SUPER SCRAMBLER: ANALOG’S OLD-SCHOOL DUCATI

Tony Prust of Analog Motorcycles is an old-fashioned craftsman. He can turn his hand to fine woodworking as well as metallurgy, and his Chicago-based workshop turns out bikes that are functional as well as beautifully finished.

Tony eschews fashion, but there’s often a stroke of serendipity in his timing. Six months ago, his 1949 Indian Scout racer became a stunning counterpoint to the modern Scout. And now we have ‘Super Scrambler’—Tony’s take on the Ducati Scrambler.

Clever planning? We’ll err on the side of happenstance, because the seed of this Ducati custom was planted a year ago. That’s when client Del Thomas—owner of an Analog-built Ducati Indiana—approached Tony with a novel idea.

“Del’s a lover of Ducatis,” says Tony, “and a few years ago he restored a late 60s Scrambler 350.” Del, however, was irked by his Scrambler’s right-side shifter. “He wondered if it was possible to build something to compete with the modern Triumph Scrambler—but using an old Ducati.”

Tony relishes a challenge, so he agreed to tackle the project. In California, Del found a 1975 860 GT—from the first year of the Ducati bevel twin square-case engines. The donor had no mufflers, seat or lighting, and the tires had rotted to pieces. But Tony got it running, and the Scrambler build was officially under way.

Tony started first with the suspension, installing a pair of Fox Podium RC1 shocks—slightly taller than stock length, to increase the suspension travel. “Then Del and I researched front ends: what would have the needed length, and spring weight options?” They settled on a Triumph Tiger setup—including triples, forks, bar mounts, an axle and calipers.

Tony called Frame Crafters for some pointers on geometry. After the math worked out, he just needed to trim a couple of inches off the top of the forks. He laced up a 19-inch rim to the stock front hub, and upgraded the brakes with drilled and thinned CB550 rotors from Godffery’s Garage. The Ducati now handles well on- and off- road.

Now it was time for the aesthetics. “I made a foam buck for the tank and Craig atRodsmiths made it out of aluminum. On went a set of scrambler-style bars, and then I trimmed about four inches off the sub frame.” Sitting on top is a hand-made seat pan, for solo use only.

Tony also fabricated the exhaust system, using parts from Cone Engineering. The headers are ceramic-coated black, the mufflers are stainless, and there’s a custom stainless heat shield. “After all, a proper scrambler should have high-mount pipes and decent ground clearance, right?”

The custom luggage rack is a neat touch. It was CNC-cut by Free Form Designs, along with the pegs and front rotor carriers. If you like it, you may soon be able to add to a version to your own bike: “We’re starting Analog Motor Goods and will be starting out with some parts. The luggage rack on the Ducati is a prototype for a part we’re still working on.”

A few extra ounces were lost with the help of an EarthX Lithium battery, which sits in a custom-made tray. It’s plugged into a new electrical system, which powers new lighting and a Legendary GPS speedometer.

All that was left was to figure out the color. “Del originally wanted to go with a flat-green-and-brown-seat scheme,” Tony recalls. “But I wanted to pay homage to the original Ducati Scrambler. Yellow is not really my style, so I asked if we could do a sort of orange. Not a bright orange—more like a burnt orange, but leaving the sides of the tank brushed aluminum, with the original logo.”

Del sent Tony a BMW 1M color called Frozen Valencia Orange—and they agreed it was perfect. Kiel from Crown Auto Body handled the paint, while Brando pinstriped the tank.

The finishing touch comes from Cotter Pin, the motorcycle travel gear specialists. They’ve created new versions of their Adventure Roll and Tool Book, using a smart gray waxed cotton.

We reckon it’s the kind of bike that Ducati would have built in the late 70s. And unlike many custom scramblers, it’s more than a ‘just for looks’ build. Analog’s Super Scrambler has been thoroughly tested off-road, and easily handles jumps.

There’s only one question mark hovering over this bike, and it’s not Tony’s fault. What would you rather have in your garage—the ‘official’ 2015 Ducati Scrambler, or Analog’s old school custom?

Analog Motorcycles website | Facebook | Instagram

Look for a three-part feature on the Ducati Scrambler lineage, including more images of Analog’s Super Scrambler, in the upcoming Issue Nineteen of Iron & Air Magazine.

Photos by Whiplash Racing Media.

