CUSTOM & STYLE: Apogee Motorworks Ducati 749

Meet Francesca. That's the name Gustavo Penna—a Los Angeles-based cinematographer who shoots car commercials for a living—has given this stripped Ducati 749, which he built in his two-lift home garage. The Colombian native, who fell in love with motorcycles while living in Italy, was inspired to build Francesca after he had removed the bodywork to clean the machine after a trackday. "The bike is just more beautiful naked," explains Penna, who quickly set to work de-tabbing the frame and eliminating as much plastic as possible.

The engine, already converted to 749R spec, has been re-mapped to work with a custom carbon-fiber airbox and a ceramic-coated titanium exhaust specially fabricated with a lower loop by a friend of Penna's who works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “I wanted to lower the center of gravity of the exhaust and use the empty space below the bike while keeping it slim so you can lean the bike,” Penna says.

As for that huge headlight assembly, let’s just say it polarizes people. To some, it’s industrial chic. To others, nothing less than a monstrosity. Either way, it’s the stock magnesium assembly from Ducati, and “several steps of grinding and sanding” took place before it was powdercoated black. Of note, it houses all of the 749’s important electronics, which are cooled by flow-through ventilation. “People say the headlight looks big, but they’ve never see it before without the fairing,” explains Penna, who says bike looks properly balanced when the rider is in position. “I’m not going to remove that headlight and use something flat like in a Model T.”

Other mods include reshaped tank, plus ceramic-coated camshaft pulleys, aviation-style electrical connectors, and a truncated rear with no fender. “I wanted the ass of the rider to be the ass of the bike,” explains Penna, who also stripped the Öhlins suspension of its gold color and polished it like the triple clamps and brake calipers.

On Penna's Instagram account (@pennatova), there's a picture of Francesca with this rather appropriate caption: "Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."