The Galena is a work of Riccardo Casarini, the founder of Ludwig Motorcycles. Riccardo wrote me a few days back, with an invitation to check out his latest build. The message included the link to a zip file with photos. I really like this moment. When the download finishes – and You get to see a new build for the first time. It always seems like a surprise. And I was pleased to see yet another…
build based on the Honda XL600.
These lightweight dual sports retro-modded into scramblers, keep coming in different forms.
The owner told us the desire to have a “no rounded scrambler”, something full of edges and corners. And he told it with a box full of parts and pieces in his hands, not a real bike. Also for this reason we’ve called it Galena, because the galena is “[…]one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crystallizes in the cubic crystal system often showing octahedral forms and it is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver”.
The frame which was modified and “cleaned up”, was powder coated with “brilliant grey”. The colour choice also complements the mineral it takes the name from. The tank comes from a Hercules Ultra 80 LC (a rare moped from ’80s Germany). The paint job uses colours borrowed from the Fireblade 900RR. The contrasts are there on purpose.
As Riccardo explains:
Like our first build (the Ludwig Marvelous, a tribute to Stan Lee comics sagas based on a GileraNordwest) also in this one the main inspiration came from the comics, the cartoons and vivid colors. The custom world is often serious and boring, we believe that the most important thing is don’t lose the playful approach if you don’t wanna lose the real passion (the child passion).
The mods list
Front fender is minimalistic, made with 3mm fibreglass. The same material used for the mini front fairing. The headlight is a classic round 200mm. Inox steel was used to design the speedo, turn signals and the licence plate mount. The seat colour choice is also purposefully chosen – to resemble the gold in the old-fashioned Honda logo.
Consequently, the engine was rebuilt, the intake is protected with two cone filters, the exhaust is custom made with brushed inox (DB Killer is also available). Cleaning up the frame, changing the intake and losing extent fairings and other stuff resulted in Galena weighting only 118kg now (quite impressive: 16kg less than stock). The Continental TKC80 tyres keep the bike connected to the ground. Good universal – all-terrain choice.
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