Build list:
1975 Ducati GT860
Top end refreshed by Darmah Dave
Carbs rebuilt
Completely rewired
Tank designed by Analog and built by Craig at Rodsmith
Fenders bobbed and tailored to fit build
Front end Triumph Tiger
Fox Podium RC1 shocks
CB550 rotors on custom CNC’d spacers
Wheels rebuilt and powder coated
Custom made exhaust system using Cone Engineering parts
Tires Continental TKC80 Twinduro
Custom made seat pan
Leather by Rod’s Design
Paint Frozen Valencia Orange by Kiel at Crown Auto body
Powder coat by Analog and J&J Powder Coating
Legendary GPS Speedometer and tach
LED taillight and signals
Earth X Lithium Battery
Cotter Pin Adventure roll and Tool Book
Luggage rack, rotor spacers, and foot pegs CNC’d by Free Form Design
Custom made Luggage rack brackets
Custom made Adventure Roll bracket
Custom made Headlight bracket
Custom made Axle spacers mating Stock Ducati hub to new front-end axle
Headlight rock guard welded in place
Custom made brake lines by Hel
Oury Grips

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Snapshot, 1968: Who designed the legendary Ferrari P5?

At the 1968 Geneva Motor Show, Pininfarina impressed with the Ferrari 250 P5 Berlinetta Speciale. The design study of a super-sportscar with a V12 mid-mounted engine, based on the P4, boasted aerodynamic developments. In this image taken in the Pininfarina studio in Turin, however, Sergio Pininfarina is contentedly sucking a pipe while another man works at the drawing board. The man in the plaid suit is Pininfarina's brother-in-law, Renzo Carli, who took over as general manager of Carrozzeria Pininfarina in 1958 – and, as a trained engineer, he was also very interested in the technical development of new models. But pencil and paper were not to be their only tools: four years later, Pininfarina and Carli established one of the world's first wind tunnels. Meanwhile, the P5’s most obvious influence was the glass engine cover, used in Ferrari production models right up to today.

Photo: Giorgio Lotti/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

WSBK : Rea commence l’année avec une victoire historique à Phillip Island mais Haslam tient sa revanche sur Rea et renoue avec la victoire / Race1, Rea scorches to victory in WorldSBK season opener /Race 2 win goes to Leon Haslam after another last lap fight

Le Britannique s’est imposé dès ses débuts avec Kawasaki, qui n’avait plus gagné en Australie depuis 1996.

Qualifié en pole position pour la première manche du Championnat du Monde eni FIM Superbike 2015, Jonathan Rea a réussi à transformer l’essai dimanche à Phillip Island en s’imposant dès sa première course avec le Kawasaki Racing Team.

Le Nord-Irlandais a mené durant la quasi-totalité de la course et n’a concédé la première position à Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils) que pour quelques instants dans le treizième tour, avant que le pilote anglais ne lance une autre offensive dans le dernier tour. Suivis de près par leur compatriote Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team), qui était lui aussi parti de la première ligne, les deux Britanniques ont assuré le spectacle en se doublant à plusieurs reprises sur le dernier tour, à la fin duquel Rea s’est imposé sur le fil, pour seulement 0.039s. 

Rea réalisait donc l’exploit de s’imposer dès sa première course sur la ZX-10R et est le premier pilote à s’imposer à Phillip Island avec Kawasaki depuis le doublé de l’Australien Anthony Gobert en 1996.

Derrière le trio de tête, Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils) a réussi à prendre la quatrième place pour sa première course en WorldSBK, à deux secondes du podium et devant un autre rookie, le Champion du Monde Supersport Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike Team).

Ce dernier n’a pas hésité à se frotter à Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) en début de course pour se rapprocher des avant-postes et a donc terminé en cinquième position, avec une confortable avance sur le Champion WorldSBK 2013, qui était sorti de piste au moment où il avait été devancé par le Néerlandais et a dû remonter de la dixième à la sixième place. 

Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) était juste derrière Sykes à l’arrivée tandis que Nico Terol (Althea Racing), Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) et Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) complétaient le Top 10. 

Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia Superbike Team) a pris le point de la quinzième place en finissant derrière Troy Bayliss (Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team), qui remplaçait Davide Giugliano, et le wildcard Jed Metcher (Race Center – Demolation Plus).

Randy de Puniet (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) s’est longuement battu pour le Top 10 avec Bayliss mais a perdu du terrain en fin d’épreuve et a terminé dix-septième. Christophe Ponsson (Grillini SBK Team) n’a quant à lui pas pu rallier l’arrivée. 

Niccolò Canepa (Team Hero EBR) a chuté alors qu'il était en lice pour le Top 15 et ne participera pas à la seconde course de la journée puisque l'Italien souffre d'une entorse de la cheville gauche. Blessé suite à sa chute en qualifications, David Salom (Team Pedercini) avait de son côté déclaré forfait, à l’instar de son coéquipier Mathew Walters et du Hongrois Gabor Rizmayer (Team Toth BMW).

