Max Betteridge and His Basalt-Coated Ducati Monster 400
It has better physicomechanical properties than fiberglass and is significantly cheaper than carbon fiber. Made from extremely fine fibers of basalt, this fireproof textile is used often in the aerospace industry and sometimes makes its way to the automotive business. Recently, we found it used on one Ducati Monster 400 cafe racer by 25-year-old Max Betteridge from Auckland, New Zealand.
The basalt fiber, according to Betteridge, “is the new carbon”. “What captured me was the subtle gold hue in its reflection,” he said. Apparently, it reveals a surreal depth when the light hits it at just the right angle.He is a product development engineer by day and a bike customizer by night, a “hobby” that started from an obsession with vintage cars. We should all be so lucky to get as good in our hobbies as Betteridge had; although it was probably his dedication and pure passion that finished the job for him.
Betteridge, because he had no workshop, had to dismantle the Monster and take some parts to work on in the morning through his lunchbreak and even in the evening when he got back. He started with a 3D scan of the bike before building the bodywork in CAD for a “minimal, sleek, and unique” look.
He thought himself naïve, however, when he first started the project, not knowing of “the difficulties of making a visual composite part” and concluded too early on that it would be “easy”. By the time he started his first part, he began having doubts on the effectiveness of his plan and “learned how much work was involved”.
One of the coolest, and Betteridge’s favourite, features on the build is the tank-strap that stretches all the way to the gas cap with a laser-etched Ducati logo. He said that the straps were initially flat, but on a workmate’s insistence that the strap “needed to jog up to meet the top of the filler”, he was convinced easily enough. He ended up CNC-milling an aluminium press tool and pressing the straps in a twenty-ton press to form the jog.The whole process was a series of trials and errors; and though it might not be the fastest bike on the road (that wasn’t Betteridge’s intention anyway), it sure is one of the prettiest. “It was never intended to be a fast bike,” he said, “and I never intended to try and make it one.”
For Betteridge, “the purpose is the aesthetic and the visual balance”. Instead, it was “designed to make an impact through its form and proportions.” He definitely levelled its design and functionality to equilibrium, even insofar as gaining a well-deserved admiration from an elderly couple. The most unlikely of people, he said, started a conversation with him about how it looked. The unexpected encounter, his “most validating moment”, seemed to have a positive effect on the 25-year-old, quieting the noise of the doubting voices that told him what he was planning was impossible.
In the end, he’s still the one who redesigned a Monster with a colour theme that of a flat white’s – it has a cream-coloured livery called ‘Ferrari Avorio’ and a frame coated in matt champagne powder as well as a clear coat of basalt. “In New Zealand,” Betteridge admitted, “nine out of ten coffee orders at a café will be a flat white. It’s an absolute staple in our diet, and New Zealand’s interpretation of an Italian classic.”
To see the full process of the Ducati Monster 400, you can go to his website - Maxbetteridgedesign - where he chronicled his actual work.