WHO DARES WINS: UPCYCLE CUSTOMIZES THE DUCATI 998

[weeksy]

https://www.bikeexif.com/custom-ducati-998

[Yorick]

Almost bearable, but the seat kills it.

[Mr. Dazzle]

At least its hard to tell it used to be a 998 and hence you can't see how much they've ruined it.

[demographic]

I'm not keen on the stubby tail of it, thats an easy fix though and the clocks aren't the clearest to read.
I quite like the fairing and in general I reckon it should be rideable.
So, most of the expensive bits are the ones I like and the bits that I dont like look relatively cheap to sort.

A lot of these cafe racers look like posh painted non runners that would cost a bomb to sort and this one seems different. In general I think I like it, but not all of it. Bare in mind the fact that I'm not that clued up on Ducatis though so might just be talking shite.

[Mr. Dazzle]

The thing is, they've actually managed to make it look heavier, more bloated and less elegant than a standard 998. Hardly the cafe racer aesthetic!

[Tricky]

Horrible- worse than the original bike in every way. I can understand that there's a market for the Hipster/bobber type creations to trundle about on airing your beard and ankles at 30mph and park outside the coffee shop but don't get it for sports bikes- they need to be better, either in sporty-ness, or looks, and this just looks like an ugly lash up with bits missing to me.
I guess there is a market for them though or they wouldn't be spending money and time ruining bikes like this

[demographic]

The thing is, they've actually managed to make it look heavier, more bloated and less elegant than a standard 998. Hardly the cafe racer aesthetic!

The TZ fairing you mean?

I quite like it.
I get that 998s were considered one of the best looking bike ever ever and yeahI can see they were a bloody good looking bike.
To my eyes this isn't as good looking but I still think the fairing looks nice.
Just the tail looks crap.
In fact, any bike where theres a straight unobstructed (by tail unit or rear mudguard) line from the outer edge of the rear tyre and the riders back is an automatic fail on the finished bike front as far as I'm concerned.
Maybe if I lived somewhere that didn't rain as much or have cowshit on the roads I'd feel different about that, but I really like the colour green on grass and wouldn't want to live anywhere the grass was that manky yellow that too hot countries get.
I'll put up wih the rain and cowshit on the roads and stick to bikes with decent tail units and mudguards if it means I don't live in a yeloow dust hole.

Oh and you'll know more about this than I but I assume those bikes with buggerall tail units have more drag than those with a well designed tail unit?
Also I'd be interested to see how well the TZ fairing stacks up against the Ducati fairing on that front.
Nobody with a TZ (almost totally just racing then) wants to spend money on engine power only to lose it on the fairing being a crap shape.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I suspect on most bikes the tail end aerodynamics does mostly fuck all. MotoGP etc might be different but they're fugly aero monsters now just like F1.

The 916 shape obviously has the underseat pipes which are nominally for aero (but most cause they look cool!), but I'd imagine that's more about frontal area than drag coefficient.

Looking at that bike I'd imagine its draggier than a 916 shape, but mostly cause a 916 is really really narrow.

[demographic]

The bike is narrow but there's still a rider behind the fairing which is part of the drag.
Most bikes are about as aerodynamic as a "Delivery Van" according to John Robinsons Chassis Tuning book and the tail units do make a difference but I can't remember by how much.
Much of the proper aero bikes arent alowed in racing for various reasons but ZZRs were always considered pretty slippery.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Yeah that's why the tail does fuck all. it's the fat middle aged dentist in the middle which ruins it.

Race bikes integrate the rider into the aero, hence humped leathers etc.

[demographic]

Yeah that's why the tail does fuck all. it's the fat middle aged dentist in the middle which ruins it.

Race bikes integrate the rider into the aero, hence humped leathers etc.

Anyway, its an easy(ish) fix to fire a tail unit on again although maybe the original one looks stupid without an underseat zorst.
That fairing looks pretty damn good for a fat middle aged dentist to tuck behind though.
I'd honestly like to see the bike and average rider frontal area to see if its really much different.
To be fair though, what I'm really saying is that I just quite like the fairing shape and am doing whatever I can to justify it, pretty much like every discussion with anyone ever does.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Indeed...my point is that the cafe racer thing is nominally meant to take a bike and make it look stripped down and faster. This does the opposite.

[Mr Moofo]

In customising , are you meant to take something and try and make it look better ?

[Supermofo]

Thats bloody awful