We?re not precious about which motorcycles shouldn’t be customized. But we still feel a pang of sadness when a classic is butchered?and smile big when it’s done right.
Most people wouldn’t fiddle with a Ducati 996, but VR Customs aren’t most people. They’ve tackled two already, and turned ’em into a pair of stylish cafe racers called Project X and Project Y. You’re looking at Project Y; the second of the two to be completed.

VR Customs is the bespoke build arm of Vendetta Racing?a race team based in Dubai that’s taken on everything from the Manx GP to the Dakar Rally. Run by Alan Boyter, the crew has over 14 years experience in building race bikes, and approach their race and cafe racer projects the same way. ?Everything has to perform as good as it looks,? says Alan. Both projects kicked off about seven years ago, while Alan was restoring his 1997 Ducati 916 SPS. The team started pondering the idea of a track-focused cafe racer based on the 916 platform, but ideas quickly snowballed. Pretty soon the concept involved using the 996 as a donor, adding a full complement of alloy bodywork, and building two bikes instead of one.

VR Customs decided to farm out the metallurgy, so they sourced a company in the UK that could execute their vision. ?Forming sheet metal is an art,? says Alan, ?and not learned over a couple of weeks.?
The company had off-the-shelf fairings and tail sections that could be modified to suit the builds, ...