Photo: kylefx via Pipeburn
Chris Scholtka makes a living as a full-time firefighter, but the art of motorcycle customization is what he turns to afterhours. Known to the broader public as Motocrew, he has all the necessary skills to create a spectacular one-off, and we’ve seen him do just that many times before. The bike we’re about to look at was put together a few years ago and dubbed the Black Villain.
It’s based on a Ducati Scrambler Icon from the model-year 2015, which was brought to Chris’ garage in Cottbus, Germany by a client seeking some simple yet interesting mods. The donor was to gain a much darker color scheme that would give it a truly sinister presence, but there were several other mods to be taken care of before the paint job.
For starters, Chris did away with the motorcycle’s horrendous stock subframe, installing a looped handmade unit in its stead. The rearmost portion of the tubing features an integrated LED lighting strip, and the flanks are encased in a pair of bespoke aluminum side panels. Up top, we see a fresh saddle upholstered in black Alcantara, while the subframe’s underside is home to a bespoke encasement to keep road debris at bay.
A new swingarm-mounted license plate holder is present lower down, complete with aftermarket LED turn signals. Now, the original suspension bits from Ducati might’ve been great, but Chris knew there was a better way. Out back, there is a high-grade Ohlins shock absorber replacing the stock part, and the fully-adjustable NIX 30 inverted forks at the front came from the same brand.
The wheels remained stock and were shod in grippy Shinko rubber fore and aft, while the L-twin engine received a premium two-into-one exhaust system from Remus. Interestingly enough, the project’s author decided to retain the factory headlight and its accompanying upper shroud, but he deleted the chunky OEM blinkers in favor of much smaller items from Motogadget.
Some big changes were carried out in the cockpit, as well. On the one hand, the Scrambler’s digital dial was relocated to the left side of the fuel tank, while the stock handlebar has been replaced with a pair of sporty clip-ons. Although the standard tank is still present, it is now home to Ducati Corse badges on the flanks. Finally, there is the Black Villain’s stealthy colorway.
The man behind Motocrew wanted to avoid going down the murdered-out route, so he used a very dark shade of matte-grey as the primary hue instead of black. Still, there’s plenty of that latter color to be seen here, covering items such as the wheels, upper forks, and headlight bezel. The sides of the fuel tank are also done in gloss-black, offering a nice bit of visual depth to keep things interesting.
For starters, Chris did away with the motorcycle’s horrendous stock subframe, installing a looped handmade unit in its stead. The rearmost portion of the tubing features an integrated LED lighting strip, and the flanks are encased in a pair of bespoke aluminum side panels. Up top, we see a fresh saddle upholstered in black Alcantara, while the subframe’s underside is home to a bespoke encasement to keep road debris at bay.
A new swingarm-mounted license plate holder is present lower down, complete with aftermarket LED turn signals. Now, the original suspension bits from Ducati might’ve been great, but Chris knew there was a better way. Out back, there is a high-grade Ohlins shock absorber replacing the stock part, and the fully-adjustable NIX 30 inverted forks at the front came from the same brand.
The wheels remained stock and were shod in grippy Shinko rubber fore and aft, while the L-twin engine received a premium two-into-one exhaust system from Remus. Interestingly enough, the project’s author decided to retain the factory headlight and its accompanying upper shroud, but he deleted the chunky OEM blinkers in favor of much smaller items from Motogadget.
Some big changes were carried out in the cockpit, as well. On the one hand, the Scrambler’s digital dial was relocated to the left side of the fuel tank, while the stock handlebar has been replaced with a pair of sporty clip-ons. Although the standard tank is still present, it is now home to Ducati Corse badges on the flanks. Finally, there is the Black Villain’s stealthy colorway.
The man behind Motocrew wanted to avoid going down the murdered-out route, so he used a very dark shade of matte-grey as the primary hue instead of black. Still, there’s plenty of that latter color to be seen here, covering items such as the wheels, upper forks, and headlight bezel. The sides of the fuel tank are also done in gloss-black, offering a nice bit of visual depth to keep things interesting.
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