Haslam a remporté la seconde épreuve de Phillip Island devant Rea et Davies.

Installés en première ligne et présents sur le podium de la première des deux courses du jour à Phillip Island, Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils), Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) et Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team) ont de nouveau été les principaux protagonistes pour la seconde course de l’année. 

En pole, Rea était parvenu à conserver l’avantage sur les premiers tours mais a été doublé par Haslam ainsi que par un surprenant Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) dans le huitième tour, avant de repasser en tête en fin d'épreuve. Au final, les trois Britanniques sont tour à tour passés en première position et la victoire s’est, comme dans la première course, jouée sur la dernière ligne droite. 

Vainqueur avec dix millièmes de seconde d’avance sur Rea, qui l'avait battu dans le dernier tour de la première course, et deux dixièmes sur Davies, Haslam montait sur la plus haute marche du podium pour la quatrième fois de sa carrière mais surtout pour la première fois depuis 2010 et repartira d’Australie en étant au sommet du classement général, à égalité de points avec Rea. 

Van der Mark a malheureusement fini sur une chute alors qu’il avait réussi à mener durant quelques tours avant la mi-course et occupait la quatrième place. Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils), qui était lui aussi dans le groupe de tête, a également chuté en fin de course en tentant de se maintenir devant Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team). 

Ce dernier a pris la quatrième place et fini à cinq secondes du vainqueur tandis que Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), Nico Terol (Althea Racing), Randy de Puniet (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki), qui courait en WorldSBK pour la première fois malgré les blessures datant de sa chute du début de semaine, Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), Matteo Baiocco (Althea Racing) et Román Ramos (Team Go Eleven) figuraient aussi dans le Top 10. 

Contraint à l’abandon dans la première course, Christophe Ponsson (Grillini SBK Team) a cette fois-ci pu rallier l’arrivée et a terminé son premier week-end en WorldSBK avec le point de la quinzième place. 

Troy Bayliss, remplaçant de Davide Giugliano chez Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team, était parvenu à finir la première course dans les points, à la treizième place, mais a dû se contenter de la seizième position dans la seconde épreuve. 

Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) a été contraint à l’abandon dès le début de la course en raison d’un problème technique.

Incredible final lap decides first podium of 2015.

The opening race of the 2015 eni FIM Superbike World Championship was held in hot and sunny conditions at the Phillip Island circuit with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) taking the opening victory of the year after a titanic 22 lap fight with Chaz Davies (Aruba Ducati SBK), and the Aprilia Racing Team duo of Leon Haslam and superbike new boy Jordi Torres.

After a tense final lap, Haslam and Davies completed the podium with Torres just missing out in 4th. The Spaniard continuing to impress in what is his debut superbike weekend.

The race started with 22 riders after David Salom (Team Pedercini) his team mate Matt Walters and Gabor Rizmayer (Team Toth BMW) were ruled out following crashes earlier in the weekend. Leandro Mercado (Barni Racing) had made the final Superpole session but was relegated to the back of the grid after a tyre infringement.

As the lights went out it was Pole sitter Rea who led the field into turn 1, the Kawasaki Racing Team rider never headed until lap 5 as the chasing pack of three began to ease away.

The remaining laps of the race served up a real treat for everyone watching as lap after lap the leading riders swapped places at almost every turn, the final lap one of the most thrilling to ever happen at Phillip Island. 

Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) put a brave move on Tom Sykes to claim 4th into turn one, the former champion taking to the grass at high speed before rejoining 10th. He would eventually salvage 6th at the flag behind the Dutchman who dropped to 5th in the closing stages.

Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda WSBK Team) rode a solid race to claim 7th ahead of Nico Terol (Althea Racing), Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) and Leon Camier who raced his MV Agusta Reparto Corse machine into an encouraging 10th at the flag.

Troy Bayliss (Aruba Ducati SBK) ran as high as 7th before eventually fading to 13th just ahead of local wildcard rider Jed Metcher (Race Center – Demolation Plus) who was elated at scoring 2 points on his WorldSBK debut.

Niccolo Canepa (Team Hero EBR) was the only faller, he was taken to the medical centre for further checks.

Championship wide open as race two delivers another thriller.

The 2nd race of this year’s eni FIM Superbike World Championship was even more exciting and unpredictable as the first, with Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team) snatching the victory ahead of fellow podium finishers Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Chaz Davies (Aruba Ducati SBK) after another epic final lap, as in the early stages 9 riders fought it out at the head of the field.

