The Ducati Scrambler is an obvious fit for ‘casual’ flat track racing. Ducati even made a ‘Flat Track Pro’ limited edition in 2016, which was essentially a new version of the Full Throttle with wide bars, a bunch of minor trim changes and a Temignoni muffler.
It looks like Ducati is now digging deeper into flat track territory: it’s commissioned a pair of flat track-style Scramblers from one of our favorite French builders, Bad Winners.
In his Paris workshop, Bad Winners’ head honcho Walid created two bikes—a race machine based on the original Scrambler Ducati sans front brake, and a road-friendly version based on the beefier new 1100.
At the Wheels & Waves festival earlier this month, the bikes pulled in the crowds and took pole position on Ducati’s ‘Land Of Joy’ stand. We’re not surprised: we reckon the stock Scramblers are good-looking bikes, but Walid has lifted them to a whole new level.
First, the 800. This is a bona fide flat tracker, with the front brake removed and a set of Excel 19-inch rims installed—shod with Dunlop DT3 rubber, of course. All the usual road-legal ancillary items are gone, and there’s a minimal new wiring loom that covers just the basics.
The suspension is stock, however—but should work reasonably well on the track. Most Scrambler owners would call the ride ‘firm’ anyway, and find it more comfortable when carrying a pillion.
Ergos are taken care of with grippy Ducabike foot pegs, and Gilles Tooling risers to lift and rotate the bars a little closer to the rider.
The engine internals are standard, but K&N filters now handle the intake side and there’s a Termignoni racing exhaust on the other end. A remapped ECU takes advantage of the improved breathing, and the bike now records 83 hp on the dyno—up ten horses on the original. A Scrambler 1100 swingarm now helps get the power down smoothly.
The new bodywork is carbon fiber, and dare we say, is a huge improvement on the typical, more retro flat track style. Especially the delicate, waspish tail.
“The idea was to use the line of the Scrambler’s tiny frame,” Walid says. “The bike is ‘tight’ and I didn’t want the usual flat track design. I wanted a twist of MotoGP style—and that’s how I arrived at the tail design.”
Walid started with sketches, then moved to 3D modeling. After printing out the shapes in hard paper, he cut foam to perfect the lines. The molds were made from the foam, and the results are sublime.
It’s almost too pretty to race. But race it did: at the Wheels & Waves festival earlier this month, Zoe David of Atelier Chatokhine gunned the 800 off the start line in the El Rollo series and qualified third. Unfortunately the race itself was red flagged, but the bike showed promise—enough for there to be talk of developing it for a full series of flat track racing in 2019.
Bad Winners’ Scrambler 1100 (below) shares the same crisp yellow-and-white livery as its smaller sibling, but is a completely different machine.
This one’s road legal, with the front brake intact. “The idea for this one was to show what we can do with the Scrambler 1100 without doing a big build, and just using plug-and-play parts,” says Walid.
The new fiberglass seat unit transforms the looks, swapping the stock 1100’s long perch for a perky leather-clad solo unit that lightens the looks of the 1100 considerably.
The huge stock muffler is gone, replaced by a short and sweet silencer, hooked up to a custom stainless steel pipe that hugs the line of the rear subframe.
The stock intake system has again been replaced by K&N filters. And there are Excel rims on this machine too, along with Ducabike pegs. It’s just enough to give the big 1100 a sportier vibe without compromising the functionality—unless you like to carry una bella ragazza on the back.
The best news of all? Bad Winners will be releasing kits in October this year, so Scrambler owners can give their bikes a dash of flat track style. There’ll be road legal kits for both the 800 and 1100 Ducatis, and a race kit for the 800 only.
If you’re in Europe, you can see Walid’s work up close at World Ducati Week, which will be held at the Misano circuit from 20 to July. The rest of us will just have to be content with these rather tempting images—while keeping an eye on the Bad Winners website for news of availability.
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