Ah, the mighty Ducati Monster. From Miguel Galluzzi’s first design in 1993, right up to the current range, it just keeps getting better. It’s a cool ride straight out of the box, even better with a little fettling, and can be downright outrageous in the hands of the right builder.
By the right builder, we mean someone like Danilo Biello. Danilo operates Customcreations ? a motorcycle garage located in the mountainous province of Isernia in central Italy. And his Monster S2R 800 is one of the most alluring examples of the model that we’ve seen.

Launched in 2004, the rather affordable Monster S2R featured Ducati’s 800cc Desmodromic motor. But the big selling point was the chassis; everything was borrowed from the top-of-the-range S4R, right down to the gorgeous single-sided swing arm. As MCN put it: ?It’ll deliver more pride per pound than anything else.? This Monster’s an ?07 model, but Danilo’s given it a far more classic vibe. ?The idea was to build an almost classic café racer with solid brass details,? he tells us. ?On the way this brought us, unexpectedly, to an almost steampunk flavour.?

All the bodywork you see is custom?from the racy fairing, right through to the boxy tank and tail piece. It’s all been done using 2mm thick aluminum?hand cut, bent, shaped and TIG welded.
Danilo made light mods to the frame to get everything to match up just right. But he left the suspension and brakes alone because, well, they wor...