They are two of the greatest motorcycle designers the world has known, master Massimo Tamburini and student Pierre Terblanche, responsible for some of the most iconic bikes of all time. While working at Cagiva, then owners of Ducati, the apprentice was tasked with creating a dual-sport motorcycle for the brands. Ever since then the Multistrada has been a staple of the big Italian’s line-up and quite frankly it’s always made no apology for being much more suited to a sealed surface. So, with all the goodies it hosts, they make a great donor bike for some beautiful builds. Which is exactly what France’s Jerem Motorcycles has delivered with this drop-dead gorgeous 1000 DS variant, a neo-racer with plenty of Italian charm.
Headed by the incredibly talented Jérémie Duchampt, Jerem is a French outfit that never fails to deliver a beautiful motorcycle. Whatever the build, whatever the style, the result is always something that wouldn’t look out of place as a showpiece on the salesroom floor of a supercar dealer. So, having been delivered a stock Multistrada DS, in what appears to be the later model S specification, the owner could be confident that when the highly regarded French builder was finished, they’d ride away on a very special Italian.
The Multistrada uses the same trellis frame as most of the Ducati line-up of its 20-year-old vintage. However, designed for two-up riding, with comfort in mind and the ability to carry luggage, the subframe section extends far further rearward. This would be the first area that had to be rectified and with the grinder spun up in anger, everything behind the centre posts is simply cut off. From here an entirely new subframe has been built, with the lines kept tight and sharp, and with the welder in action, a new shock mounting point was prepared for more sporty geometry.
In preparation for another major change, the top section of the frame was also completely modified, with new mounts and attachment points. The first of these was designed to facilitate a swap from the bulbous lines of the stock tank to the slick and sporty look of the metal from a Ducati 749. The new tank instantly transforms the style of the bike, with the near flat top and heavy knee dents giving an aggressive appearance. These lines are mirrored in the tail section’s front half that seamlessly integrates the tank with the design, before running rearward to a picture perfect cafe hump.
The front mask is built like the tail, from fibreglass, and the final vestige of the Multistrada is gone, with a new aggressive look taking hold. It wears a very small screen made from yellow-tinted plastic and tiny carbon fibre wings. The high-end and lightweight material is then extensively used across the rest of the build for both form and function, with everything from the front guard and rear hugger, to the footrests and belt covers made from the expensive weave. But perhaps the most striking element made from the fibred material is the trick belly pan that adds visual weight to the bottom of the machine.
With much of the fabrication work done, the make or break on a bike of this calibre can all come down to a colour choice. So, what says a high-end finish like a hue from the Lamborghini catalogue, and this olive green is the same as used on the wild and highly exclusive Sian FKP 37. To keep the hypercar fit and finish going, Jerem turned to Irina from Point Saddlery 34 to come up with a seat worthy of such a build, and the leather and Alcantara job is a work of art. Finishing out the colour scheme is the gold with an extra pop that is laid over the frame and wheels.
Those wheels are of course lightweight Marchesini items that help to reduce unsprung weight and seriously improve handling. Wrapped in Pirelli Supercorsa rubber, any pretence of being a dual-sport is now long gone. So, the S spec Ohlins forks inserted with the help of a lower from Paolo Tex to work with the redesigned cockpit, have been tuned for hard street riding. The rear shock is from the big O too, with a new link and lowered mount getting the bike sitting to Jerem’s exacting specifications.
The engine has been dressed up with plenty of carbon-fibre and the airbox has been reshaped to not only work as the intake but also store a significant amount of the electronics. The exhaust is a custom-built stainless system, that snakes tight to the L-twin before emerging from the back of the carbon belly, and the clutch is now open with a half guard to hear all of that dry plate rattle. To ensure his masterpiece is road legal, Jérémie has fitted a host of small LED lights, built a custom number plate hanger and repositioned the dash, but it’s the all-encompassing hypercar like transformation that makes this Multistrada a truly mouthwatering motorcycle.
[ Jerem Motorcycles | Photography by Jonathan Silene ]