DUCATI DESMOTO

LETS GET STARTED!

I managed to source this neglected not so great Ducati Multistrada 1100DS from 2008 with South African and Thai registrations through Biggelaar Performance. No way this bike can be imported easily into the Netherlands. But thats not a problem since the engine is good and low mileage (20.000km), so that alone justified the purchase!

The weird registrations requires me to source another frame with papers to make sure everything is legal in the Netherlands. More on that later.

WHATS THE PLAN? PERFORMANCE & WEIGHT

The plan is to build a super light weight, high performance Supermotard. Performance results will be probably be around 120bhp and 120nm torque on the rear wheel :D! The goal concerning weight will be around 155/160kg WET! Below the current list of parts/work items as of how i have it planned right now.

The whole frame and fairings will be build around a Acerbis X-Seat (normally for KTM bikes). This seat has the perfect Supermoto line for the bike! Also has alot of grip haha.

Frame/brakes/suspension/wheels

• Aluminium frame (hopefully i can source this) and a custom build aluminium subframe
• Ducati Hypermotard 1100 front forks
• Ducati 999 rear swingarm
• Forged magnesium/aluminium wheels
• Brembo monoblock calipers (M4?) UPDATE: went with a complete ISR set-up.

Electronics

• Custom wiring loom
• Motogadget M-unit Blue
• Motogadget Motoscope Pro
• Motogadget M-lock
• Lipo battery to also reduce weight

999 SWINGARM

Yes i love the single sided swingarms on Ducati’s! However they are heavy as fuck. One of the lightest swingarms Ducati ever made was the 999 swingarm (old grey model). Its a bolt on job to fit, so its a no brainer. Also looks like i am one of the few that actually likes the look of this thing haha.

Dont look at the color of the thing. Was able to get it for a good price (thanks Michiel), and it gets painted anyway at the end of the project.

MAGESNIUM MARCHESINI’S!

Going for light weight right? Holy shit light weight wheels are expensive and hard to find second hand. I was able to find this set just at the right time for a price my wallet can live with. They are from a Ducati 749S.

I know there are alot of people against using magnesium wheels on the road, and allot of people saying its no problem. Guess im going to find out myself….

Front wheel weight = 2.8KG. Rear wheel weight = 4.1KG. Light as fuck!

CUSTOM DECALS & COLOR CHOICES

Again this bike will get custom decals and a custom paintjob (powder coat combined with wet paint). So i started with the decals for the the name of the bike.

Also some pictures of paint/powdercoatd pieces of the colors i am researching of using.

• RAL7031, Bluegrey – main color
• RAL3026, Luminous bright red – supporting color (pinstripe, supermoto style wheel accents etc)
• White – Decal lettering and possibly as a separator between the Grey and Red
• Black and Silver – Bolts, seat, buttons etc

UPDATE: Logo will stay the same, but the whole bike will be bare aluminium. Only the wheels and a few accent pieces will be gold anodised together with custom made carbon fiber fairings that will only be coated with clear. Bare build.

BREAKDOWN HAS STARTED

Bike looks really good, and also the engine looks amazing. Almost no chipped paint etc. Had some trouble starting up after not running for 1.5 years and a shady grounding lead, but now it runs just fine. Holy shit a wet clutch is quiet. Not used to that anymore haha.

Amazing how much you can break down in just 4 hours of work.

SUPERMOTO SEAT

The amazing handling and feal of a Supermoto also comes from the small seat and the ability to move around. I found this great seat,  Acerbis X-Seat normally for a KTM range of bikes. Its a soft comfort seat with amazing grip.

Going to build the whole frame, subframe and fairings around this seat. Hopefully the narrownes of the seat isnt going to be a problem on top of the wide engine and frame. Hypermotard 1100 as reference.

ENGINE TEARDOWN STARTED!

The quest for more performance and lightness has now started :). Atleast thats how it feels for me now im starting to break down the engine. Using a official Ducati engine stand. Damn those stands are amazing..

FIRST TIME WORKING IN CAD

Time to start learning CAD to actually design my own parts. Started on a custom bracket that allows me to mount MX footpegs to any Ducati engine. Currently in contact with a CNC machine shop to start fabricating these pieces.

