Pierre Terblanche designed some of Italy’s most unforgettable motorcycles—but none of them left a mark quite like the Ducati MH900e.
Produced for just two years between 2001 and 2002, the MH900e displayed the quirky beauty that Terblanche’s work was known for. It was a homage to Mike Hailwood’s 1978 Isle of Man TT race bike; not a direct replica, but rather an evoluzione.
Most importantly, Ducati only ever made 2,000 of them (1,000 of which sold out in 31 minutes). Finding one is rare—and customizing one is downright risky.
‘Chun’ Hung of Onehandmade is unfazed though. After he failed to dissuade his client (the owner of Taipei ink shop Endless Tattoo) from putting his MH900e under the knife, he simply leant into the project with equal measures of skill and reverence.
“I needed to make sure we did everything right,” the Taiwanese builder tells us. “When I designed the body shape, I wanted anyone—even another MH900e owner—who looked at this bike for the first time to know it’s a MH900e.”
Chun is more than capable of building beautiful motorcycles (his back catalog speaks for itself). But starting with a donor that was already a stunner amplified the challenge. And just to add to the pressure, the Ducati would be his official AMD World Championship entry too.
Chun’s talent lies in metalwork, and he often jumps straight to shaping parts without a final design to work from. Except this time, the stakes were high—so a series of sketches were laid down first.
With the design settled, Chun went all in on the MH900e—ditching all of the stock bodywork in favor of a hand-shaped aluminum fairing, tank, tail section and belly pan. He did a stellar job too, with every part perfectly contoured and seamlessly connected, as if it came from the factory like that.
“I remember when we were at the AMD World Championship,” Chun says, “many people asked if the body is carbon fiber or glass fiber. When my answer was ‘aluminum,’ they didn’t believe me—so I took out my phone to show them photos of the aluminum bodywork. Maybe painting it was not a good idea.”
The Ducati has a much sharper and more aggressive silhouette now, but if you trace its lines, you’ll find echoes of the original design everywhere. So it’s basically a contemporary interpretation of a bike that was originally a homage to a classic. Phew.
Just as much love has gone into the finer details. The headlight sits in a handmade aluminum housing up front, while the taillight consists of LED strips painstakingly tucked into the curves of the tailpiece. Chun also fabricated a full titanium exhaust system that snakes through the frame and belly pan, before exiting in an under-seat muffler.
Kingsman Seat handled the custom-dyed leather upholstery on the perch, while INCROSS Custom Art wrapped the bike in a wine red paint job deep enough to drown in.
Onehandmade’s work goes is beyond just cosmetic tweaks though. There’s a set of Öhlins forks from a Ducati Monster 1100S up front, with an Öhlins shock out back. Chun also installed a steering damper, the Brembo brakes from a 1098, and Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa tires.
Hidden upgrades include a STM clutch and a new battery from RCE. The rearsets are Aella units, the triple clamps and clip-ons are custom, the grips are from Biltwell Inc., and the turn signals and speedo are from Motogadget.
Onehandmade’s Ducati MH900e placed 4th in the Cafe Racer class at AMD, narrowly missing the podium against some seriously stiff competition. Trophy or not, this reworked modern classic is a winner in our book.
Onehandmade Facebook | Instagram | Images by JL Photography
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