Customised creation from Café Racers & Superbikes

Customised creation from Café Racers & Superbikes has an Italian sporty rolling chassis and design powered by a muscular American engine. Do you need another reason to do the DUU?

There have been many instances where iconic cars have been created by combining the American love for extreme horsepower and the classic European sense of design. Taking this very formula, Roberto Crepaldi and his team at Milan-based Café Racers and Superbikes (CR&S) have created Duu, a two-wheeled demon, which has a 117-cubic-inch S&S X-Wedge V-twin at its heart and a steel-aluminium chassis.To begin with, CR&S started with a big chunk of round stainless-steel tubing, 4.23 inches in diameter, which was bent and welded to the steering head and rear crossmember. It cradles the American, 916 cc, X-wedge V-twin engine by S&S, and also holds the seamlessly built 16.50 litres of fuel tank. One look at the engine’s fins and pure shape devoid of radiator is enough to seduce, while the air cooling system and the pushrod distribution — elements from a rich historical past — will floor motocycle fans.

Another length of stainless was bent and reinforced to form the single-sided swingarm. The riding position is nearly as brutal as the styling. A long transmission pushes the foot pegs quite far back and the protruding airfilter housing forces your right knee outward at an unusual and uncomfortable angle. The tubular handlebar is well placed and the seat is surprisingly spacious and comfortable, though neither provides much relief for cramped legs. All these form the foundation of this purposeful, serious-looking V-twin custom. According to the official spec sheet, this hog can lean up till 43 degrees.

There’s no skimping on the big fork, 320 mm brake discs or Brembo calipers, or on the 3.5- and 6-inch custom wheels. From there, CR&S added a bare minimum of carbon-fibre and plastic bodywork, a place to sit atop the patented alloy box structure that contains the fuel pump, battery and engine control unit — a biposto version also is available. The end result is a 540-pound bike stretched over a 62-inch wheelbase motored along by 109 foot-pounds of peak torque at 4300 rpm, most of which is already poking at just 2500 rpm. With ample thrust available throughout its rev band, the Duu performs well even in close-quartered traffic combat.

There’s no such thing as a series-production Duu. Each Duu is bespoke and built to the customer’s specifications, in fact buyers are encouraged to customise their bikes before taking delivery using the company’s online motorcycle configurator. There are a variety of options that include a lot of high quality hand-made components, different seating arrangements, finishes and performance upgrades to ensure the final product is exclusive and unique. In addition to this, every new option introduced will be 100 per cent retrofittable on each Duu.

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