Jay LaRossa is one of those guys who was probably born with copper grease under his fingernails. His parents ran motorcycle dealerships, and as a kid he spent his weekends at racetracks and motor shows.
After a stint building hot rods and custom trucks for export around the world, Jay returned to his first love: two wheels. Since 2007 he?s been running Lossa Engineering in Signal Hill, California?and carving out a rep for fast, focused customs designed more for performance than posing. Like this highly tuned and very rapid Ducati 900SS.

Like many of the best custom builds, this amazing 900SS was years in the making. Customer builds and not one but two battles against cancer got in the way. But it?s been worth the wait.
?I bought this 1991 Ducati in 2009 from a guy who had powder coated the frame and wheels, but couldn?t figure out a few things,? says Jay. ?I scooped it up dirt-cheap.?
Jay quickly fixed the stuff the previous owner couldn?t, but 300 miles later, the motor said arrivederci. So Jay pulled it out of the frame and called up Ducati guru Scott at Motorservizio. They split the cases, and Jay prepped and painted the whole engine black before Scott re-assembled it.
Scott gave the cylinders new Nikasil coatings before slotting in a pair of high compression pistons. He also ported and polished the heads, fitted oversized valves, and ?degreed? the cam. Even more power comes from new Dell?Orto 38mm carbs and Malossi intakes.

Scott then put it all back together ...