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A few years ago, if you wanted a good-looking cafe racer–style motorcycle, you either had to find a custom bike shop to build one within your budget, or buy an old, used bike and wrench it yourself. The whole vintage trend hadn’t yet begun, and cafe racers were still a niche in a particular corner of counter culture. As of this writing, no fewer than six mainstream motorcycle brands make modern interpretations of the ‘60s street racers. The newest player in the segment is the Scrambler Ducati Cafe Racer. The name is a bit on the nose, and though it’s undoubtedly stunning to look at, where do we go from here? Now that so many manufacturers are cashing in on this counter-culture, have we hit peak cafe racer?
I don’t mean to take away from what Ducati has done with the Scrambler brand. Of all the cafe racers on the market, Ducati’s Cafe Racer draws beautifully from the company’s own history and presents as one hell of a modern-day motorcycle. Some might say Ducati cheated a little by adorning it with a black-and-gold paint job (everything looks better in black and gold; cars, motorcycles, boats — even a house, if done right), but even that’s a callback to the brand’s own 900 Super Sport Desmo. Like with the Ducati’s Desert Sled, the Cafe Racer expands on an ever-evolving Scrambler family tree — and not just with a fancy paint job and new wheels, either.
The Scrambler Icon is a dream to ride, and I said as much when I got my first taste of it back in 2014. But, as with the Desert Sled, Ducati set out to make the Cafe Racer a different, more focused version of the original — an even better canyon carver — because “that’s what the people wanted,” says Scrambler Project Manager Claudio De Angeli. “Over the past two years we saw many, many [custom Scramblers] from our customers, and we thought, ‘Why not do it ourselves?’”
Ducati Scrambler Cafe Racer
Engine: 803cc Desmodromic L-Twin
Horsepower: 75
Torque: 50 lb-ft
Weight: 456 lbs
Price: $11,395 (base)
