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This Unique Aprilia Dorsoduro 1200 Is a Perfect Adventure Ride and City Commuter

Why pick between a scrambler, an adventure bike, or a svelte street machine when you can have them all at once?
Aprilia Dorsoduro 1200 7 photos
Photo: Le Week-End De Course
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Gwenael Barthelemy is a French motorcycle enthusiast who seems to be sharing our deep love for modified two-wheelers of all shapes and sizes. As such, he’s been creating bespoke masterpieces under the acronym Le Week-End De Course in his spare time, and the exploit we’ll be looking at today does a sweet job at demonstrating what Barthelemy’s all about.

For this project, the aim was to convert a stock Aprilia Dorsoduro 1200 into a practical custom ride that incorporates elements from scramblers and adventure bikes. Within its tubular steel frame, the donor hosts a liquid-cooled DOHC V-twin powerplant, with a colossal displacement of no less than 1,197cc.

At around 8,700 revs, the Italian monstrosity will be more than happy to produce as much as 130 hp, while a generous torque output of up to 85 pound-feet (115 Nm) will be delivered at about 7,200 rpm. The engine’s brutal oomph is transmitted to a chain final drive by means of a six-speed gearbox, leading to a whopping top speed of 124 mph (200 kph).

When conceptualizing this build, Gwenael decided that practicality ought to be his top priority. Most notably, this is reflected by the foldable storage space attached to the Dorsoduro’s tail section, as well as the filler cap holder mounted onto the bike’s handlebars. Although these features seem minor, I’ll bet they add a great deal of comfort during extended rides.

Up front, you will find a slim fairing hugging the machine’s LED headlight module, behind which we notice Dorsoduro's standard gauge cluster and a mobile phone holder. At the rear, the creature is adorned by a one-off LED lighting kit that keeps things clutter-free. To top it all off, Barthelemy tasked the bodywork experts over at Apiata Metal Shaping with fabricating an array of juicy items that’ll give his two-wheeled fiend a personality of its own, such as a pair of sexy side panels flanking the radiator.

Quite frankly, this bad boy isn’t just highly practical; it is also one gorgeous piece of machinery. What’s your take on this stunning behemoth?
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About the author: Silvian Secara
Silvian Secara profile photo

A bit of an artist himself, Silvian sees two- and four-wheeled machines as a form of art, especially restomods and custom rides. Oh, and if you come across a cafe racer article on our website, it’s most likely his doing.
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