Written by Martin Hodgson.
The agony and the ecstasy; that’s the roller coaster ride you learn to live with when you enter some of the world’s most prestigious motorcycle shows. But from his base in Russia’s beautiful cultural capital of St. Petersburg, Leonid Skakunov, has found a way to balance the triumphs with the adversities. And out of heart break, fuelled by determination, he took a bone stock 2011 Ducati 796 and crafted a show winning machine. It rolled into his Drive-in Workshop as a Monster and left as the God before you, Prometheus.

Leonid started his motorcycle building career as a mechanic across a number of workshops giving him a well established set of skills in all the fundamentals. But with a desire to have more creative freedom and spend more time building bikes for show than simply servicing them, he found a small location in the city and opened Drivein. It wasn’t long before the decision paid off and he’d taken home awards at the IMIS International Motorcycle Show and Russian Handbuilt Cup.
Next came a successful entry into the AMD, World Championship of Custom Bike Building, and things couldn’t have been better! But with nominations rolling around for another tilt at the AMD trophies, Leonid heard of new competition that came with the tantalising opportunity of a free motorcycle and cash to build it. His written entry made it into the next round, his design drawings went one better and his final rendering with help...