Django Is a Delicious Ducati Monster S2R 1000 With Extra Caffeine and Custom Toppings

You’ll find their latest undertaking in the photo gallery above, a breathtaking neo-retro cafe racer dubbed Django. Given the specimen’s graceful trellis frame and L-twin powerplant, it is immediately clear which nameplate acted as the starting point for the Gas & Oil (G&O) crew. We are, of course, talking about the long-running Ducati Monster lineup – the commercial hit that quite literally saved the company from financial peril in the nineties.

That story has been told time and time again, so let’s keep our focus on G&O’s one-off stunner instead of repeating what’s already been said before. In their search for an ideal donor, Matej and his accomplices eventually settled on an S2R 1000 from the model year 2007. As this was the third Monster-based conversion they’ve worked on, the Czech gurus had a pretty clear idea of what they were dealing with here.

Bologna’s S2R 1000 is put in motion by an air- and oil-cooled 992cc engine, paired with a dry clutch and a six-speed gearbox. The desmodromic twin-cylinder mill has 95 ponies and 69 pound-feet (94 Nm) of torque to play with, while pushing a dry weight of just 392 pounds (178 kg). On the other hand, the Monster’s chassis comprises things like 43 mm (1.7-inch) inverted Showa forks, sturdy Brembo brakes, and a Sachs monoshock.

Gas & Oil saw no need to change this highly capable paraphernalia, but they obviously went to town when it came to the cosmetics. As the S2R was being taken apart, the guys did away with each and every piece of stock bodywork they could get their hands on. Then, they busied themselves with crafting a bespoke cafe racer attire from scratch.

Aluminum acted as the team’s material of choice, and was first used to fabricate a handsome fuel tank with knee indentations. It carries a flush-mounted filler cap up top, so as to create an extremely tidy silhouette and complement the flat look of the tank’s upper section. At the rear end, G&O installed a bespoke trellis subframe manufactured in-house.

They subsequently built a cafe-style alloy tail section and had it placed atop the new frame tubing, complete with a solo seat wrapped in brown leather. Furthermore, we find a bare-bones license plate bracket right below the tail’s rearmost tip, also featuring a pair of dual-function LEDs from Kellermann. Things are no less enticing at the front, where you’ll spot the third and last bit of bodywork worn by Django.

We are, of course, referring to the compact front fender fitted on tailor-made mounting hardware – only just large enough to serve its purpose. There are more custom brackets further up, supporting a high-grade Koso LED headlight and a digital Motoscope Pro dial from Motogadget. The speedo is flanked by clip-on handlebars equipped with adjustable control levers, minimalistic switches, and some more Motogadget goodies.

These include stylish grips, glassless mirrors, and bar-end turn signals, but the motorcycle’s ergonomics are completed by aftermarket rearsets from CNC Racing. The same brand supplied a brand-new clutch, which is neatly encased in a transparent cover to expose its inner workings. Gas & Oil uncovered the engine’s timing belts, too, while replacing the original breathing equipment with a mixture of custom and off-the-shelf parts.

On the intake side of things, they ditched the OEM airbox in favor of Uni filtration technology. The exhaust-related work was far more complex, as the Czech craftsmen busied themselves with building a fresh two-into-one setup out of stainless-steel. Ultimately, the piping terminates in a high-mounted Sharon muffler on the right-hand side of the tail unit.

An invigorating internal refurbishment got the L-twin motor running as well as it did on day one. We still see the stock Marchesini hoops down in the unsprung sector, but they are now wrapped in Pirelli Diablo Rosso III rubber for plentiful grip. Finally, the project’s authors went with a tried-and-true formula when it came to the livery, finishing Django in a gorgeous mixture of black and gold that looks absolutely majestic.

Black is the base color on the wheels, bodywork components, and some engine covers, while gold is present all over the bike’s trestle skeleton. You’ll notice more gold detailing on various bits and pieces, such as the upper bodywork, rear sprocket, and clutch pressure plate. The elegant livery is a perfect match for this S2R cafe racer, yet some parts were left unpainted to leave a pinch of bare metal in view.