The Quickshift
- The Honda Grom is a fan favorite when it comes to custom builds.
- This particular build just has to be the craziest one out there.
- It’s powered by none other than a Ducati Panigale 1199 engine.
Out of all the bikes in the world, the Honda Grom just has to be one of the most abused, chopped up, and modified bikes out there. We’ve seen countless builds using the Grom as a platform, and quite frankly, a good number of them leave us with way more questions than answers.
I mean, just take a look at this crazy custom Grom. From a distance, it looks like just any other Grom that’s been stretched with an extended swing arm. But once you take a second look, you’ll notice that it’s packing way more power than it has any business rocking.
Why, you might ask? Well, it’s got a frickin’ Ducati Panigale engine.
This monster of a Grom comes to us from a YouTuber by the name of The_StreetSweeper (very early 2000s, if you ask me). Obviously, the Grom’s stock 125cc engine with a power output south of 10 horsepower just wasn’t enough, and he felt the need to stuff a Ducati 1199 Superquadro engine in there. For reference, out of the factory, the 1,199cc Desmodromic twin pumps out an eye-watering 195 horsepower.
It’s hella fast, and that should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody.
And so, as I watched The_StreetSweeper’s video, tons of questions flooded my mind. How hard must it be to swap in an engine this big into a bike this small? Who in their right mind would ride a 200-horsepower mini-bike? Where on earth did this dude manage to get his hands on a running Ducati Panigale engine?
The list goes on.
What we do know, however, is that tons of custom fabrication work had to go into this thing just to get the engine mounted safely—even if this thing’s probably the furthest thing from safe imaginable.
For starters, the upper portion of the Grom’s frame had to be hacked off to accommodate the Ducati engine’s rear cylinder. A custom fuel cell was then integrated into the swing arm, which obviously had to be extended in order to make this thing even slightly rideable.
It isn’t seen in the video yet, as the bike is still a work in progress, but The_StreetSweeper ordered a bunch of goodies for the bike, too, such as custom three-piece alloy wheels, upgraded brakes, and beefed-up suspension.
So yeah, this thing is by all means a crazy backyard build, but at least it seems to be one that’ll be well put together.
Needless to say, I can’t wait to see and hear this thing running for the first time. It’s absolutely nuts and makes absolutely no sense, but it just has to be one of the sickest Honda Grom builds I’ve ever seen.
