No fan of motorcycles buys them just to get from A to B. No, if you are going to spend thousands of dollars on a superbike like a Ducati, then motorcycles are going to become a way of life for you – and you’re probably going to end up spending a lot more money on modifications for your pride and joy.

Ducati just happens to be one of the most exclusive names in motorcycling, with their most high-end models, like the Ducati Panigale V4 Speciale, costing at least $30,000. Even second-hand Ducatis are going to cost you at least $10,000, just for the name!

The company has been on the go since 1926, so they have had plenty of time to perfect the art of motorcycle manufacturing. Based in Bologna, Italy, and founded by Antonio Cavalieri Ducati and his three sons, Adriano, Marcello, and Bruno, the company isn’t just known for its sexy and stylish superbikes but also for its success in motorbike racing. Ducati won the Superbike World Championship 14 times between 1990 and 2011.

If you’re buying into all that Ducati heritage and success, then you might as well ride the very best Ducati motorbike you can. And that is where all the sick mods on the list below come in. These improvements and additions can really make your Ducati stand out among the crowd.

20 Windscreen

Via ducati.ms

We have already seen one modification which has made its way from Ducati bikes on the racetrack to Ducati bikes on the street – the addition of fairings at the front of the vehicle – but the addition of an aftermarket windscreen is another way to improve both the appearance and performance of your bike – and all without breaking the bank. If you buy a Ducati superbike, you are buying a machine that is designed to be raced, and we all know that the best riding position during a race is tucked as low as possible over the body of the bike to reduce drag and improve aerodynamics.

This means that when you buy a sports bike, the windscreen they have – if they have one at all – is pretty small, and doesn’t really provide any protection for the rider.

Adding a modified larger windscreen, especially designed for road biking rather than racing, make the whole experience of taking your Ducati out for a ride much more enjoyable. Stick with Ducati brand windscreens and even a larger windscreen should still fit in seamlessly with your bike’s original lines, and don’t forget you can shop around for different colors and styles depending on your own personal preference.

19 Narrow Tires

Via ridersdomain.com

Styles haven’t just changed when it comes to a motorbike’s wheels, with preferences moving from spoked wheels to alloy rims in more recent years, but also with the tires that people are choosing to install on their Ducati superbikes. Tastes have moved on in the last few years from the old-style wider tires which used to be the standard choice on superbikes, and now weekend bikers are making alternative choices, either for aesthetic or for performance reasons.

After all, wider tires are inevitably going to be heavier, and most modifications for both performance cars and performance bikes are about making the vehicle lighter, and therefore faster and more efficient. Of course, complicating this whole process is that it a superbike will actually perform better if it’s front tire is narrower than the rear tire, although this does seem to have some logic, given that it is the rear tire which is principally responsible for handling. After all, the more rubber in contact with the road, the more control the rider is going to have over his or her machine. Some riders are always going to prefer wider tires, but even if you decide to stick with tradition, you can still upgrade to a better set of tires when you get your new Ducati.

18 Change Headlights

Via ducati.org

Most bike riders don’t really give a second thought to what their headlights and tail lights look like. As long as they work OK, it doesn’t really matter what they look like, right? Actually, installing aftermarket headlights or tail lights or changing your regular headlamp bulbs for high-end LED bulbs is a great way to make your Ducati look even more stylish. If you’re a Ducati devotee, then you probably won’t want to change too much about the surface appearance of your bike, but you can buy new headlight and tail light fittings which would allow you to have larger or smaller lights, or ones that are a different shape to the standard models.

Couple a change in fitting with a high intensity LED bulb, and your superbike will even turn heads after dark. As with changes to headlamps on cars, there are rules and laws that you have to follow when making changes to headlights and tail lights on your Ducati. LED lights have to be certain colors in order to be legal, and you have to be sure that you’re not going to blind other road users. You want your Ducati to dazzle passers-by, but not in that way.

