quat-D Ex-Box and sounds great, works well with the stock ECU and saves about 10lbs. of weight. The brakes and suspension remain stock as the Brembos and Ohlins are some of the best offered. The rear-sets are from Rizoma and make the riding position more comfortable with the clip-ons.
A 14 tooth front sprocket was added to make the engine more manageable around town. To date it still has less than 900 original miles and is probably the only titanium framed S4RS in the world.
The bike weighs 364 lbs. dry, and at almost 40 lbs. less than the stock weight it doesn’t matter what RPM or gear the acceleration is amazing. The bike is truly a Monster now. I call it Mostro Della Strada, Monster of the Road.
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Thanks, Randy. The work looks good and the overall effect is subtle but the weight reductions are real. Nice job.
Link: StradaFab
GuitarSlinger says
Brilliant ! Going the Less is More ( weight ) route rather than the More is More ( horsepower which leads to less reliability ) routine .
Any idea what the cost is on this , as well as some numbers to show the performance gains : which I assume with some 40 llbs less will be large ?
Will Silk says
This is so cool to see! Titanium is tough to work with, so getting this together was no easy task.
I was friends with Peter Bryant, the man that built the Ti22 Can Am car in the late 1960s. Peter passed on in April 2009, but I’m sure he would have loved what Randy did here.
Decline says
I really can appreciate the work that went into this, but at $32,500 I would probably just settle on being 40 pounds heavier.
Jimmy says
I agree,for to costly for the gains. As a street machine this bike is already over the top.
B50 Jim says
Fabulous craftsmanship! Titanium isn’t exactly cooperative, burt this one looks like Randy welded it up from mild steel. I’m not sure the effort was worth a mere 40 pounds, but I appreciate the effort to showcase his talents. And of course it could be nothing other than Ducati!
davefla says
Gee, only 40 lbs/10% of the stock weight lost? Seriously, I can’t say enough. If I had the cash for a keep-it-forever custom, this would be on the short list. Bellisimo!
akumabito says
Sounds like you’d need about 40lbs of $100 bills to shave the same weight off this bike..
Paulinator says
…still Laughing
gildasd says
6,500 US for the frame.
Compared to custom bikes, it’s in the high but not crazy end.
G
OMMAG says
Overkill ? Maybe….
All it takes is 6500 samolians …. a Ducati ….. and half a reason to put them together.
I’m looking forward to seeing other projects from StradaFab……
Tim says
YES..
I love everything about this.
Tim says
isn’t it amazing how something a simple as dropping the headlight two inches just transforms the front end look of the bike? (and the clipons of course)
BoxerFanatic says
wholeheartedly agree. So many naked and faired bikes alike are so tall at the front end.
Lowering them just makes the bike look better and more purposeful, as long as the suspension still has it’s travel without crunching the fender and tire into the headlight on compression, of course.
LEO says
OK NOW …thats what DUCATI should be doing, not a BS carbon frame !!!!
gildasd says
Carbon BS is the right term…
In military applications (ex the rotors of a helicopter) you always use a mix of 80/90 fibre glass to carbon. Mostly because carbon is so darn difficult to tune and behaves badly when it reaches it’s limit.
But engineers have these theoretical models of how 100% pure carbon structures behave, that push them to try to replicate that in the real world (marketing pushes them as well “Full Carbon” is just soo sexy). Well, for complex parts, it does not work.
I bet you can mould 10 “identical” Ducati chassis and they will all react quite differently when pushed.
Kenny says
Awesome! Wonder if they could do teaching lessons about welding.
“I bet you can mould 10 “identical” Ducati chassis and they will all react quite differently when pushed”
You can say the exact same thing about any type of material (I seem to recall Yamaha taking a hacksaw to Rossi’s M1) and a rider capable of pushing a modern chassis to the limit and then critique it is a rare thing. The rest of us would merely be astounded by the performance gains that result.
You seem to have engineers and scientists confused. Scientists (normally those of based in mathematics) operate almost purely in theory. They create beautiful equations that unfortunately have limited application in real life. Engineers find out how to apply these theories, often through empirical experimentation, trial and error.
I applaud those at Ducati who started the CFRP frame project, it brings to mind latter years when manufacturers weren’t afraid to try something new unlike many commentators here who seem to be terrified of progress
Mike says
You seem to not know what a scientist is. I am a condensed matter physicist and 90% of my work is real world experimentation. I work on semi-conductors for real world applications. Many of my colleagues and past classmates are experimentalists as well. You’re confusing theoreticians and scientists.
gildasd says
Exemple of carbon structure not behaving as planned dispite loads of time and work:
http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/analysis-ferraris-front-wing-flutter/
Probably a few degree of shift in one layer of on layup during the curing, throw in some harmonics. Bingo, flutter.
Paulinator says
In the real (consumer) world its used as a deep lustre gel-coat.
