Bloomingdale, New Jersey's Mike Gugel has owned a brace of Japanese sportbikes (including a GSX-R750 and a CBR900RR), but for as long as he can remember he's always wanted a Ducati. After a stunting mishap in 2002 spelled the end of his 900RR, Gugel finally stepped up and made good on his Ducati dream, searching until he found a good price on a mint, bone-stock 1996 Ducati 916 superbike. "I've never seen a bike I didn't want to customize," Gugel tells us, and his new-to-him Ducati was no exception.
Gugel claims there's not a single component on the bike that hasn't been customized in some way, and judging from the five-page (!) spec sheet he sent us, we're taking his word on that. Assembled over the course of two years at a cost of almost $35,000 (on top of his original purchase price), Gugel has one of the nicest Ducatis on the road. The project started the old-fashioned way, with Gugel stripping the bike down to the bare frame and swingarm, which he then powdercoated satin black. HPC Coatings laid down the ruby red finish on the wheels as well as the ceramic thermal coating on the exhaust headers. There's not much chrome on this bike (Gugel prefers anodized aluminum or, wherever possible, carbon fiber), but G&H Chrome did put the shine to this Duck's forks, braking components and a few other small parts. Even the factory Ducati red paint was dressed up with white accents and stripes and carbon-fiber-look Ducati 916 decals with white outlines.
Speaking of carbon fiber, there's plenty of the magic material on Gugel's ride: mirrors, instrument panel, undertail, rear hugger, chainguard, windscreen, tank guard, heel guards, vented clutch cover and more are all carbon. There's some carbon fiber under the tank too in the form of a custom three-piece airbox, which is just the beginning of the $10K Gugel estimates he spent with Motowheels.com on performance-oriented hardware. Highlights in this department include the full 50mm Termignoni exhaust (with carbon fiber cans, of course), Ducati Corse ECU with an Arrow chip and a lightened flywheel. Gugel also updated the suspension with an hlins rear shock (which matches the hlins steering damper) and improved the braking system with Brembo fully floating rotors and Brembo calipers front and rear.
Gugel says he wanted something different, something that wasn't your normal sportbike, and he definitely achieved it with this tweaked-to-the-hilt 916. Everywhere you look-gas cap (billet), preload adjusters (billet), rearsets (adjustable billet), rear sprocket carrier (quick change), levers (six-way adjustable), frame sliders (LED lit)-your eyes fall on something trick. And Gugel tells us he's still not finished. Next up is an MV Agusta F4 tailsection and some other body mods, and maybe some more radical paint. "I just love customizing, and having something different, something funky," Gugel says.
Streetfightin' ManA.J. Fulgado has a problem: Whenever the Queens, New York, native tells people he's into streetfighters, they assume he's talking about martial arts. "I try to tell them streetfighters are a style of custom motorcycle, and when they don't get it I just show them my ride," says Fulgado, referring to his funky, stripped-down Honda CBR929RR streetfighter.
Fulgado says he got turned on to streetfighters by reading European bike mags, and eventually he became so obsessed he opened a shop called XPO Streetfighter (www.xpostreetfighter.com) dedicated to the 'fighter lifestyle. Of course, Fulgado had no choice but to strip down and chrome out his own ride streetfighter-style. Starting with a bone-stock 2001-model RR, Fulgado spent dozens of hours on the internet scouring the European aftermarket for hardcore 'fighter components. "None of the really wild parts you see on European streetfighters were even available in this country," Fulgado says.