We kick things off with a feel-good story of a botched Ducati 996 custom job, rescued by a talented garage builder. Then we look at a dazzling Yamaha SR500 flat tracker from 20-year-old Moritz Bree, a dustbin-faired Honda Dax from K-Speed, and a BMW CE 04 scooter from Deus ex Machina.

Ducati 996 by Jaron Hall Most people would balk at the idea of customizing a Ducati 996, but Utah-based garage builder Jaron Hall’s work on this 996 is nothing short of noble. That’s because when Jaron got his hands on the 996, it was in dire need of saving.
The Ducati’s previous owner had tried to turn it into a scrambler, so it came to Jaron with no fairings, a hacked subframe, and a smorgasbord of sketchy parts. Working after hours (he has a marketing day job), and taking on the entire build solo, Jaron turned the mongrel 996 into a high-class Italian café racer.
Once Jaron had undone the worst of the modifications, he set about fabricating a new tubular subframe to bolt to the OEM main frame. Then he built a fiberglass tail section to sit atop it, before using his mother’s sewing machine to upholster the seat in Alcantara. (The hexagonal stitching pattern is especially impressive when you consider that Jaron’s only prior sewing experience was a class in the eighth grade.)

The finned taillight is another custom piece, inspired by the Aston Martin Vulcan. Jaron mocked it up with cardboard, before building the final part out of plexiglass and equipping i...