17 Mirror

Via ducati.ms

Obviously, any new Ducati motorbikes come with standard rear-view mirrors, and while they serve their purpose pretty well, there can and should be much more to a bike mirror than just a simple device to help you see the vehicles you are leaving in your dust! Changing up the mirrors on your own Ducati superbike is a pretty easy, yet effective way to spruce up the look of your bike – and best of all, you don’t even need a great deal of technical know-how in order to make the modification.

You can choose from a variety of colors to match your bike’s bodywork, as well as playing around with the shape and size of the rear-view mirrors, but make sure you don’t accidentally break any laws regarding the minimum size. If you’re in Nebraska, there isn’t even a legal requirement to have mirrors on your Ducati, while California, Illinois and Florida, among others, require riders to have at least one mirror that gives the driver no less than 200 feet of rear-facing visibility. You may think your modded mirror looks good, but if the cops don’t like the look of it, then the chances are they will pull you over.

16 Emissions Removal

Via motolos.com

These days, new vehicles – including motorcycles – come with pieces of equipment installed as standard which are designed to reduce the pollution they emit into the atmosphere. The Environment Protection Agency is developing increasingly strict rules to try and control vehicular emissions; the only problem is that these devices can also have an impact on a bike’s performance. And let’s face it; if you’ve bought a Ducati, you’re only interested in the performance.

Emissions controls can also reduce the noise from the bike’s exhaust, and while some people would see that as a plus, there are plenty of riders who like people to notice when someone roars past on a Ducati superbike.

Finally, while on a car emissions controls devices are hidden away under the chassis, on a bike they are very noticeable, and can even add weight to the vehicle, slowing down your so-called superbike. Yet again, you have to be careful not to break any laws when you tinker with this particular modification; some states have rules which require motorbikes to have emissions controls, and removing such devices can also void the warranty in the event that you need to take your Ducati back to the dealership for repairs.

15 Filter Mods

Via ducati.ms

Ducatis, as with all motorbikes, rely on the air filters in their engines to ensure the vehicle continues to perform well, and to prevent catastrophic breakdowns! Air filters are fitted to all motorbike engines as standard, and they shield the essential inner workings of the engine from dirt and debris. While car engines also have air filters, there is a school of thought which says that they are much more important in motorbikes than in larger vehicles, as bike engines are much smaller and are also much more exposed to the open air.

There’s a much greater risk that your divine Ducati engine could end up clogged with dirt if you don’t have the right air filter. The air filters which come as standard will do the job quite well, but there are always aftermarket models which you can buy and install which will do a much better job. It isn’t enough to buy and install a shiny modified air filter, however; you need to put a bit of time in to keep your air filter clean and well-maintained, otherwise there is little point in having a filter on there at all. Put the time in, and you’ll enjoy the benefits when you take your Ducati out for a spin.

14 Exhaust Can

Via youtube.com

No matter what kind of superbike you ride, the exhaust is one of the most important parts. Not just for mechanical reasons, but also because this is one area where you can really stamp your personality on the bike, choosing aftermarket parts and modifications that make the motorbike just what you want it to be. One of the best ways to improve your exhaust is to upgrade your exhaust cans. And why would you do that? Well, in this case, there isn’t any significant performance advantage to be gained by removing the standard exhaust cans and fitting modified versions – although the more expensive models are much lighter and can give you better ground clearance on some bikes.

What you do get, however, is some serious volume. It may strike you as surprising that not everyone who rides a Ducati wants it to be as noisy as possible, but the fact is that most motorcyclists love to make a real entrance wherever they go; and supercharged exhaust cans are a great way to get heads turning when you roar past on your stylish Ducati. Just be careful that you’re not breaking any local laws on noise pollution when you rev the throttle.

13 Stock Seat

Via ebay.co.uk

It can be too easy to focus on tinkering around with the mechanical components of your vehicle when it comes to finding the perfect modification for your Ducati, but it is also important that you treat yourself a little when splashing out on a few treats for your motorbike. Aftermarket air filters and exhaust cans are one thing, but unless you really enjoy riding your Ducati, then it’s pretty pointless to have spent thousands of dollars on owning your very own superbike.

That’s why one of the first mods you should consider when you take delivery of your Ducati is getting a custom seat designed, made and fitted.

