We?re suckers for fast, classic Italian machinery, and it doesn?t get much better than this: a sleek Ducati MH900e worked on by the best names in the business. It belongs to London-based film director Gareth Roberts, who knows a thing or two about bikes.
Gareth was one of the founders of the Bike Shed Motorcycle Club, and he?s spent the past couple of years shooting the definitive record of the modern day custom scene, Oil In The Blood. (Keep an eye out for it in Spring 2018.)

The build was three years in the making. It all started when Gareth spotted a lovely Pierre Terblanche-designed MH900e parked outside the Brooklyn invitational in 2014. “It was for sale,” Gareth recalls. “I enquired. The price tag was punchy and far more than I could afford at the time.” ?But I was also rapidly approaching the big 5-0, and wanted to give myself a special present. I decided to do a special build to celebrate 35 years of riding bikes.?

?It had to echo the one bike I loved above all others, my 1998 Ducati 916 SPS?the reason I didn?t buy an MH900e when it was released. It also had to give a nod to my wholly unremarkable racing career on lightweight two-stroke GP bikes, and it needed to be a cafe racer of sorts.?
Gareth spent months combing eBay for parts, and then sourced a tidy very low mileage 900ss ie from Mint Customs, run by friend (and fellow ex-BSMC luminary) Ali Latimer.

The build got serious when Gareth stumbled across Stradafab of Kansas, USA, on ...