Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker by Custom Design Studios

Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker

Street-legal AMA Pro Flat Tracker…once raced by Larry Pegram!

Today, we’re thrilled to feature one of the baddest street trackers ever. This 2007 Ducati GT 1000 was owned and campaigned by long-time superbike racer Larry Pegram in the 2009 American Flat Track season.

Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker

Enter Kirk Taylor of Custom Design Studios in Novato, California — a workshop that has been in business for three decades. One of Kirk’s clients, Marcus Hayes, found the bike “rode hard and put up wet” on eBay. He scooped up the Ducati and tasked C.D.S. with turning the bike into a street-legal tracker.

Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker

Kirk jokes that he was tasked with putting lipstick and a license plate on the ex-race bike. In reality, the work was substantial, cladding the bike in hand-formed aluminum bodywork and re-gusseting the frame, which had been cut to make the bike “loose” for the track. Kirk made some of this frame structure detachable, so that the bike can be reverted to “race-ready” mode very quickly. The list goes on, including a titanium TT-style exhaust and beefed up brakes for the road. The race-prepped motor, suspension, and adjustable triple trees were left intact — meaning this bike is damn close to a street-legal, pro-level flat track racer.

Below, we get the full story on this beautiful, race-bred Ducati street tracker, along with a staggering set of photos from Billie Wilson of Billie the Kid Photography.

Aluminum Racer Ducati GT 1000:  Builder Interview

Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker

• Please tell us a bit about yourself, your history with motorcycles, and your workshop.

Kirk Taylor: Motorcycle Builder, Designer, Painter, Fabricator
Shop Name: Custom Design Studios.

I’ve been around motorcycles since I was a child, grew up in my father’s machine shop. My shop, Custom Design Studios, has been in business since 1988 and in our current location since 1997.

Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker

• What’s the make, model, and year of the bike?

2007 Ducati GT 1000.

• Why was this bike built?

The bike was formerly owned and campaigned by Larry Pegram as a Pro AMA Flat track bike in 2009. My customer Marcus Hayes found it on EBAY and asked me to make it into a Street Tracker. I like to tell people we were tasked with putting lipstick and a license plate on it.

Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker

• What was the design concept and what influenced the build?

Being that it had been “Rode Hard and Put Away Wet,” we had to remove all the ugly. Most of all, I wanted the bike to look like a flat track bike from 20 yards away.

Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker

The Ducati does not have the traditional frame configuration like an XR750, so the best way to convey that look would be with the bodywork. I was able to collaborate with Carey Buck, who builds the Aluminum Storz racing gas tanks, to get the traditional “XR Flat Track” look.

Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker

• What custom work was done to the bike?

The frame was re-gusseted because they cut portions out to make it “loose” for the track. We made some of the structure removable so that you revert it back to “Race Ready” very quickly. The aluminum bodywork was hand-formed.

Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker

We made the titanium “TT” style pipe. We also modified a Free Spirits Headlight Racing Plate set up to give us street-legal projection beam lighting.

Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker

The bike already had a full race prepped motor and BRP adjustable rake Triple Trees for ½ Mile or Mile use with Durelle Race Prepped Forks and a single Penske Racing Shock out back.

Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker

For braking, we added a 2nd Brembo Caliper so that you could have normal control functions with just one Galfer Rotor. Hand Controls are Magura Radial HCT Series.

Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker

• How would you classify this bike?

She’s a Street Tracker with a racing history.

Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker

 

• Was there anything done during this build that you are particularly proud of?

The bodywork, titanium pipes and Kineo wheels.

Ducati GT 1000 Street Tracker

Follow the Builder and Photographer

Web: www.customdesignstudios.com
Instagram: @Kirktaylor.cds or @custom_design_studios
Facebook: Custom Design Studios
C.D.S. Shop Phone 415-382-6662

Photography Credit: Billie Wilson @ Billie the Kid Photography
Web: www.billiethekidphotography.com
Instagram: @billiethekidphotography
Facebook:  Billie the Kid Photography

4 Comments

  1. Nice work! My estimate is a current 31 degree head angle. Bring the rear shock up to it’s original length (more than 1.5″ of rear wheel travel), and the front end will start getting steeper. More like 25-26 degrees is what you want. When the head shake you originally had returns, get some triple clamps with a lot less offset. Stable, sits right, more wheel travel. Problems solved!

  2. Looks really good though. Just tryin’ to help!

  3. Does 2 rear calipers make up for not having a front brake?

    • Of course not. But front brakes are not allowed in competition flat track racing, and this bike has Durelle race-prepped forks that wouldn’t allow them.

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