Super Duper Leggera
Bike racing is boring, says Roland Sands. His solution: strip a £50k sportsbike…
‘Racing needs something new… I hope this bike helps inspire people to think about racing in a different way’
Roland Sands’ latest custom build isn’t merely a modern take on 1980s naked superbikes, made famous by the likes of Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey, it’s a call to arms. ‘Racing needs something new and it needs it bad,’ Roland tells Bike. ‘It needs excitement, it needs to get people talking and it needs to get manufacturers excited. Superbikes aren’t doing that. I hope this bike helps inspire people to think about racing in a different way.’ Roland’s dream is a naked superbike series starring Triumph Speed Triples, KTM Super Duke Rs, Yamaha MT10s and, perhaps, bikes like this – a 2014 Ducati Panigale 1199 Superleggera with all the bodywork stripped off, called the Super (short for Super Duper Leggera).
‘I grew up around old race bikes and remember how raw and bitchin’ they were,’ says Roland, who now oversees the vast RSD (Roland Sands Design) custom and clothing empire but still sounds exactly like the Californian pro-racer dude he once was. ‘I’ve missed naked superbikes since they went away. I remember when Kenny Roberts on a TZ750 would be up against CB1000S and KZ1000S. It was really raw, and I think that’s missing from superbike racing today.’
So when a customer asked Roland to do something with his Superleggera (cost new: £54,000), there was only one way to go. ‘I didn’t take anything particular from 1980s superbikes – I just wanted the number board to be vertical. They used to build them like little mini fairings right out the front with the oil cooler and all kinds of crap behind. It was punk rock, just sticking out there. I liked the attitude.
‘We spent an incredible amount of time dealing with the wiring and the electronics and testing it to make sure we could move some of the sensors and the IMU. The gyro was a big thing because we didn’t want to f**k with the wheelie and traction control because it worked so bitchin.
‘It was a risk taking all that bodywork off, but I always want to see what’s underneath. Imagine Motogp with no bodywork! You’d get a different kind of rider, who can hold on at 180mph with no bubble. They’d have to be bigger and stronger, like when men were men! Dani Pedrosa would be like a flag!’
So is he going to start a new race series? ‘Man I’d love to, but I need two of me. I just hope this inspires people to talk about it.’