Ducati 1036 CS
Ducati 1036 CS
Ducati 1036CS built by Alex Ortner.
You may have heard of Alex Ortner, visionary Ducati builder
or seen his work at Cyclecat.
http://home.comcast.net/~aortner264789mi/FirstPage/1036cs.htm
This is only the second time one of Alex's creations has come up for sale. Why
ride a MV Augusta or Ducati 1098 that anyone can buy? No one has anything like
this bike. It is 84 pounds lighter than a 1098! Over $90,000 invested, not
including the 1000s of hours Alex put into this bike. Many unobtainable parts,
like forks from Matt Mladin 1999 Suzuki Superbike. 342 pounds wet with no gas
and 150 horsepower with lots of torque. This is a superbike you can ride on the
street, with incredible drive out of the corners. Call Diamond Corsa, Dean
Liggett, at 513-528-3409 with questions. Please note that the Cech Sebimoto
carbon fiber fuel tank shown in early photos was replaced with a Fuel Cell tank.
The side carbon panels that can be seen on the Sebimoto tank can be added onto
the Fuel Cell tank, depending on buyer’s preferences. Bidders can write for an
itemized list of parts.
Serious Buyers only! We reserve the right to end this auction early. Because of
the new Carbon fiber frame, Alex built this bike on a Michigan Assembler's
title. The bike is now titled in Ohio. New Michelin 2CT tires have been
installed since these photos.
The following is quoted from an article by Ian Falloon in
Two Wheels magazine. It was titled “You Wish”.
DUCATI 1036CS There are many crazed Ducati nuts, but one of the craziest I have
ever come across is Alex Ortner. Alex likes to modify bikes, but modification is
a loose term in his vocabulary. What Alex really wants to do is create his own
individual bike, and a few years ago I saw the fruits of his labours with his
908 SSP. This was a spectacular 85 horsepower, 175 kilogram merger of an
air-cooled 900 Supersport motor in a custom mix of 900 and 916 chassis. Now he
has turned his attention to the Desmoquattro 996. This time his obsession is
weight reduction. “Some people think bigger is better, but my motto is less is
more.”.. Ortner’s 1036CS started life as a 1999 Ducati 996 he bought
midway during 2003. “I had done a few two-valve projects and wanted to do a
four-valve bike. It was a project bike I had done for someone else, but was
never licensed or ridden.” He sent the cylinder heads off to Martin
Brickwood Performance for a full Testa Rossa head kit. Guy Martin is one of
the best-known Ducati tuners in North America, operating out of Ponte Claire
near Montreal. Although probably better known for their unbreakable Ducati valve
collets that are used by just about anyone racing a Ducati, Martin Brickwood
also prepare many highly successful racing Ducatis. They seemed a logical place
for Alex to turn to, and in went 36.5mm inlet valves, with porting done on a
flow bench by Guy Martin. After 27 years experience working on Ducatis this is
what Guy Martin has to say about stock Ducati porting. “Production Ducati heads
leave a lot to be desired. Ducati’s success in racing demonstrates that
impressive power can be achieved, but are seldom reflected in stock port design.
In terms of the ports; location, sizing, shape are often dictated by racing
homologation requirements, often with very large valves coupled with inadequate
porting. Material selection is also compromised for production. We match valve
size, shape and seat geometry to port configuration, selecting cylinder head
component materials to match performance with reliability.” And the proof is in
the product with Alex Ortner saying, “these are an absolutely terrific set of
heads.” The stock 96mm pistons were junked for a BCM 100mm 13:1 Pistal race
piston kit, and the cylinders rebored and plated. BCM is another leading
Ducati workshop in America’s North East, operating out of Laconia, New
Hampshire. The rest of the motor was stock, even the camshafts, just carefully
assembled and balanced. A custom Duane Mitchell FIM chip was supplied for the
dual injector 1.6MB Weber Marelli injection system, while a higher capacity
Feber oil cooler kept the temperature under control. Ortner installed a
Yoyodyne light weight clutch with aluminium friction plates to reduce
wear on the clutch basket, and Yoyodyne clutch slave cylinder. This
hard-anodized 7075 billet-machined aluminium slave cylinder offers better
corrosion and wear resistance than the stock unit, and the inclusion of a
bleeder valve improves bleeding the clutch hydraulic system. Along with the
Yoyodyne clutch plates Alex fitted a Cycle Cat PP series billet aluminium clutch
pressure plate, designed to survive a crash. Alex worked at Cycle Cat as a
consulting designer ... With an IGA air filter in a hand laid carbon airbox
twice the size of a Corsa airbox and Moto Corse 54mm titanium exhaust
system from San Marino, the power of the 1036 is 150 horsepower at 8500rpm.
“This is a street bike, not a racer,” says Alex. “150 horsepower is enough for
the street. I was really after the best power to weight ratio and wanted the
lightest bike possible.” While the engine modifications are not extreme, there
is little conventional about the chassis. Ortner’s passion for weight reduction
has been taken to excess. First to go was the steel frame, replaced by a
carbon-fibre Carbo Tech frame from Karl Wagner Carbo Tech Composites in
Salzburg, Austria. Made from T700, T800 and M40J carbon-fibre, the same material
Carbo Tech uses for the Williams F1 cars. The twin spar frame weighs 6.5
kilograms, including the sub-frame, compared to the stock 11.5 kilograms.