NEW GOODIES!

• Hypermotard 1100 front forks
• 50mm throttle bodys (original 46mm) from a S4R with 1098 injectors
• 1098 lightweight gears
• Lightweight alternator from a 749R
• 1098 wiring loom as a base for the custom loom
• 2 Paso oil coolers that i am going to modify
• 848/1098 fuel pump (way smaller then original, going to fit nicely in my custom aluminium fuel cell)
• Ducabike rear shock height adjuster (needs some modification to extend even more)

ENGINE TEARDOWN CONTINUED!

Heads are all emptied out, and ready for the headwork like new performance camshafts, porting and increasing the intake valve size. Alternator side bearing will also be coming out so i can block off the oil passage to make sure i can convert the engine from a wet to a dry clutch.

The cases look pretty good, however i think i will be sandblasting everything to make sure everything will look like its new. Since everything is apart anyway, lets go all in. Damn the insides where dirty with old oil.

CRANKSHAFT FEATHERLIGHT + 1098 GEARING

Managed to source a lightweight crankshaft that needs some work 🙂 (thanks Boelo!). Orignally used in a Ducati Supermono. Side by side with the orginal one. Major difference in weight. I will also be going for a lightweight steel flywheel. Because of this setup i will need go for a trial and error approach on what i find comfortable riding the bike. A lightweight crank and flywheel together with the high compression of a Ducati will engine brake like crazy when closing the throttle. Maybe in combination with the slipper clutch this is going to be fun ;)?!

I will also be installing a 1098 gearbox in my engine. This is because the Multistrada 4th and 5th gear are in a overdrive configuration. This means we now have a close ratio gearbox. Also the 1098 gearbox has lighter gears, hollow gear fork shafts so its a must haha ;). Some really good documentation about Ducati gearing can be found here, Brad the Bike Boy, General Ducati gearing

CONTROLLING ELECTRONIC ÖHLINS

Im building a system that allows me to control the electronicly adjustable shocks and forks from Öhlins. This makes sure i can use that cool Titanium TTX shock. I now understand how the internals work and ordered some parts to build a controller that just plugs into the unit, reads the current setting and then allows you to change it :D.

My bike wont have this unit installed on the bike, however i will have a connector that the unit can plug into and then control the settings. All to save weight!! I will be selling this unit after it has been completely developed. This way people can actually use these normally unused electronic shocks and forks on projects.

Keep you posted!

RAW ALUMINIUM

All the aluminium stock i need for this project has been delivered. Placed 1 large order that should be enough for the whole project and maybe next haha. The large plate of 2mm is probably enough to build 3 fuel cells haha. Below a list of all the aluminium i ordered.

• 2mm, 1060 1000x2000mm plate for the custom fuel cell
• 22×3/20×2/18x3mm, 6060 T6 tube for the top/subframe
• 25mm, 7075 T6 bar for the custom Ducabike height adjuster insert
• 65/55mm, 6082 T6 bar for triple tree inserts to fit the custom steering stem
• 35×10/40×10 6060 T6 tube for the custom made steering stem
• 30mm, 7075 T6 bar for a custom spacer solution to fit a 999 cantilever shock setup

Love the look of raw aluminium stock!

IN LOVE WITH ISR <3 

Toine from Biggelaar Performance reminded me of the amazing brand ISR from Sweden. Holy shit the stuff they make is pure porn!

2 parts are already at my disposal, placing a large order soon to make sure everything brake related (excluding discs) is from ISR :D! Costly but pretty. Will be going for the best adjustable levers/cylinders available. Also perfect for this bike is te option to mount buttons directly to the lever/cylinder assembly. Going to be clean as fuck!

The 4 piston caliper i will be mounting on the rear is normally for a 125cc bike. With some minor adjustments to the 999 caliper plate i can mount this caliper. Hopefully it isnt going to brake to hard with no feel. Will see how it turns out.

