Ducati dropped the dubiously-named draXter concept on us eight years ago. An audacious design based on the popular Ducati XDiavel, it took cues from drag racers, sportbikes, and muscle cars. And although it never made it to market, it did manage to inspire one Ducatista in particular.
When the owner of this 2016-model Ducati XDiavel S dropped his bike off at MFix Workshop, the draXter was foremost in his mind. He wanted the Vietnamese custom shop to imbue his XDiavel with a similar vibe—while also adding a few left-field ideas of his own.
In stock form, the Ducati XDiavel S has the heart of a superbike and the body of a cruiser. The combination of forward pegs, a scooped seat, and a 156 hp L-twin motor makes for a riotous, albeit weird, riding experience.
This build called for radical changes to the bike’s stance and ergonomics, so MFix started with the rear ride height. The OEM rear shock was traded for the Öhlins unit from a Kawasaki ZX-10R, complete with a billet aluminum preload adjustment wheel. Next, they CNC machined a swingarm linkage, with a custom titanium axle, to accommodate the longer rear shock—a challenging task, given the limited space available.
With the stance sorted, MFix turned its attention to the controls. In what is quite possibly the biggest foot peg relocation we’ve ever seen, the pegs were moved from their original forward position to alongside the rear wheel hugger. All the requisite parts—from the foot controls to their new mounting brackets—were designed and CNC-machined from scratch.
At the opposite end of the bike, MFix ditched the XDiavel’s riser bars for low-slung clip-ons and replaced the top yoke with a burly billet aluminum part. Since the Ducati’s modern electronics made it nearly impossible to swap out the OEM dashboard, MFix opted to relocate it instead. It now sits in a 3D-printed bracket, placing it closer to the rider.
Once those big ticket items were ticked off, MFix started tweaking the Ducati’s finer details. ISR clutch and brake levers were fitted to the bars, with fresh Brembo calipers gripping the brake discs. Carbon fiber air ducts from Fullsix cool the front calipers, while a CNC Racing dry clutch rattles away in true Ducati fashion.
Bits like the rear wheel center lock nut, sprocket nut, and side stand were replaced with swish CNC-machined items. MFix also threw a ton of titanium fasteners at the bike, because, as they tell us, “why not?”
The crew picked titanium for the bike’s curvy exhaust system too. The pie-cut headers snake their way ‘through’ the XDiavel, and then cross over before exiting just in front of the rear wheel.
There’s a full quiver of carbon fiber stuff on this build too. Fullsix supplied a carbon fiber front fender, rear hugger, radiator cover, belly pan, and passenger seat eliminator. The radiator and oil cooler guards are from Evotech.
With a monochromatic paint job and a hit of leather on the seat, the Ducati XDiavel S was all but ready to sign off on—until the client threw a spanner in the works. “He looked at the completed bike for a while and told us ‘We need more… muscles’,” says our contact at MFix, Giang Nguyen.
“After quite a bit of head scratching and pondering, he pointed at the engine and asked, ‘Can we make it look like a V-Rod?’ Clearly he wasn’t satisfied with the skeletal look of the Ducati engine covers.”
MFix went back to the drawing board, using Photoshop to superimpose a set of Harley-Davidson V-Rod engine covers over the Ducati’s L-twin motor. The client liked the idea, and the shop spent the next four months prototyping and machining a set of custom engine covers.
“It was a meticulous process with lots of trial and error, lots of head scratching and kicking random stuff around the workshop out of frustration,” says Giang. “But in the end, we still had fun doing it.”
“The final touch on the bike was the custom V-Rod headlight from HogLights, just for the heck of it. And to drive the irony home, the owner jotted down his own writing, ‘no fake sh*t,’ on the ‘Duca-Rod’ engine covers.”
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