Fully faired motorcycles tend to attract more humans than naked streetfighters. It’s true. Their outfits are designed to please the eyes and also serve other purposes like making the bike more aerodynamically efficient. Talking about fully faired motorcycles, or any type of motorcycle for that matter, we can’t skip Ducati.
Ducati makes some of the world’s best-looking bikes and it’s not just us saying that. It has won several awards for designing bikes that would make you go weak on your knees. One such masterpiece is the Ducati 1199 SuperLeggera. It’s a bike that you can admire the whole day without getting your eyes off of it. It’s also a motorcycle that’s capable of setting race tracks on fire.
While fully faired motorcycles are aesthetically very pleasing, you just can’t deny how mechanically beautiful the naked streetfighters are. Seriously. You can clearly see the powertrain which produces all those horses for you to keep your front wheel up all day long or murder your rear tyre in a matter of seconds by doing burnouts. It’s this mechanical beauty that makes us fantasize and think how would a faired motorcycle look without its clothes.
Perhaps, this is the same thought that was bothering the guys at Roland Sands Design. Thankfully, they didn’t hold themselves back and went ahead, stripped off a Ducati 1199 SuperLeggera to bare naked. And boy, we don’t have the right words to explain how beautiful she looks!
Here’s everything you need to know about this custom naked Ducati 1199 SuperLeggera built by Roland Sands Design in their own words.
The inspiration for the deconstructed version of the SL came from the vintage superbikes of the ’70s and ’80s. It was a simpler time when men rode above the 170mph mark lap after lap without the aid of a fairing or windscreen. It was an age when racers necks must have been much wider and knowing the SL is capable of pushing up towards the 200mph mark makes the task of riding the bike that much more daunting. Knowing the rider would have to deal with overcoming the wind, it was paramount to maintain a fully functional electronics package. This was perhaps the most difficult aspects of the project. With nowhere to hide, the guts had to be exposed or covered with as minimal effort as possible.
The magnesium frame and V-twin motor are the canvas from which the rest of the bike springs forward so we let it be the guide of each piece. Fairing turned to flat number plate and intake which also holds the air sensor and GPS module as well as the gyro maintaining wheelie/ traction control. Full Ti and tweaked Akrapovic exhausts system was chopped up to narrow and hug the fabricated tail section. The fuel tank was cut and modified to maintain the stock shape and flow with the new body lines while also making room for electronics.
Febur factory race radiator and oil cooler replaced the stock units and add plenty of cooling and SuperBike grit to the front of the bike. Carbon high bars were put in place of the standard clip-ons and a custom top triple clamp is being machined to carry custom risers. Next stop for the machine is the carbon shop to re-pop many of the aluminium bits in carbon to further bring the weight down into what will be a lighter version of the SL.
We are in love with this SL and we think that it would be a better ‘bedroom poster’ bike than the original one. What do you think?