RETRO ALUMINIUM GAS CAP

Since i will be building my own custom fuel cell with a 1098 fuel pump assembly in it i can go any route i want. Not much of the fuel cell will be visible, and it wont be big. Maybe 8 to 10L?! However the top will be visible in bare aluminium so it needs a pretty, clean and lightweight gas cap. Here we go!

My dad did make a good point. Retro?! It needs a breather hose on top going into the steering stem. Lets see how we solve that later in the build.

CUSTOM CNC REARSET BRACKETS

I finalised the designs for the custom footpeg brackets! They are going to be CNC machined in China by Mulan Manufactoring Group. Amazing response and customer service so far (thanks Cherry Li!). A full review as soon as the parts arrive! Going to be made out of 6061 aluminium with a natural aluminium color anodisaton.

The brackets are a combined/minimalised version of the original Multistrada and Hypermotard brackets. However my brackets can fit the ISR rear brake cylinder and fit aftermarket footpegs. Took alot of work to make sure the measurements are correct. The original brake and gear lever will be mounted to these brackets.

I ordered MX style footpegs but overlooked the size of them. Holy shit they are big. So not going for those and now i ordered thick 20mm springloaded footpegs that should have more then enough grip.

START OF THE 50MM THROTTLE BODY CONVERSION

Ok so this is a challenge but we are getting there. Mounting S4RS 50mm throttle bodys to a 1100DS engine. They are normally not mounted side by side but behind eachother with a linking rod. This means these throttle bodies need alot of work to function side by side with the option to be synced/adjusted. All while using the original intake manifolds since there isnt really much space between the bodys to fit the linking mechanism.

Using a 996 50mm throttle body as a donor for the valves and axles. The axles also need to be heavily modified.

I designed this plate that allows the bodys to be connected to eachother and make sure they cant twist compared to eachother. They also ensure a perfect 75 degree angle.

Things to do? Modify axles, design and create a custom TPS plate, design and create a custom throttle cable mechanism and so on.

Hope the photos and video do it justice. Keep you posted on the progress!

WHEN YOU THINK OF SUPERMOTO?

When you think of Motorcross or Supermoto i bet you can name multiple brands that are rooted in that world. For my birthday i got these Renthal Diamond/Waffle grips from my wife Nicole for the bike. Looks good together with the bare aluminium and grips like crazy :D.

CNC MACHINED ALUMINIUM PARTS

Nice! The custom CNC machined rearset brackets and throttle body conversion brackets were delivered today. Machined in China by Mulan Manufactoring Group. Still need to tap holes and fit the levers etc. Keep you posted! 

FITTING THE ISR CALIPER ON THE REAR

Got this amazing 4 piston brake caliper from ISR (22-048-OC) that normally is fitted to 125cc bikes or lightweight cars such as Formula SAE cars. I hope the brake feel will be good with this setup.

This caliper has exactly the right bolt hole spacing (84mm) for the original caliper bracket from a Ducati 999, however the bracket and caliper needs to be milled back for everything to fit. Looks pretty as fuck on that Marchesini magnesium wheel!

CUSTOM HEIGHT ADJUSTMENT ROD

I sourced a Ducabike connecting rod from Biggelaar Special Performance that is able to adjust the height of the bike. Unfortunately the standard adjustment bolt isnt long enough. I did some calculations on what the new length should be and starting work on a longer version.

Made out of 7075 T6 aluminium with right and left hand M16 thread on both ends. Waiting for a collet block so i can mill the hex shape that allows adjustment using a wrench.

AN6 FLARED FITTINGS ALL THE WAY

I always liked the look of automotive oil/fuel lines with AN fittings. So this bike will get that also, using cool reinforced braided oil lines.

Will be welding AN6 fittings on 2 old Ducati Paso oil coolers so everything oil line related will be connected using AN6 fittings.

CUSTOM REARSET BRACKETS ALMOST DONE!

Let the pictures do it justice…. Soon you will be able to buy the CAD designs for these brackets in my webshop so you get them machined yourself locally!  

NEW INTAKE VALVES

The first new goodies are arriving. 2 new 46mm intake valves (7mm stem). Its pretty easy to increase the size of the intake valves by 1mm (originally 45mm) since there is enough room in the valve seat to fit a bigger one. Offcourse the heads need porting to support this.