Longitudinal stiffness is claimed to be 100% improved the steel frame and
torsional stiffness 50% over the steel frame. “This is the Holy Grail of
frames,” says Ortner. “A hand built carbon-fibre frame with it’s internal
honeycomb helps it beat a Ducati original for stiffness as well as providing a
hefty weight saving. The main honeycomb frame section makes the original 916
frame of pipes and welds look like straw.” The Carbo Tech frame is laid out
using a "Pre-Peg" method, with a computer program defining the correct amount of
resin to impregnate the carbon strands, then laying the carbon weave onto a mat
at a pre-calculated angle. This strengthens certain areas against flex and
torsional stresses, much the same as gusseting on a conventional frame. The
frame is then baked in a high pressure oven. “One of the advantages of the Carbo
Tech frame is it still uses 996-style bodywork,” says Alex. A 996 Corsa
magnesium swingarm was then installed, this lengthening the wheelbase 10mm
and improving weight distribution. But as with most projects this wasn’t a
simple bolt-on process. “I wanted to use BST Carbon-fibre wheels,” says
Alex, “and I had to offset mount the swingarm so I could fit the 6.25-inch
MV-spec BST wheel on a Corsa axle.” Why the BST Wheels? “If its good enough
for the Ducati MotoGP team its good enough for me,” replied Alex. The 17-inch
five-spoke BST wheels are built by Blackstone Tech in South Africa, and are
notable in that they are a one-piece monocoque moulding, without bonding or
gluing. They are extremely robust, with a superior resistance to shocks than
metal wheels, and the nesting and cutting machines are the same as those used in
the aerospace industry. “Where the BST wheels really score is the reduction in
unsprung weight, the weight of 2.3 kilograms including bearings less than half
that of a stock wheel. The total weight saving with both wheels was 4.6
kilograms.” Wheel weight savings on this scale also reduce flywheel and
gyroscopic effects, allowing for faster directional changes, and providing the
rider more control. Alex also fitted extra special suspension to his 1036. “The
46mm Showa front fork came from Matt Mladin’s 1999 Suzuki Superbike. I ended up
with this unobtainable racing fork because it was claimed under the AMA claiming
provision at Loudon in 1999. The fork tubes are nitrided, and the sliders solid
magnesium, but it was a bargain even at $20,000. Max Macalister at
Traction Dynamics totally rebuilt the fork, and set it up for this bike.” The
Suzuki Showa fork required new triple clamps, Alex getting a set of
Marchesini forged billet magnesium triple clamps from MotoWheels. “These are
lighter and stiffer than the stock cast aluminium pieces, and includes an
aluminium steering tube and billet steering stops. The different offset provides
slower steering, and is ideal with the longer Corsa swingarm as they transfer
extra weight to the front wheel, while an Öhlins steering damper tightens
things up in the front.” The rear suspension includes a Corsa rocker, with a
John Hackett Performance adjuster rod, three-way adjustable Penske shock, and
Yoyodyne titanium spring. “All this stuff was chosen because I believe it is
the best available. John Hackett is famous for his Ducati Superbike racers, and
I have had the best results in the past with Penske shocks and Yoyodyne
springs.” The 320mm brake rotors are Lyndall Racing’s aluminium metal matrix
with custom five-spoke carriers to match the wheels, gripped by GP P4 30-34
two-piece Brembo billet racing four-piston calipers, with a 19x18 Brembo billet
GP radial master cylinder and Fren Tubo Kevlar brakes lines. The rear brake
is a Ducati Corse steel rotor, also with a Brembo billet 4 piston racing
caliper. The weight saving obsession continues with all the body work in
carbon-fibre. The fairing and mudguards were supplied by M&S, and the fuel tank
is a Cech Sebimoto (Now Fuel Cell). One of the few Ducati items is the
998R seat and tail unit, also carbon-fibre, with Tecnosel seat with carbon base.
It goes without saying that every nut or bolt was replaced by aluminium or
titanium. Where an off the shelf piece wasn’t available Alex made it custom.
Every detail has come under scrutiny, from the Stack digital dash to the
Cycle Cat custom carbon-fibre clip-ons and myriad of beautifully machined
components by Alex. After 9 months solid work Alex Ortner finally finished the
1036 and couldn’t have been happier. “A stock 996 weighs around 220 kilograms
ready to roll and my aim was 154 kilograms. The bike actually weighs 155
kilograms wet, with no gas. It is unbelievable. Can you imagine this 150
horsepower bike weighs 10 kilos less than a World Superbike racer, and is street
legal? It is an amazing feeling riding it.” Alex won’t say how much it has
cost but did comment, “it would take almost $100,000 to reproduce this bike if
you bought all the parts and did the assembly yourself. But there are so many
one-off parts that I have manufactured you can’t put a price on it.”
Administered and sponsored by DOCWA Inc.