Anvil Motociclette Warthog
By Ross Sharp - 25 Sep 17
Anvil Motociclette was one of the first custom shops I wrote about on these pages back in 2014, only two years into Marco & Phonz's journey as part-time builders. Since then they've managed to develop their skills and up the ante with each project but more impressively they've done an absolutely cracking job of marketing themselves and their motorcycles. This year Ducati exhibited an Anvil Ducati Scrambler R/T 400 at Bike Shed London 2017 but the guys were nowhere to be seen. They were running their own flat tacking, scrambling, drag racing spectacle in Italy - The Wild Days Festival.
I've raced with the guys at the Wheels & Waves El Rollo and Snowquake flat track events - they don't mess around. Going fast and turning left is clearly in their blood and influences many of their builds, no surprise then this Ducati S4R has been given the street tracker treatment.
Starting with a 2000 model the aim with the 'Warthog' was to mirror the trellis frame with angular bodywork. Aluminium sections were guillotined and welded together to form a dummy tank, covering the airbox of the demoquattro, water-cooled twin.
The fuel itself lives in an aluminium cell beneath the seat unit, filled via a cap in the tail and pumped by an externally mounted unit. Capacity is limited to short, fast blasts which will be encouraged by the loud exhausts which were made especially for the project by Zard.
The stock S4R swingarm is a thing of beauty, emphasised by a matt, blasted finish. Up front the Showa fork is powdercoated black externally and the stanchions are nitride coated for a touch of gold zing to match the Brembo brakes.
Forged Marchesini wheels might be stock but they look great in black rather than the original white, especially with the Pirelli MT06RS dual sport tyres.
I built a similar bike using the less potent Ducati 2 valve motor which is fine for skidding around on clay or shale but it always felt a bit lacking on the road. The Warthog looks to offer a brutish supermoto exhilaration with a handmade feel and intoxicating soundtrack. Maybe Marco and Phonz will bring it to our show next May..... with the keys!
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Images by Paolo Sandolfini