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Model Brit Shelstad (right) shot with the Shinya Kimura Ducati 999S for the 2012 Fast Dates Calendar. Shinya Kimura Ducati 999S "Devon" We first met Shinya Kimura when he won Best of Show bike at our 2004 LA Calendar Motorcycle Show with an old retro customized Harley Panhead.. At that time Shinya was the front man and celebrity builder at Zero Engineering of Japan, and we were humbled that Shina flew over from Japan with his bike just for our Calendar Show. It was Shinya who pioneered some 10-15 years ago the current retro chopper look that many top builders in America and around the world have followed. Shinya's retro customs were was so well known his he enthusiastic fans all over the world, including Hollywood stars, waiting in line up to 4 years to buy one of his bikes The next year, 2005, Shinya moved to America and opened up a branch of Zero Engineering in Las Vegas, NV. But a year later he had a falling out with his partners and moved to Los Angeles to start up his own solely-owned company Chabbott Engineering, the company name he had used when he first started building bikes. Originally from Japan where he turned to motorcycle repair, racing and restoration after studying entomology, Kimura has now relocated to the United States permanately and embarked on what has become a storied career in building what some have called functional art. He currently works out of his shop, Chabott Engineering, in Azusa, CA (www.chabottengineering.com). Shinya has attended the LA Calendar Motorcycle show every year since 2004 and has used the Show each year to premier his latest custom builds. The retro Panhead Harley which won Best of Show that first year year was featured in the marketing campaign for the 2005 Calendar Show where it was seen and purchased by actor and motorcycle enthusiast Brad Pitt. Since then Pitt has purchased a number of Shinya's customs, including a pair of custom built Triumph and Ducati sportbikes that Shinya premiered at the Show in 2009.
Making its world premier at the 2010 Calendar Motorcycle Show was this aluminum re bodied retro styled Ducati 999S Superbike commission by a customer named Devon. Imagine if you will a classic vintage racer like Ducati's limited production MH900e Mike Hailwood "Evoluzione" racer. Ducati built 2,000 of them back in the early 2000s powered my an anemic 80hp air cooled twin. Most of them ended up parked in people's living rooms as expensive floor art because as "limited edition" bikes they were supposedly too valuable to ride, but in reality they were just plain uncomfortable and impractical to ride. Then here comes Devon with a brain storm. Why not take Ducati's World Superbike Championship winning 999 Superbike in "S" configuration with the high end Ohlins race suspension and Brembo brakes. The Ducati that also happens to be the most comfortable riding of all the Ducati Superbikes.One that you can buy used now for around $8,000, half the market price of an MH900E. Then have legendary customizer Shinya Kimura re body it for you with unique hand fabricated aluminum bodywork. Rather than being one of 2,000 MH900E owners with a bike they can't ride, you are now just one of 1 with the ultimate ride able Ducati retro superbike that will blow the MH900E into the weeds, performance wise, and value wise over the coming years. Sheer genius! Congratulations Devon on having the ultimate 2-wheel retro racer. A bike you can admire and ride. Next project? How about a Shinya Kimura Ducati Desmosedici RR?
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