As we approach the imminent release of Ducati's all new Scrambler, the gentlemen from Bologna may find themselves late to the party, with this timely build from Tux Customs in Oslo showing off the potential and appeal of a trellis frame, V-twin and knobbly combination. Tux Customs was created by Øyvind Caspersen, or Casper, and this 95' 600 ss based build is the third machine to depart his workshop. Casper may well still consider himself one of the new kids in the custom building world but with this machine following hot on the heels of his stunning Classified Moto inspired Honda Cafe Cross he is certainly growing up fast. After many sessions pouring over internet images and daily trawling through the donor availability on the Norwegian version of craigslist, www.finn.no, Casper had a build taking shape in his mind. He successfully procured this Ducati in great shape, with a mere 17000 miles on the clock, and could finally begin to make his minds image in metal. "I picked it up the next day, rode it for a couple of days and during the first week of ownership I started picking it apart. The vision for this bike was to make it a typical scrambler, but not make it to complicated." Relishing taking liberties with the fine condition of his donor, Casper ripped off the excess plastic to reveal the bare bones of the motorcycle. The SS Ducati series have a much flatter top frame line than their engine sharing Monster brothers, thus lending themselves to a more classic profile. Picking a pre 99' update model Casper benefitted from a carburettor fed motor and a much simpler tank shape in comparison to the swoopy Terblanche design of the later models. With the frame and engine exposed Casper pulled out the grinder. "The rear subframe was a bit too long, and also was very high. I cut it only about 3" in length, since I wanted to keep it a two-seater, and then reused the rear loop with a little bit of cutting and grinding." Casper fabricated a seat pan from sheet metal and shaped and fitted a 4" foam seat that he wrapped with black tucked and rolled vinyl utilising his hand operated Singer sewing machine. Parts were sourced from Norwegian suppliers including Motocross handlebars, grips, a 7" headlight, headlight grille, mirrors, LED rear light and LED indicators. To accept the high bars black risers were attached to the top yoke that received a coat of black paint to match, neatly only across it's upper surface. He decided to use Continental TKC 80 tyres after they performed so well on his Honda build, here they are deployed in 120/70-17 and 140/70-17 sizes. After wrestling with multiple clock solutions Casper decided to utilise the fine original speedometer and machined a bracket to mount it between the risers. Everything electrical had originally been fitted in front of the handlebars, hidden away from sight by the plastics. Casper's solution was to modify the airfilter-box by fitting two pod filters, this created a new space for the wire-harness, connectors and relays. The rear hugger remains, but the front mudguard did not match up to the bikes scrambling ideals. Casper cut up an old guard he had lying around and made a bracket to hold it high between the forks, scrambler style. The relatively small engine was failing to generate a befitting soundtrack for the ride so Casper liberated its roar with some free flowing Megaton exhausts. When it came to paint Casper looked to his employers colour book (he is a workshop developer for Audi/Skoda/VW) choosing an Audi Ipanema Brown. Both the gas tank and the headlight were painted along with the engine guard that was recycled from a Honda XL 600 bash plate. "The last finishing touch on this bike was the old brown leather saddle bag. This came to me when buying an old Harley gas tank for another project. I saw the saddle bag hanging from the ceiling in the sellers garage, and got a vision of it on the Ducati." The bag ties in all the colours on the bike and provides useful sandwich storage for when the desired horizon has been reached. The Ducati has now been sold to a young customer who uses it daily, the new riding position transforming the bike into a nimble urban scrambler. With three bikes down and more customer builds in the offing Tux Customs are going from strength to strength, it just remains to be seen whether Casper will find the time to build a ride for himself. We look forward to adding those and more to the Tux Customs Bikeshed Page. Now over to you Ducati. Let us see your scrambler.