Toine from Biggelaar Special Performance is also working on the route of modifying Panigale titanium valves (46mm, 6.8mm stem) to fit in the heads. Amounting to a whopping 50gram weight reduction! 

SUPERMOTO RACE HANDLEBARS + RISERS

There we go. A new silver aluminium handlebar. Supermoto race spec. The risers for the handlebar also arrived. They only come in black, so i will be re-anodizing them to silver.

QUICKSHIFTING LIKE A PRO

I rode the KTM Duke 790 of my dad last summer, and holy shit a quickshifter and blipper is amazing!! I want that on my new bike (excluding blipper) so lets get it sorted. Reallly cool solution by Healtech that is configurable through bluetooth.

With a sensor it recognizes the movement of the gear lever and then just simply cuts the ignition for a X amount. Going to take a while before i mount it, only after finishing the custom wiring loom.

STAINLESS EXHAUST HERE WE COME

All the stainless parts for the custom exhaust arrived. Going to build a completely custom pie cut exhaust that is going to look amazing. I did order abit to much exhaust dampening wool haha. Can probably build 5 mufflers with this much.

Exhaust is going to be 50.8mm in diameter and the exhaust manifold is immediately going to increase in size from 40mm to 50.8 when exiciting the cylinder heads. Had some custom transition pieces made just for this.

Also going to weld in 2 lambda probe ports (18mm) near both cylinder manifolds to make sure we are actually going to be able to tune this beast :D.

PERFORMANCE PORN

Cant say much about it, but here we go. Pistal high compression 98mm pistons, Kaemna/Puretec Race camshafts and Carrillo conrods for the 1100DS engine. Going to be crazy combined with the flowed heads, 50mm throttle bodies and oversize 46mm intake valves.

Everything ready to be send off together with the lightweight crankshaft to get everything balanced.

Did found out that with these race camshafts and road use the engine needs a valve adjustment every 5000km haha. Fuck it, im able to do it myself so it will be fine. Also with these cams there simply is not enough space to fit the closing rocker springs in the head. This means i will be running without closing rocker springs and the idle rpm needs to be increased to around 1800 rpm to keep it running properly.

FOUND A CLUTCH COVER GEM

I found this gem of a clutch cover second hand on eBay. Dirt cheap and looks like new. Made by CT Moto in a very limited run. Unobtanium now a days. Looks insane with the milled out engine cover.

SAND/GLASS BLASTING HELL + CERAKOTE

Started with the sand and glass blasting of the engine. Holy shit the paint of the cases and cylinders is hard. I had to chemically strip the cases. The cylinders and heads i was able to blast with some patience. The cases, heads adn cylinder will stay bare aluminium.

I dropped off the engine covers, valve covers and swingarm to get them Cerakoted. Going for the color Glacier Silver. Real curious to see how Cerakote turns out on a bike, since it is normally used on firearms. 

Will be using ACF-50 to make sure the aluminium is somewhat protected against corrosion when everything is on the bike.

KBIKE PARTS ARE IN

Got some Kbike goodies. Lightweight adjustable timing pulleys. Saves almost 0,5kg of weight!! These lightweight pulleys are not only pretty but they will also reduce the rotating mass, resulting in a engine that spins up faster combined with all the other internal lightweight engine mods.

Also some clear anodized aluminium cam and alternator covers. I will be running external oil lines to the heads that will feed oil directly to the camshafts. These Kbike covers arent really made for that, so will need to mill in a slot and tap a M10 hole to fit banjo bolts. 

MOTOGADGET MADNESS

The guys from Motogadget are true legends in building innovative and high quality parts So this bike will get  equiped with Motogadget parts from top to bottom!

• M-unit Blue. The new mind of the bike next to the the ECU. Cant wait to start testing with this thing.
• Motoscope Mini including housing with indicator lights and bracket to mount everything to the 28mm handlebars.
• M-button. We dont want to see any wires right? This thing connects to all the buttons on the handlebars and converts the button presses into a digital signal running through only 1 wire back to the M-unit. Clean look guaranteed!
• M-lock, RFID. Just look the previous bike this is a must :).

