This Custom Ducati Motorcycle Is A MotoGP-Inspired Dream

The idea behind Glenn Hoiby’s dream bike was simple: The SoCal-based enthusiast had always wanted a retro, street-legal, MotoGP-inspired superbike. But bringing that vision to life was a bit more complicated—after all, how do you conjure a bike that’s informed by inspiration, but only exists in your imagination? It took an introduction to racer and master builder Mike Vienne of Championship Cycles to spark the path to Hoiby’s ultimate street machine.

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Hoiby’s starting point was a well-worn 1995 Ducati 900SS, which he found at Pro Italia, a local Ducati shop, and subsequently rode some 50,000 miles before its eventual transformation. Since Vienne felt that Hoiby’s goals would require rebuilding or replacing virtually every component, he proposed upgrading with a new suspension system and a more modern powerplant. As with any project, scope and budget creep became an inevitability. “Every time Mike had a better idea,” Hoiby says, “The answer was, ‘yes.’” After about a year’s worth of extensive stripping, fabricating, and building, the only original parts that remained were the frame, swingarm, and Öhlins rear monoshock. What started life as a 435-pound 900SS (with a claimed dry weight of 415 pounds) became a 352-pound featherweight one-off with more power, better handling, stronger brakes, and completely reworked aesthetics. But rather than creating a visual curiosity, Hoiby hoped to build something that looked like a factory Ducati motorcycle. “The vision was from the perspective of a purist to create a 900R factory racebike,” he says.

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While extensive labor was required to build out the bike, one of the great performance benefits of gutting the 900SS was ridding the Ducati of excess weight. Interestingly, the task proved easier than one might think. “There’s no real challenge to removing weight on this build,” Vienne says. “There are many lightweight parts manufactured today that easily replace some of the most cumbersome OEM components. The rest is just a matter of deleting superfluous items and fabricating the heavier stock items in lighter materials.” One crucial source of lightening weight came with the replacement engine, which was sourced from a low-mileage, 2010 model-year Monster 1100. The fuel-injected 1,078cc mill was not only more powerful, producing a claimed 95 hp in stock form, it also weighed less than the smaller, original motor. Win-win.

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The hyper-charismatic 900SS (in SP form) happened to be the subject of Hunter S. Thompson’s now-legendary Cycle World “Song of the Sausage Creature,” a print feature that broke the established rules of motorcycle journalism. “This motorcycle is simply too goddamn fast to ride at speed in any kind of normal road traffic,” asserted Thompson, “unless you’re ready to go straight down the centerline with your nuts on fire and a silent scream in your throat.” The fearsome Italian was, at least in its time, such an intense experience even for Thompson, the inventor of so-called gonzo journalism, that he notes in his review that, “Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube.” True that: the adventure-starved raconteur’s cremated remains were—you guessed it—literally shot out of a cannon at his 2005 funeral service by Johnny Depp, who allegedly spent $3 million for the memorable memorial.

While the addition of modern components also offered dramatic improvements to the 900’s performance including fully adjustable Mupo fork, four-piston Brembo GP4-RX front brakes with dual-disc 320mm BrakeTech AXIS rotors, the Ducati redux also achieves a measure of refinement and usability that simply wasn’t possible with the original package. Merging the air-cooled Monster engine to the rider is a Ducati digital display. Vienne was able to source unobtanium like a carbon fiber Ducati Performance fairing, which required some prep work prior to installation and painting; carbon fiber nose and tailsection were fabricated to match. Other lightweighting includes carbon fiber clip-ons and five-spoke Marchesini wheels. A stainless steel 2-1 header was fabricated by Max Hazan, enabling slightly more output from the twin-plug motor, which received an ECU flash to be simpatico with the pipes. While the airbox was removed, the powerplant’s internals remained stock.

“The most beautiful bike I’d ever seen was a Desmosedici,” Hoiby reveals to me on a chilly afternoon in the Angeles National Forest, several thousand feet above the LA basin. “I fell in love with it,” he recalls, “and to me this is a glorified mini version of it.” The connections are comprehensible. While Hoiby says he originally envisioned his creation being called an “1100R,” Vienne’s suggestion to name it “Superstrada” proved more apt: This is a streetable version of a revered superbike, not an ultra-focused track toy. The red and white livery tips a hat to Ducati heritage, while the mid-’80s-style Cagiva font emphasizes the period-correct mood. “Ultimately,” Vienne says, “my intent was to deliver his beloved 900SS back to him, and for it to be completely recognizable, but turned up to 11.”

Swinging a leg over any motorcycle, let alone Hoiby’s prized possession, requires a brief mental reset for the task at hand. But knowing that it took one year to build this one-off, followed by shakedown laps at Willow Springs Raceway and seven weeks of paintwork, gives me pause before I let out the clutch and accelerate onto the sometimes rock-strewn Angeles Crest Highway. The feeling of lightness at a standstill alleviates some of my concern; this Duc feels practically dirt bike-light, easily handled, at least at parking lot speeds. As I feed the throttle and let out the clutch, Ducati’s metallic clutch rattle merges with a bass rumble as power transfers progressively to the 180mm Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa. There’s some lovely sound and fury as this Ducati accelerates, but the power isn’t spiky or surprising. Rather, the throttle responds with linearity and predictability, encouraging me to lean on it a bit. “With 25-plus years’ worth of advancements in manufacturing and fuel management,” Vienne later offers, “the 1100 Desmodue is the great grandson of the venerable 900 motor, and yet, you can still feel the lineage and heritage between them both.” Well said, sir.

Cornering is similarly intuitive. Although I’m riding on modern tires, low ambient temps keep me from feeling bold enough to explore the bike’s limits, especially given the extenuating circumstances. With no prize to be gained but much (potentially) lost, I opt for a spirited jaunt, not a balls-out blast. The gearshifts are crisp and positive, supporting the premise that the days of widow-making Sausage Creatures can be a thing of the past given enough technical, mechanical, and handcrafting upgrades.

What was the toughest part of updating Ducati’s classic superbike? Vienne says that honoring the design presented unique challenges. “The Supersport has a very ‘of the time’ quality,” he says. “This bike existed before there were splash graphics, gills, wings, and overly complex computer-aided designs.” The trick, he says, was “…remaining faithful to the original 900SS design and not trying to turn it into something it’s not.”

As with any high-concept build, the process was neither linear nor predictable. “Parting out a donor bike for over a year is a test of painful perseverance,” Hoiby recalls, “but I met some amazing people with incredible stories of their own builds, and found out how small the world of motorcycles really is.” And while the owner’s heart was craving a soulful ride, his reworked 900SS fit the bill to a tee, only with a level of accessibility and reliability that could not have been achieved by a decades-old classic. “I dreamed of building something really special,” Hoiby says, “and 25 years later that dream came true.”

Helmet: Shoei GT-Air

Jacket: Vanson Full Throttle

Gloves: Firstgear Carbon

Pant: Calvin Klein 221

Boot: Sidi Vertigo