We’ve been spending some time lately kicking tires around the garage and discussing how we wish Radical Ducati never closed their doors. We were talking about how to us, Radical Ducati embodies a modern interpretation of the cafe racer mentality in the 60’s; strip off all the unnecessary bits only leaving on only the go-fast parts. Focus on that and a raw beauty emerges, leaving the motor and all the components fully exposed. Vulnerable even. The difference between Radical Ducati and the Ton Up Boys of yesteryear is that Pepo and Reyes had Ducati superbikes to work with.
This particular build dubbed the Matador Racer is pretty amazing, even for Radical Ducati standards. With the heart of a tuned Ducati 1198 SP engine and tons of custom, lightweight RAD components, this beast truly deserves its given name. The frame, subframe, swingarm and bodywork were all done by Radical Ducati. It’s one thing to be able to take some nice parts and piece together a beautiful and functional build – something that most of us would be very happy to accomplish – but it’s and entirely different story when you can build they way Radical Ducati did.
