I’m always curious to see what moto journalists ride when they’re not reporting on other people’s bikes. This hot-rodded Ducati Monster 750 belongs to Alicia Mariah Elfving—better known as the Motolady, and one of the biggest personalities in the online moto world.
There’s a fair bit of sweat and grease behind this build. “Arun Sharma of the Portland Ducati dealership MotoCorsa gave me the Monster,” Alicia says. “It was wrecked on both sides and it’d been sitting over a year, missing its key and title. Arun told me, ‘It needs some love, but if you want it, it’s yours.’ I replied, ‘Oh, I’ll love it!”
That was back in 2011, and finally, the unloved Monster is back on the road. It’s been a long and tortuous transformation, with the biggest change being a Ducati 748/996 superbike front end. Alicia wanted adjustable front forks and dual disc brakes for better performance—and the original 750 wheel was out of true.
“The stars all aligned and told me to do a front end swap. So I pressed the old steering stem into new triples, and got a new custom top nut made. You can actually buy this as a kit from Speedymoto now, but they didn’t make that when I was building,” she says. “And honestly, I’d still have chosen to go about it the hard way, knowing myself.”
The engine simply needed a fluid change and valve adjustment, and Alicia then tuned the carbs with the help of Isaac Heinrich of Trophy Motorcycles, San Diego. Breathing has been boosted via a high-mount exhaust welded by Little Horse Cycles, with mufflers from Cone Engineering.
The rearsets are from Ducabike (“I found them on the Monster Parts website, which saved my butt more than once”) and the front brakes are Brembos from a 996. Alicia also fitted Rizoma reservoirs, new levers, SpeedyMoto sprocket and belt covers, a ShinYo streetfighter headlight and a 4″ mini cateye taillight from Dime City Cycles.
Jeff Yarrington of Saint Motor Company was a big help, handling the bodywork and glitterflake paint job. “When I got the bike, I knew very few people in the industry. Jeff offered to fix the dents and paint it black for me if I shipped it over to him. It quickly became a project for him when he realized how badly beat up the tank was … and knowing my feelings about glitter, I ended up with the amazing paint scheme you see today.”
The tank and swingwarm pinstriping was done by Jeff Wolf of Wolf Designs, with the beautiful vintage-style gold leaf logo coming from Chris Dunlop. The seat is a modified Corbin item, reshaped and recovered in leather by Shelby Shaffer.
It’s a classy yet functional ride—and proof that this Motolady can walk the talk.
Images courtesy of Shaik Ridzwan of The Mighty Motor.
