Jack's Radical GT1000
By Anthony van Someren - 23 May 13
The Ducati Sport Classic 1000 is often featured on the pages of blogs like the Bike Shed, but you won't ever have seen one quite like this; Jack's own GT1000, with lots of tasteful mods you may have seen before, but with a tank and seat he made himself, while teaching himself how along the way. Jack coaches the Offshore Sailing team at the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT, but still managed to squeeze this little project in on the side, and we're glad he also took the time to share it with us.
So - here's how she started out...
The bike is built around a 2007 GT 1000, the later, 'more civilised' version of the Ducati sport classic range, which only survived from 2006 until 2009. The GT has heavier steel wheels and non adjustable rear suspension, along with the more practical two-up seat it inherited from the Ducati Sport 1000 Biposto. The tank was also shorter with an easier reach to it's traditional upswept bars. A much nicer riding position but arguably less cool.
Along with the must-have Termi slip-ons, lightweight O.Z. wheels and YSS rear shocks Jack also took a major leap of faith in building a custom tank, front fender, and tail section for his creation. The tank is a composite of fiberglass and carbon fibre. The fender and seat are both made from carbon fibre.
The project got started after the stock Ducati GT tank began to show signs of damage from ethanol exposure. When Jack asked Ducati to warranty the tank they said no. (...wait till this hits the UK & Europe)
Understandably Jack wasn’t happy with that answer but he loved the bike too much to get rid of it (we get it, fella) so he decided to take a stab at building his own tank. It may sound bonkers but Jack has a background in the marine service industry and had worked with fibreglass before, so he figured he had the skills he needed.
Once that was complete he went on to build a new front fender to compliment the tank, and that led to him building his own unique cafe racer seat unit too. And why not.
"When I started my plan was to duplicate the original tank, but when I realized how involved the project was going to be, I decided to build something original rather than expend all that effort to duplicate something that I could just buy from Ducati. In the end I managed to pull it off, but the job was much, much harder to complete than I originally planned. I learned a tremendous amount about working with these materials while working on this project."
After all his hard work, Jack now considers the bike to be “mostly” done, although it will likely remain a “work in progress” - as all true shed-builds do. "The one big thing I have left to do is to build some exhaust hangers so I can remove the black triangles and install some proper rearsets." Here you go Jack. Look here.