SMALL PARTS UPDATE

Bought some new parts. Fuel line quick release fittings. This things are amazing, because they close off both ends of the fuel line. Not a single drop of fuel.

Shin-Yo Modul 1 rear brake light. Amazingly small and bright. Also used on the Futuri 900CR.

Ordered some lightweight exhaust flanges. Normally they are 100gr, but these are only 40 grams. And offcourse they look way beter then original ;). Bought them from Speedy Siegl Racing. Custom CNC machined.

GETTING READY FOR THE CUSTOM LOOM

200 meters of wire are in. All different thicknesses (from 0.35mm2 up to 2.0mm2) and color combinations. Also some different connectors for the starter solenoid + rectifier, micro relay for the ignition system, plugs for the custom spark plug leads etc etc.

Will be sleeving everything in grey nylon.

These small waterproof connector kits will be available in my new webshop soon!

GETTING IN CONTROL OF OHLINS!

Boom! Got it working! I am now able to control electronically adjustable Ohlins shocks using my own program and electronics.  Want 500 clicks on rebound/compression or just 20? All possible!

Testing on the TTX shock also worked like a charm.After im abit further with the project i will build everything into a small case with a oled screen so it can be adjusted on the bike itself on the go. The motor you see are the internals of a broken down front Ohlins shock.

FLOWING/TUNING CYLINDER HEADS

I started on tuning/flowing the heads. Im installing larger 46mm intake valves and 50mm S4RS throttle bodys. To make sure we get the most performance out of the engine im modifying the valve seat, airways (in & exhaust) and intake manifold to make sure everything flowes nicely and a increase in performance is achieved.

I live streamed most of the proces on facebook. Streams down below :).

LATHE/MILL PARTS UPDATE

Finished up a few parts on the lathe and mill :). 

• Magnesium front fork spacers to make sure the Hypermotard 1100 forks will fit the lower triple tree.
• Upper triple tree insert that allows fitment of the custom steering stem.
• Custom Ducabike height adjuster insert nly needed a hex shape milled into it. Not extremely happy with the end result. Lets see if polishing it up makes it look better.

MIRRORS, TINY AS F*CK

I want a clean look on the handlebars. No mirros on top or at the end of the bars. I found these enduro trail mirrors made by Doubletake. Only a 5cm large diameter. Hand and handlebars as scale reference. Real tiny!

ISR PORN HAS ARRIVED!

Thanks Acke from ISR! Pure beauty. So happy i got these parts in. They just look stunning. Real curious to see how the brake feel will be.

Adjustable levers but also adjustable pressure. Together with large 4 piston calipers with a mounting hole spacing of 100mm. Exactly what i need to mount these to my Hypermotard 1100 forks. And going to brake like crazy!

1 small negative. The left cylinder turn signal switches i thought would have 3 positions. However it only has 2, not a center position. This needs to change since this simply wont work.ISR does not offer this option.  So im developing a small kit that allows me and you to change this to a 3 position switch. U will be able to buy this kit in my soon to open webshop.

PIE CUT HEAVEN

Nice i finished all the pie cuts i probably need for the custom 50.8mm exhaust. +/- 115 pie cuts with a 18 degree angle. Why 18 degrees allot of people ask? 5 pieces will make a 90 degree bend. 9 degrees is also an option, but for me it will just be to much welding.

Still need to finished on the belt sander, but will do that later. Thanks Nick for allowing me to get this done!

HUSQVARNA HEADLIGHT

I always loved Husqvarna supermoto’s and i found this amazing headlight that normally fits Husqvarna bikes. Bright as hell (maybe abit to much?!). I would like to run without a headlight, but. for a streetbike its just a no go. So im still thinking about how im going to make the fairings look good on the front.

RETRO “SPEEDY SIEGL RACING” ART

Damn these exhaust flanges are pretty and lightweight. They save around 100grams of weight. Very cool design since you can split the flanges to remove and mount them. They also include nuts and washers. I wont be using them since i will be going full titanium on the build. But cool to see its a complete “ready to mount” set.