It’s not that Ducati seats are uncomfortable, but there is always room for improvement. And it isn’t just about improving the comfort, but you can also make your Ducati look even better with a sexy custom design – something in a favorite color, perhaps, or embroidered with a motif which has some personal significance. Although, if you’re getting a new seat to put your own personal style on your Ducati, you may as well look into getting a little extra padding and comfortable support – just to make those long rides even more fun.

12 Fender Removal

Via ducati.ms

If you’re normally a car driver, and not really used to the way motorbikes work, the concept of removing your vehicle’s rear fender doesn’t just seem completely alien, but downright bizarre. However, with motorbikes, even with a work of art like a Ducati superbike, is isn’t quite as counter-intuitive as it seems to remove the fender. And best of all, it’s a simple modification that even the most mechanically-challenged motorbiking fan can undertake themselves in their very own garage at home.

Removing the rear fender isn’t a performance issue, but it can improve the lines of some bikes – and of course removing any significant parts like that is going to make the vehicle lighter and potentially faster!

Sometimes you have to make a legal choice to remove the fender; some designs can end up holding the license plate bracket at an unusual angle which prevents police officers from reading it clearly, which is of course illegal. Regardless of the benefits, if you live in an area which has a lot of wet weather then you might be better off keeping your fender, as it will keep those slushy puddles off your stylish leathers, as well as protecting your bodywork from muddy splashes.

11 Upgrade Suspension

Via scramblerforum.com

There are lots of ways in which motorbikes are very different from cars, and yet they have a lot of basic functions in common. Yes, even a Ducati superbike has something in common with a beat-up pick-up truck. One of the similarities between cars and motorbikes is the importance of the vehicle’s suspension. Whether you drive or ride, a bad suspension can make a journey a nightmare, while a good suspension can make hitting the road as smooth as silk.

Now, no-one is suggesting that a brand new Ducati superbike is going to have a terrible suspension – far from it, in fact – but every rider is different, and you may find that there are few teething problems when you climb on board your new bike for the first time. It may just need a little adjustment, but if you decide you want to make some wholesale changes to your Ducati motorbike’s suspension, there are lots of modification options out there. Non-adjustable forks can be re-valved and/or re-sprung, although new Ducati parts can be very expensive. You can even make some simple changes, such as changing the oil weight to suit your own weight and riding style or raising the rear rode height to improve the responsiveness of the bike.

10 Fairing

Via ducati.org

A motorcycle fairing is the name given to a shell which is fixed over the front of a superbike’s frame in order to reduce drag, cutting fuel consumption and increasing potential speed. This is one modification which came from the world of superbike racing, where most competitors now have fairings fixed to their vehicles in order to be more competitive.

Not only does a fairing improve aerodynamics, but it also adds a little extra protection for riders, so you’re less likely to get hit by roadside debris!

Fairings don’t just have a practical purpose; if you have the time and the skills you can design your own to add to the look of your bike – or if you have the money you can always pay someone else to do it. A sleek and stylish fairing at the front of an already sleek and stylish Ducati is a great way to improve the lines of what is already a great-looking motorbike. You can even make some interesting choices with color, if you want to mix and match, or have a fairing custom-designed with a personal motif which means something to you. You don’t have to be a superbike world champion to rock a good fairing on your Ducati.

9 Carbon Fiber

Via ducati.org

More and more people have been starting to use carbon fiber panels and sections in car modifications over the last few years; in fact, you can even get a whole car made out of carbon fiber - if you have a spare couple of million dollars down the back of the couch that is. Adding carbon fiber sections to the bodywork of your Ducati doesn’t just improve the bike’s appearance, but can significantly lighten its weight, increasing its potential speed and improving fuel economy.

Carbon fiber may look stylish and somewhat futuristic, but this kind of modification doesn’t come cheap. If you want to modify your Ducati with a little carbon fiber for style, or are even thinking about replacing your bike’s entire bodywork with carbon fiber panels, then be prepared to raid your life savings. It will cost you between $10 and $12 per pound to buy carbon fiber for automotive panels and modifications, compared to good old-fashioned steel which comes in at less than $1 per pound. Only you can decide if your Ducati really needs an expensive strip of carbon fiber to make it look even cooler – or whether the classically timeless Ducati designers have already done that for you.

