Unique Ducati custom bike
Ian Kerr encounters a truly awesome custom bike
The English countryside was shrouded in thick misty fog resembling a scene from a 1930's Sherlock Holmes movie. The eeriness was further enhanced by the stark bare branches of trees that had seen the surrounding villages become towns, just visible through the mist.
Not the best launch setting for one of the most advanced custom bikes to make its rolling debut. However, in some ways it was quite fitting for the bike as it was conceived and hand-built just down the road in a quite Oxfordshire hamlet, rather than in a sun-drenched US State.
However, it had actually first broken cover in the USA in the company of similar bikes that had been constructed in the warmth of California, or similar, but that was a static custom show launch at the end of 2005. Now however, it was alone and the bark of the open pipes exiting from the 2002 Ducati S4R motor had the horses and other animals heading for all points as far away as possible from the red machine.
The bike's creator Roger Allmond looked almost like a demon on a fiery steed emerging through the mist on the mud covered country lane. The mud and detritus clinging to the fat tyres being a complete contrast to the clean shiny lines of the Hi Tech Bobber, appropriately called T. Bob.
Generally any custom bike using any motive power other than an American V-twin never looks right. In this case though it cannot be anything but right, because at a quick glance this is a bike that could quite easily have rolled off the Ducati production line in Borgo Panigale, Bologna.
Even a more detailed and closer inspection would end up with the same conclusion, because you would initially miss the subtlety of the bike and the absolute craftsmanship that has gone into it. For a bike that hits you full square on the jaw as it drops, the word subtle seems to be at odds with the bike that just screams at you for attention.
This is bike that throws up another item you missed on the inspection before. Take the belt covers, they appear to be all polished and shiny, until you realise that from the crankcases up the shine gets brighter from a dull start to add to the overall appearance. Things like this take a lot of thought and effort to achieve, as well as vision and forethought. Roger admits he is fortunate in that he can see a bike through from concept to the finished item all in his mind's eye.
Although not an established name (this bike is set to change all that!) he has actually been in the custom business virtually all his life, including a spell in California in his early twenties. That came about when he followed the man he worked for as a teenager, John Reed (Uncle Bunt) to work with him in his Custom Chrome workshop in Morgan Hill California.
In between part time work for Reed and school, he had managed to fit in an apprenticeship at Rover cars, qualifying as a machinist and fabricator, something that was to stand him in good stead.
But, this is not a story about a man who worked for years under the watchful eye of a legend and gradually branched out. This is about one who returned to Blighty after six months and started up an engineering business. Work came from BMW, Rover and the Jordan Formula 1 team, which financed the building of a few custom bikes as a sideline.
One of these, a Yamaha XS 650-based machine, spent time on display at an art exhibition in Birmingham. Just to give you some idea of the calibre of Roger Allmond, he was also restoring two houses in between running the company and building bikes, something he continues to do!
Three years ago he decided to take the bike business a little more seriously and returned to University for a year to study design. Having finished that course he decided to build a machine good enough to take on the world's best and attract some attention and hopefully paying customers.
Even in England he could have got hold of a Harley motor or similar and bought a frame and built a unique bike quite quickly, but that is not his way. Contact with Ducati UK and Luke Plummer saw a 2002 Monster S4R that had been crashed on a track day get deposited at his workshop to form the basis of his first really serious project.
Now while some may have just torn down the bike into component parts and started fabricating away, he spent two weeks building the bench on which the bike was to be built. This is in itself a work of art with slots and fixings to enable an engine to be mounted, rake and trail to be set, ride heights to be set. In fact every facet of frame design and dimensions to be accommodated without having to move things as the bike is built.
The original bike was then stripped down and the engine and forks taken to form the basis of the Hi-tech bobber that he had designed in his mind's-eye.
Now while Roger may well have a well equipped workshop, there were no CNC machines and no help, so he set too working seven days a week, average 12-14 hours a day for 10 months to complete the bike seen here.
The frame was hand made in the same spirit of the original traditional trellis frame, but now with sweeping bends. Personally I love the way the single seat looks as though it is totally unsupported and just floating behind the tank, although it is not the most comfortable of items.
In itself the frame looks a work of art, but Roger claims it was the single-sided swinging-arm that took most of the time thanks to working out the relationship with the shock absorbers. Yes there are a couple of shocks mounted beneath the hand-crafted aluminium structure, which are visible when you lie on the ground to look!
This took time to build with the constant necessity to get the metal at the right temperature for welding and bending. It has the look of pure craftsmanship, just like the rest of the bike.
The forks were cleaned up and the left slider had the calliper bracket removed before these were mated to the new frame.
Now as we all know there are plenty of fancy aluminium wheels available to make the bike look trick, but that would have been too easy for our Roger. Instead the All American Wheel Company were persuaded to supply a couple of blanks that he spent a week hand machining to get the desired effect!
Avon tyres in England then kindly supplied a set of tyres to fit in a suitable profile to keep the low look. I was about to use the word long, but that would be incorrect as the bike is actually quite compact and cobby for a bike of its genre.
Another two weeks was then spent hand fabricating the tank, which hinges up in the same way as the original. This is used to hide the ignition switch, instrumentation and all the bike's main electrics, which Roger did have some help with due to the electronics involved.
Another time consuming set of components were the exhaust pipes, which I initially thought had been bent on a pipe bender. However, Roger explained that these were all welded together, before all the joins were cleaned off; prior to hand polishing to get the final result he was after!
Out of the many hand-built items, one he did not make was the radiator which Pace Products built for him for free as they were so impressed with the project. You have to admit that it looks spot on and keeps the finish of the bike high.
A similar level of help came from painter Andy Peck who produced the stunning misty effect again for free. The clever paint scheme mirrors the Ducati standard paint job, but in a very subtle way and it must be said, with a higher level and depth of finish as you would expect from a one-off.
While this was being done Roger was fabricating the bars and the levers and reservoirs. Look carefully at the pictures and you will see that all the cabling and hoses (supplied by Venhill Engineering) are routed inside the bars. The levers alone took over a day each to make from solid.
The engine was rebuilt after the casings had been coated red and as stated earlier, subtle polishing of various components help the whole bike integrate into a complete package that literally assaults your senses.
It was actually finished in October 2005 when it was crated up and shipped to the US where it competed in The World Championship of Custom Bike Building in the Mandalay Bay Hotel against the world's best and most established custom builders.
Roger now has a dilemma. Does he take up an offer he has received for the bike. Or does he keep it as a rolling advert for his bike business while he presses on with his next project that will be Victory-based, having been donated a Victory Cruiser!
Whatever decision he makes he will of course regret, because this bike is a masterpiece that will never be recreated with such loving attention. I am glad I have been fortunate enough to see it in the raw and heard it bark!
Ian Kerr
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