Much to the dismay of the Ducatista, we listed the Ducati Sport Classic range as one of the worst factory customs ever made. That’s not because they weren’t great bikes though. It was due to the fact that when they were released no one was buying them. It was a case of being too far ahead of the curve. At the time of their release, firebreathing Sports Bikes were all the rage. Sales were slow and after only 5 years of production, Ducati pulled the pin. There simply wasn’t enough interest in retro-styled motorcycles for the Sport Classics to be viable.
Today, however, in a time when the words retro and cool go together like beards and lattes, the Sport Classics would have been hot property. And in the secondhand market, they are. The demand for used Sport Classics is on the rise, as are the prices people are asking for them. So as you’d expect, the act of customising a Sport Classic shouldn’t be taken lightly. Do it wrong you’ll ruin the chance of your somewhat rare Ducati continuing to go up in value. Thankfully this was something the owner of this bike was well aware of. So he left it up to Greaser Garage in Genova, Italy to realise his vision.
The bike started out as a Ducati Sport Classic GT1000. Sold between 2007 and 2010 the GT1000 was the comfort model in the range, designed with sport-touring in mind. It shared a lot in common with the cafe racer-esque Sport1000 but dispensed with the rear cowl and swapped out the clip-on style bars in favour of more comfortable alternatives. Putting it bluntly, it was the blandest of the bunch.
Giorgio Pellegrino and his team at Greaser Garage are well versed in both modern and classic Italian built machines. Giorgio and his team of 7 staff have enough in-house skills to build show-stopping custom bikes, evidenced by their work on this GT1000. “The look is a homage to the classic style of the 1970s 900 SuperSport but designed on a more contemporary base,” says Giorgio. “We started with a bunch of renderings then stripped the bike apart and began modelling the parts in clay onto the chassis.”
The goal was for an all-round sportier look using the 900SS aesthetic and a replica fairing as a guide. Clay modelling is new addition to the Greaser Garage repertoire and they took to it like a fish to water. After hours of fine-tuning and revisions, they were ready to produce the final parts. Moulds were cast off the clay bucks and 5 main components were formed using a mix of carbon composites and hand-formed aluminium. The result is a set of individual pieces that flow together to create the look of a monocoque structure; all while maintaining the convenience of being able to remove individual elements as necessary. The front fairing, tank and tail unit were formed from carbon, along with an additional two-up configuration tail that can be easily swapped out. Two additional brushed aluminium panels cap off the tank and tail.
Beneath the new bodywork is the standard GT1000 airbox and fuel cell, left untouched at the client’s request. This meant some clever tweaks had to be made to the GT1000’s frame to fit the new tank. Two additional trellis substructures welded to the chassis hold the cover in place and set up the perfect bone line. In the rear Greaser Garage have integrated LED lighting into a modified tail hoop and secured the tail unit to the top of the frame rails. More custom brackets anchored to the frame hold the front cowl in place and the headlight has also been upgraded to an LED unit.
While designing the new bodywork Greaser Garage also developed a pair of bespoke side panels for their Sport Classic GT1000. The original Ducati covers did a decent job of complementing the standard bodywork, but they had the look of a tacked-on afterthought. Greaser Garage’s replacements focus more on blending with the frame for a superior fit and finish.
When it came to performance most of what the bike is running is factory spec. The most notable change is a sweet looking (and undoubtedly sounding) custom exhaust designed by Greaser Garage and fabricated by Mass Exhaust. For that iconic Ducati sound, the GT1000 clutch has been swapped for a modified 848 dry clutch kit from KBike.
To finish things off Greaser Garage picked out a few high-end aftermarket parts for the GT1000. These include a set of Tommaselli Condor Plus handlebars, Brembo levers, a Chronoclassic gauge and carbon fibre belt covers. For the unveiling of the bike, it was fit with track-ready Dunlop slicks. These were was swapped out soon after these shots were taken. “The bike is now lighter than the stock model and it’s still easy to use every day,” says Giorgio; stating that this was one of the specific requests of the owner. The finishing touch to tie everything back to this bike’s inspiration is its striking 900SS blue and silver livery.
As for whether or not the work done to this Ducati Sport Classic GT1000 has added to its value we’ll let you be the judge. One thing is for sure though, there’s nothing bland about this bike!
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