There are more & more builders taking advantage of Ducati's mix of timeless heritage and up to date performance to produce a new generation of cafe racers and street customs that actually stop & go like a modern bike, and the builds just seem to get better and better. Wolfgang Rath sent us these pics of his latest project, under the brand Kiel Customs in Germany, now renamed Motopunks, where he works on projects for himself, collectors and friends out of his own private workshop. The bike started life as a '92 750 SS which had originally been destined to become a lightweight race bike for track use, but as the strip-down began Wolfgang changed direction completely and decided instead to build a proper street-racer, ...of the Cafe variety.

The first cut is the scariest...

Looped and ready for the rear end

Proper cafe rear end takes shape

As well as the usual looped rear subframe and reshaping of bodyparts, like the tank and seat, a lot of work went into the bike's handling and performance, true to the spirit of the original cafe racers from the '50s & '60s where speed was the ultimate goal, and style was just the byproduct.

The perfect cafe silhouette

The devil is in the detail

The bike runs a reconditioned BTS Kiel engine with open K&N air filters, through to a Dynojet Stage II tuning kit and BOS Exhaust system with custom Megaphone end cans.

Location for the photoshoot was the Seehafen Kiel, late at night in July 2012.

All the alloy parts are powder coated in black with a custom carrier built for the original Veglia instruments, plus handcrafted alloy parts for the led warning lights. Kellermann take care of the front and rear lighting, while the chunky racewet style tyres are Supermoto spec Dunlop Sportmaxx Mutants. We think this bike is spot-on, and deals with the difficult task of getting a Ducati trellis frame to hold a classic cafe-racer set of lines, AND provides a bike that goes as good as it looks, on the street or on a track day. Some of Wolfgang's other projects include a Benelli 500 Quattro ClassicRacer (started this year at BikersClassics Spa), Benelli 900 SEI (6 carb conversion in process), Yamaha XS 650 (coffee-tracker), Yamaha XJR (Bobber), Yamaha SR 500 (Flat Track Crosser), and a Honda CB 750 F1 that is still in the planning stages. Contact Wolfgang Rath and check out his new venture, Motopunks, by email at wolfgang@motopunks.de