52 ROUGH CRAFTS HYPERMOTARDMENTALMOTARDTaiwan’s Rough Crafts takes a crack at customising the ballistic Ducati Hypermotard 939.Article by Wes ReynekePics by JL Photography (facebook.com/996long)
53When Winston Yeh first burst onto thescene with his shop, Rough Crafts, hequickly made a name for himself byturning stock Harley-Davidsons intodark and menacing bobbers. Sincethen, the Taiwanese designer has spread his wingsand applied his sharp eye to motorcycles from anumber of other brands. But the real artistry lies inthe fact that whatever platform Winston’s workingwith, his signature Rough Crafts style always pushesthrough.This time, he’s stamped his mark on a most unusualdonor: a 2018 Ducati Hypermotard 939. Anyonewho’s swung a leg over the Hypermotard knowswhat a cracking ride it is. With 110 horses and 98 Nmfrom its 937 cc Testastretta twin, decent suspension,and a dry weight of just 181 kilos, it’s proper fun.The thing is, it’s also tricky to customise. The Harleysthat Winston cut his teeth on are simple bikesthat are easy to take apart and reconfigure—but themodern Hypermotard has a very distinct look, andeverything’s designed to fit together a particular way.Still, when a customer brought in a Hypermotard 939and asked Winston to modify it, he was keen to takeup the challenge.His brief was twofold: give the Ducati the RoughCrafts treatment, and lower it a bit at the same time.“It was obvious that the 870 mm seat height was toostressful for him,” says Winston, “especially in Taipeicity traffic, where there’s a lot of stop and go.”“We still wanted the direction to reflect the Hypermotard’snatural purpose—light, nimble, and fun.A street tracker came to our minds—a flat tracker-styledbike with regular street tyres and brakes.”Winston went straight into Photoshop—fiddlingwith ideas and fettling the bike’s stance virtuallyuntil it looked right. The final design called for a 2”drop in the front, and a 1” drop in the rear. To achievethis, Rough Crafts installed a set of Öhlins FGRT207upside-down forks, originally intended for theKawasaki ZZR1400, along with a new top triple fromCNC Racing. Öhlins then hooked the Ducati up with acustom rear shock to complete the set.The chassis upgrades didn’t stop there. RoughCrafts installed a full Beringer brake set, an Öhlinssteering damper, and a set of carbon fibre wheelsfrom South Africa’s own Blackstone Tek. Eventhough flat track bikes typically feature 19” wheels,Winston knew this bike would be spending its timeon tarmac—so he kept the wheel sizes at a road-biased17”, and opted for grippy Pirelli Diablo Corsa IItyres.Rough Crafts operates as something of a collective,with Winston regularly outsourcing differentparts of a project to various talented craftsmen. Forthe bodywork, he pulled in metal shaper and frequentcollaborator, MS Pro. The result was a new fueltank and radiator trim, designed to flow seamlesslyinto each other and show off Rough Craft’s hallmarkscalloped style.When it came to the rear half of the bike, Winstonhad something else in mind. He called up DavidSánchez at BOTTPOWER in Spain, and asked him tosend over the company’s carbon fibre BOTT XR1 tailpiece. It turned out to be the perfect match for the
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