Ducati's Scrambler motorcycle is one of those bikes that people love to customize. Part of which is because that's how Ducati designed it, it's made to be a blank canvas. Riders can pretty much do whatever they want with it given time and resources.
Do you want an old-school cafe racer? Scrambler. How about an off-roader? Scrambler. What about something you just want to use to head down to the shops or into work on? You guessed it, Scrambler. It's ready and willing to become whatever motorcycle your heart desires.
And over the years, Ducati has played up that ability with a host of one-off creations offering customers ideas as to what their motorcycles can become. The latest of which, two custom Scramblers, just dropped at the MotoShow held out of the world-famous Bike Shed in London.
Let's take a look at these gorgeous machines.
The company's Centro Stile Ducati—the brand's design arm—is the one responsible for these two custom motorcycles dubbed the CR24I and RR24I respectively. And the designers went to two very different places with the Scramblers' styling, choosing to go for a Cafe Race aesthetic for the CR24I, and "post-apocalyptic Hollywood" for the RR24I.
As for the CR24I, Ducati says it "is inspired by the history of British riders in the 1960s, where motorcyclists challenged each other to complete a lap around the block before a record finished playing on a jukebox." To that end, it features a 17-inch front wheel, clip-on handlebars and bar-end mirrors. Likewise "the tank-mounted fairing, narrow and wrap-around, recalls icons of Ducati history such as the Pantah and the 750 SS."
Ducati also threw on a detachable cover for the passenger seat which makes it both a single and dual-passenger bike, which "recalls the classic ‘panettone’ saddles of 1970s sports bikes." The front fairing is also gorgeous.
The RR24I, however, "refers to the aesthetic of recent post-apocalyptic cinema and TV sagas. Minimalist and functional in every detail." Who knew Ducati's designers watch Fallout?
Anyway, the main styling is very off-road, post-apocalyptic chic. Yes, form over function, but form still plays a role, as with all Ducatis. "Nothing superfluous compared to the purest emotions of riding, to fully experience that sense of freedom," is how Ducati puts it. As such, it features highlighted exposed aluminum parts, and the "tank is stripped of its covers and replaced by a frame to attach a tank bag for the essentials, be it a change of clothes or tools to stop at nothing."
The rear seat was partially removed to throw on a luggage rack, while the twin panniers are actually upcycled empty jerry cans. A Termignoni exhaust is set high as to not break it while off-roading, and Pirelli Scorpion Rally tires on 18-inch and 17-inch rims, along with a high and short front mudguard, will allow you to fulfill all your all-terrain, nuclear fallout dreams.
Both bikes will be on display at the show, but are meant to showcase the variability you can achieve from the same platform, i.e. the Scrambler. But what do you all think? Which one would you have? This may come as a shock to many who know me, but I'd probably have the CR24I over the RR24I.
I just think it looks cooler.