Want a set for yourself or take a look at all the other cool stuff Isaac Siegl creates? Visit speedysieglracing.com

GLASS BEAD BLASTING  BEAUTY

Made a final effort to make all the bare aluminium look the best it could be. Glass bead blasted everything and now it looks amazing. Everything is also going to be ultrasonicly cleaned to mak sure no glass beads are left in the engine.

QUEST FOR “LIGHTNESS” CONTINEUS

The mission is lightweight right? How cool would it be when i weigh the bike when its done, and its even lighter then the goal i have set of 155kg wet?! To achieve this surprise we need to do everything to drop weight. Titanium axles are abit to expensive to my taste, so lets go with lightweight aluminium axles. I sourced the front axle from Potenza Motorsport (thanks Ronald!). Going to save 150 grams.

The rear axle i ordered from Dragos. I could not resist to also order a RS replica oil breather and a chain guard. This lightweight rear axle is going to save another 450 grams.

All together just from changing axles we are dropping 600 grams of weight!

MARCHESINI GOLDEN TICKET

The amazing Magnesium Marchesini wheels i bought from Portugal had some damage on the edges of the rim because a tire company damaged them. Normally this isnt a proble, but with magnesium it is! Magnesium will corode and simply degrade into dust when its exposed to the open air. No other option to get them repainted.

They came out amazing (thanks Erik)! Curious about the color code? MOBIHEL, Y-112600 / 2009-00.

BAD CRANKSHAFT NEWS

Bad news concerning the crankshaft i wrote about earlier. I send it out to get balanced, but with magnafluxing they found a hairline crack. This means we throw it in the bin since you dont want to take any risk on this. Picture 1 shows a small green line glowing up in UV light. Thats the crack.

So a replacement was arranged quickly at Biggelaar Special Performance. A crank originally from a ST3. Will fit just fine in the 1100DS engine, all the same.

To lighten it i just grinded of the sides of the counterweights and followed the original line of the top piece. Ready to get streamlined and balanced out with the new pistons and conrods.

RS TIMING GEARS

Since the engine i am building will be a fast revving engine the probability of the HALL/timing sensor not keeping up is high. Another engine built at Biggelaar Performance had issues because if the standard timing gear just not triggering the sensor because it ramped up so quick.

To make sure we dont get this issue i managed to source this brand new timing gear set for a Ducati 1198 RS10 & 1198 RS11. 

VELOCITY STACK VENTURI

A small step further with the 50mm Ducati S4RS throttle bodys. Velocity stacks from a Ducati 998 together with RAMAIR filters. Going to sound like crazy probably when you open the throttle :D. Next steps concering the throttle bodys will be taken when i have. arolling frame and the engine has been built.

The part nr of these filters is MS-002. They barely fit, but they fit ;).

TITANIUM PORN

I ordered a massive load of titanium bolts, washers, banjo bolts and nuts. A small batch of more uncommon stuff at a local dutch company called Titanium Race Parts. The other large batch directly at a factory that specializes in Titanium, thus saving a bit on costs.  This should be everything i need for the whole bike. Every bolt will be titanium. Hopefully going to save around 2kg of weight. Damn this stuff is beautiful. Costs however, 1250 euro’s total are less amazing haha….

MACHINING UPDATE

Quick update on some custom/machined parts. I modified the K-bike cam covers. They do not support external oil lines like the OEM cam covers do. I milled them out and tapped them to support a double banjo bolt. Using a custom spacer ring it is now possible with minimal room to fit a banjo bolt. I will be running external oil lines to the heads to ensure there is never any shortage ;).

Also started work on the custom steering stem for the WP Race triple trees. Custom insert to fit a 35mm steering stem. Lower end finished, only needs to be threaded at the top and shortened abit.

SHINY CERAKOTE

Cerakoted parts are back! Color: Glacier Silver. Looks really good in my opinion and happy with the results. The parts have a strange look on the pictures, like they are black and white. yes this is exactly how it looks in real life also :D.

The swingarm i would sand down next time to remove more of the rough casting surface. But for this project im fine with it. Coating is only 25 microns thick and hard as fuck!