For Haslam it was his first victory since Kyalami in 2010.

As in race 1 it was Rea who took the holeshot, the Kawasaki rider in control until an audacious move by reigning World Supersport Champion Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda WSBK Team) sensationally took the lead into turn one at the start of lap 7. Van Der Mark would crash out of 4th at the end of lap 19 without injury.

Jordi Torres also fell a lap earlier, losing the front of his Aprilia Racing machine at Turn one.

The 22nd and final lap would once again decide the outcome of the race and at the flag and behind the top three it was Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda WSBK Team) who completed the top 5 with Nico Terol (Althea Racing) a lonely 6th ahead of, Randy de Puniet (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki), Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), Matteo Baiocco (Althea Racing) and Roman Ramos (Go Eleven Kawasaki) who rounded out the top ten.

Troy Bayliss (Aruba Ducati SBK) started well, once again moving through the field making it as high as 7th until the triple champion entered the pits to change his front tyre on lap 14. He rejoined finishing outside of the points in 16th.

Niccolo Canepa (Team Hero EBR) was ruled unfit following his race 1 tumble while local wildcard started from the back of the grid after his Kawasaki was pushed off the grid just minutes before the race was scheduled to start. He eventually retired to the pits as did Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) who pulled in at the end of lap 2.

Supersport : Cluzel vainqueur de la première manche de la saison à Phillip Island / Cluzel wins opening race for the second consecutive year

Le Français et son coéquipier Lorenzo Zanetti ont offert le doublé à MV Agusta.

Déterminé à décrocher le titre de Champion du Monde Supersport cette année après avoir fini deuxième de la catégorie pour la seconde fois de sa carrière l’an dernier, Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) a réalisé un week-end parfait à Phillip Island pour l’ouverture de la saison 2015 et s’est aisément imposé depuis la pole position. 

S’il s’était qualifié en tête de la grille australienne avec un rien d’avance sur Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), le Français a été beaucoup plus dominateur en course et a fermement répondu aux offensives de ses adversaires sur le premier tour pour ensuite solidement mener jusqu’au drapeau à damier et finir avec plus de trois secondes d’avance sur son coéquipier Lorenzo Zanetti, qui complétait le doublé pour MV Agusta, le premier de la marque italienne dans le Championnat du Monde Supersport.

Gino Rea (CIA Landlords Insurance Honda) a décroché la troisième place à l’issue d’une lutte sans merci qui l’opposait à Kyle Smith (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) et Ratthapark Wilairot (Core Motosport Thailand). 

Sofuoglu était lui aussi en lice pour le podium en début de course mais a dû tirer tout droit dans le sixième tour et n’a rejoint la piste qu’en vingtième position. Le triple Champion a limité la casse en remontant jusqu’à la sixième lace, devant Alex Baldolini (Race Department ATK#25), Roberto Rolfo (Team Lorini), Dominic Schmitter (Team Go Eleven Kawasaki) et Patrick Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres).

Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres), qui courait à Phillip Island pour la première fois de sa carrière, est parvenu à monter jusqu’à la troisième place mais a malheureusement été contraint de rentrer aux stands pour abandonner à quatre tours de l’arrivée. 

MV Agusta claim a 1-2 finish at Phillip Island.

After an 18 lap World Supersport opener, Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) came out victorious ahead of his new team mate Lorenzo Zanetti with WSS returnee Gino Rea (CIA Landlords Insurance Honda) joining him on the first podium of the year.

The leading duo were involved in a fight in the early laps before gradually breaking away from the 3rd place fight involving Rea, supersport rookie Kyle Smith (Pata Honda WSS Team) and Ratthapark Wilairot (CORE Motorsport Thailand) who completed the top 5 in that order.

For Cluzel it was the second year in succession that he has tasted the winner’s champagne in Australia after winning the shortened opening race 12 months ago.

Former champion Kenan Sofuoglu’s challenge for the win ended at the start of lap 6, the Turk running off track at speed at turn one aboard his Kawasaki Puccetti Racing machine. He was able to rejoin finishing 6th at the flag after setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 7.

Dominic Schmitter (Team Go Eleven Kawasaki) finished grabbed a top ten finish 9th on his WSS debut ahead of local wildcard Aiden Wagner who raced his Oz Wildcard Racing Yamaha to a very credible 13th.

Glenn Scott (AARK Racing) followed his compatriot home in 14th place.

Lucas Mahias (Intermoto Kawasaki Ponyexpre) was disappointed to retire to the pits 4 laps from the end after making a claim for the podium in the first half of the race.