8 Multiple Exhausts

via competitionwerkes.com

If you’re a fan of Japanese car modifications, then the concept of multiple exhausts will be nothing new to you. In fact, the Japanese even have their own name for the crazy, over-size multiple exhausts which they affix to their vehicles – takeyeri – which are purely for show. In fact, too many exhaust pipes, or exhaust pipes which are too wide in diameter, can actually reduce the performance of the vehicle, either car or motorbike. A powerful enough engine require may require multiple exhausts; more power, more exhaust gases to get rid of.

Adding a couple of extra exhaust pipes to your Ducati superbike can make it look super smart, and if its powerful enough, then extra pipes don’t necessarily need to have any impact on the bike’s performance.

You might even find that the standard exhaust is just too small for your bike’s potential power, in which case opening up the muffler with extra pipes or even just wider ones, can boost your horsepower. And you find me a Ducati owner who wouldn’t kill to have a little extra horsepower. There are always design choices to be made with any modification, with regards to shape, style and even color. Yet another great way to personalise your bike.

7 Custom Paint Job

via ducati.org

Perhaps the most obvious way to modify your Ducati is with a custom paint job. Even mechanical novices can appreciate a great pain job on a sexy bike; only a fellow pistonhead is going to notice that you’re splashed the cash on a designer fairing, upgraded suspension, or modified muffler. And even though it’s difficult to find fault with the look of any Ducati bike, there’s no such thing as a perfect superbike.

A change of color or a personalized custom paint job is a great way to stamp your personality all over your wheels. You could pay tribute to a favorite sports team, a favorite band – or even to the Ducati brand itself. What better way to modify your pride and joy Ducati bike with a shiny new coat of paint, and a Ducati badge painted on the gas tank or the front of your new fairing. And if you don’t quite have the money to buy a brand new Ducati bike, and have to settle for a well-loved second-hand superbike, then a new coat of paint is the perfect way to give it a new lease of life, and to make it look and feel like new again.

6 Upgrade Grips

Via ducati.ms

Given that few of us are going to be in a position where we can afford a brand new Ducati motorbike – or more accurately, when our wives would let us spend $30,000 on a new set of wheels without filing for divorce – the chances are that most Ducati fans have to resort to buying second-hand motorcycles to get their hands on their dream make and model. Even decent make Ducati bikes, which are just a few years old, can be bought for well under $10,000, and though they may have been ridden hard in their lives, and need a little TLC to get them back into shape, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to make a few simple mods to get your Ducati looking shipshape again.

The grips on the handlebars are one feature which can not only deteriorate very quickly, depending on how the bike has been ridden, but it also probably one of the easiest modifications to make on a Ducati – or on any motorbike for that matter.

There are lots of different makes out there on the market for you to choose from, depending on whether you’re more interested in functional grips or those that have a bit of style about them. But remember, they are going to have be grips that you are comfortable handling at high speed and in tight maneuvers, so don’t go too much for style over substance.

5 Tank Pad

Via ducati.ms

No matter how hard you try to keep the paintwork on your Ducati looking good, there are going to be some heart-breaking scrapes and scratches. You’ll learn to deal with the emotional hardship of seeing the first scratch appear on your pristine bodywork, and buy the time you scraped the tank for the tenth time while changing gas, you’ll have stopped caring. Or at least, you’ll have stopped caring so much.

Let’s face it, the outfits we motorcyclists wear don’t exactly help the situation.

Leathers may be great for protecting us from the wind and rain (and from road burn in the unfortunate event of a fall or a collision) but they also come with more than their fair share of zippers and hooks – all of which have an annoying tendency to scratch the bodywork of our beautiful Ducati superbikes. It is usually the tank which bears the brunt of this damage, which is why a whole industry has sprung up around the creation of tank pads; adhesive protectors for the areas of our bike’s bodywork which are most likely to come under attack from errant zippers or low-flying pebbles. They come in so many designs that you can even make them part of the personalized look of your Ducati.