Nicolas says
That’s a lot of $$ and hard work to change a perfectly fine Ducati into a … uh … a perfectly fine Ducati. imho. $0.02
It’s be better for the rider/owner to lose the 13 lbs from his belly than from the frame, better for his wallet, for his health, even his wife would see the benefit of that 😉
But oh, right, someone needs to claim that he has the only S4R with a titanium frame in the whole world … lol
Nice workmanship tough.
gorogergo says
Someone wanted to highlight the work they do and show what’s possible. While this is a beautiful, well crafted motorcycle, it’s also a rolling billboard. I love it.
hoyt says
Expensive? consider this scenario…
1. eBay find of an air-cooled DS motor (or complete bike that is parted out for more money). There’s one DS motor on eBay now with a starting bid of $2300
2. ti frame from StradaFab ($6500)
3. Marchesini wheels (brand new forged aluminum set ~ $3000)
4. other components…depending on your search, taste, and ability, $5000-7500 ?
That is $16,800 – $20,000 not counting tax or shipping. The above wheels, final paint, engine tune, etc. can be added over time.
What does an NCR ti framed-bike cost?
What do all the same, bone stock new HD or BMW touring bikes cost?
Sure the HD and BMW sport tourer bikes aren’t apples to apples with the above hypothetical build, but the cost is the topic of many comments above. The difference of bike styles at this level is only a matter of desire (analogous to $100k sedan vs. $100k sport coupe).
Now that StradaFab is on the market, one’s desire to have a performance custom that likely functions better than a stock bike is not insanely out of reach.
This is an ultra light bike that could have one of the best performance street motors around. This type of weight reduction is something that most of us haven’t experienced. I bet it is worth every bit. I only wish light weight Guzzi parts were available for the V11. That bike would come alive.
hoyt says
even if I was under by 5k, that is still within reason if someone wanted to be patient with the process.
Plus, the scenario above is the more difficult route because it assumes you don’t have a Ducati as a starting point. Many of their clientele could be existing Ducati owners.
Randy – how far back in model years can you build a frame for someone’s Ducati?
BoxerFanatic says
The bike looks gorgeous.
His website says that he makes frames for other Ducati models, also.
I can imagine a very cool build of an 1100 Evo air cooled motor, or possibly something scaled down to the 800-900cc air-cooled motor treated similarly.
With a Titanium Supersport-style frame, and the tubular S4R swing arm, and QD exhaust as this bike has (possibly darkened or black) with a subtle chin fairing under the front cylinder.
Some magnesium 3-spoke wheels, and high grade suspension dampers.
With a late model SS tank and front fairing converted to an SS/CR fixed half-fairing arrangement, with 999-like stacked projector headlights, and maybe a trimmed down 999 or 1099 tail section.
Tim says
$6500 seems cheap to me since you get 15 odd pounds of titanium and lots of beautiful filleted welds and machined components. I own a titanium pushbike frame (since 1992, still going strong) which to replace would be ~ say $1600 for 2 pounds of material.
Jimmy says
I would be very skeptical about the strength of the pictured welds. I am a welder with over 30 years experience in all type of material and processes. I see several welds in the photos that would not pass QC in my shop or any of the shops I have worked in. In particular the welds on the steering head,they appear to lack penetration,a weak weld here could be disasterous.If a weld this visable has a problem others may very well be even worse.
B50 Jim says
Two quibbles: 1) That radiator wouldn’t last very long, sitting right behind the front wheel where it can kick up stones and other junk. 2) Maybe Randy should squander a few ounces and put a chain guard on it. Style goes only so far when your foot is being chewed by a rabid steel wolverine.
clive makinson-sanders says
On carbon fiber frames… I and a group of very talented people built a single jet 4 seat personal aircraft fuselage ENTIRELY out of carbon fiber. Wings, fairings,tail fins, and nose cone too. There were aluminum supports for the engine wings and tailfins.
clive makinson-sanders says
also the radiator is always right there on the s4rs.
Randy@StradaFab says
Hoyt – I can build any Ducati trellis frame, I just need a good straight stock frame to build the jig.
Someone asked how much does an NCR bike cost. Generally they start out over 40k with a stock engine. They sold a 300lb Hyper Motard for repotedly over 100k last year. Their Ti frames are 15k.
Here is a link to the S4RS build on the Ducati Monster Forum:
http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=51759.0
If anyone has any more questions I would be glad to answer them.
Randy
hoyt says
Thanks Randy.
I asked the NCR question with a rhetorical tone in order to highlight the relative bargain of your frame.
Sid says
Great bike and craftmanship. I’d have to see the tailsection in person because that tail light looks disjointed in the pictures. Flush mount LED seems like it would be better. Of course, that is all very minor considering the work quality
steve w says
Very sweet, but really most people just need to go on a diet for 40#.
Marvin says
I think I may have just found my lottery win bike, a hypermotard to below 150kg would be great. I weigh 170lb so losing 40lb would probably make me too weak to hang on to the bars!
B50 Jim says
I could stand to lose 30 pounds, so that would be 70 pounds overall, more than enough to make that Monster motor stand up and rumble — sign me up, just as soon as my rich uncle leaves me that 5 million. If only….
Big Mick says
If they ‘only’ lost 40Lb from the bike, then maybe there wasn’t too much crap on it to start with!!
Cheers, Mick.:-)