Officine Mermaid’s Custom Ducati Scrambler
The Milan-based shop reimagines the already capable bike as a badass off-road machine at home on any terrain
Though it opened in 2009, we first stumbled upon Officine Mermaid in 2013 while exploring Milan between appointments during Design Week. Located in the Motoquartiere—an intersection of streets lined with motorcycle part shops, vintage clothing stores and exclusive garages now home to Deus ex Machina Milano and a whole host of other motorcycle-centric operations—Officine Mermaid has expanded to keep up with the area’s growth, beefing up their in-house softgoods line and opening a café. And while this is exciting for the local community, for those based elsewhere the most relevant news to come from the custom build shop is of their recent design based on the all-new 2015 Ducati Scrambler, which we tested just over a month ago.
While specializing in custom fabrication of vintage bikes (most often American and British) is still their “thing,” Officine Mermaid couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get their hands on the yet-to-be-released Scrambler, which, after all, does have a distinctly old school spirit. The shop gave the already capable bike a badass makeover, stripping as many accessories and unnecessary add-ons as possible. The result is “Scratch,” a barebones enduro championing the design’s raw capability and genuine 1960s spirit.
Fellow Italian builders Deus Ex Machina Italy and Mr. Martini were also in on the custom Scrambler build project. Visit Officine Mermaid for more information about their custom operation, and Ducati Scrambler online to read up on the impressive bike’s specs. (And, if this isn’t the kind of mermaid you were looking for, perhaps our photographer friend Arthur Drooker can help out.)
Images courtesy of Ducati