4 Fender Eliminator

Via motoboxusa.com

Ducati engineers spend years and millions of dollars creating every piece of their superbikes to be just right. Everything from the internal mechanics to the shape of the bodywork have been drawn and redrawn again and again to make sure that they are the best they can possibly be. This is particularly noticeable in bodywork of Ducati bikes which are famous for the stylish designs and flowing lines. And so what happens after the Ducati engineers have finished their work, and their beautiful bike has rolled off the production line? Some bureaucrat comes along and insists that the bike has an ugly and awkward license plate stuck on the back, ruining those elegant lines, and in some cases even affecting the bike’s performance on the road.

Luckily, there are fender eliminators for just such a purpose. Fender eliminators are essential devices to keep all the nonsense on the tail of your bike tidied up out of the way of your rear wheels; you can’t manage without a license plate or your rear turn signals and tail lights, so you might as well find a good way to keep them in their place – and out of the way of those beautiful Ducati lines.

3 Alloy Rims

Via ducati.org

Alloy rims aren’t just for souped-up sports cars. Motorbike riders can have some fun with their wheels too; and they don’t just have to be your standard silver alloys either. As we have seen on cars recently, there are all sorts of options available when it comes to shopping for rims, and there are plenty for Ducati owners to choose from too. Matte black alloys would look perfect on an all-black Ducati, or you could go for colored rims to match a brighter paint job.

And there are also options when it comes to the design of your rims. Given how fast Ducati superbikes can motor, you can cut a pretty impressive picture roaring along the highway with your ornate rims spinning around at 800 times per minute.

Ducati even make their own alloy rims, if you want to stick to the iconic brand name for as many parts as possible – and if you can’t afford to upgrade everything on your second-hand Ducati, then you can at least get yourself a shiny set of new alloy rims. There are a few things to remember when it comes to upgrading your wheels to alloys, however, including that you may end up paying a little more in insurance premiums.

2 Colored Wheel Stripes

Via ducati.org

And if alloy wheels are beyond your financial reach, there are always ways you can fake it until you make it when it comes to making your wheels look stylish. Once upon a time. Motorcycle enthusiasts didn’t really give the way their wheels looked a second thought. So long as they rolled around when they were supposed to and stopped when they were supposed to, that was all that was required of them. But in these days of ultra-stylish superbikes, every last aspect of the bike is designed to within an inch of its life to look as good as possible.

The spoked wheels of the 1970s and 1980s just wouldn’t cut the mustard with modern motorcyclists, which is part of the reason why alloy rims are becoming such big sellers among style-conscious Ducati owners. However, alloy rims are not for everyone, and besides not everyone can afford them anyway. There are other ways to make your wheels look a little more stylish without breaking the banks; you can jazz up your wheels on a budget thanks to colored wheel stripes. These are exactly what they sound like; adhesive colored stickers that you can apply to the rims of your Ducati wheel to give them a little touch of personality.

1 Trike Conversion

Via pinterest.co.uk

This is one of the more extreme modifications on this list, but one that has a lot of potential – even if some of the Ducati purists would have you hounded off the road for even thinking about it! If two wheels are good, then three wheels has to be better right? And if you like the idea of three wheels, then why not consider converting your Ducati superbike into a Ducati supertrike?

You may lose some of the speed and performance, but there are so few Ducati trikes on the road, that you would truly have a vehicle that was unique if you had your own vehicle converted into a three-wheeler.

Some people like the idea of riding a superbike like a Ducati, but if they are not too confident riding on two wheels, then a supertrike is the best of both worlds for them. Many people consider that trikes are safer than motorbikes, not least because they are more visible on the roads. Motorcyclists still suffer a disproportionate number of serious injuries and fatalities, and for many people, the risk of riding a two-wheeled Ducati is just too great. Thanks to trike conversions, however, you don’t have to miss out on all the fun.

Sources: ducati.com, motorcycle-usa.com, motorbikewriter.com, motorbikelicense.com, michiganautolaw.com