Insanity at its best or worst? You decide!
A gentleman in Pattaya, Thailand, thought it was a good idea to put a Ducati Panigale 1199R engine inside a Honda Grom! This is for those who felt their Honda Grom was underpowered! Called the Mod Dam, the 205bhp Ducati engine now powers this little Honda, or whatever is left of it.
It all started off with this video that Mario Kleff, the builder of this motorcycle, shared on his facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/ceo.kleff/videos/932496383507819/
Now the Honda Grom was designed to be ridden with a 125cc engine that ‘belted’ out 9 odd ponies, not the 205bhp that the Ducati produces. This might seem like a disaster waiting to happen to most mortals, but undeterred work continued on the Mod Dam.
A few days later Kleff posted pictures of the bike which was ready to rumble
Unfortunately this turned out to be a failed experiment as the bike apparently caught fire immediately after being ridden as Mario posted this – “AFTER SUCCESSFUL TESTRUN MOD DAM GOES IN FIRE BECAUSE OF A FUEL LINE LEAK. BYE BYE MOD DAM”
“Just after test run, my mechanic friend liked to try as well… fuel line went of obviously, the engine stopped, 30 sec. later all in fire.”
But not to be disheartened because Mario Kleff was still feeling motivated and ordered his second set of Panigale R and Honda Grom as he informed people in his post – “This morning ordered a new Panigale 1199R plus a new Honda MSX 125. The Mod Dam concept is worth to keep going. Professionalism is to complete a mission you are believing in, envy and jealousy is to do nothing but to laugh about and to talk badly. At the end I will have it, and all others who keep talking negative will be sucking on thumb.”
As he further explained yesterday his reasoning behind building this incredibly insane motorcycle and investing both time and money in this project – “For the English speaking friends on Facebook: agreed, this is a big investment for MOD DAM. However, it’s never about money, it’s about an idea and the goal to achieve this idea. I could have used an 1199S or 1199 or even 899; only 1199R provides the right performance for MOD DAM. If I would buy a second hand engine and second hand parts… think this not to be a good solution for a new bike development. Also, there can be no other engine like Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki or Harley Davidson… perhaps a V8 or electro engine hehe – it wouldn’t suit the original Honda GROM (MSX) style… The 1199R is one of the most sophisticated engines on the market today, powerful and excellent choice to power MOD DAM, see version 1.
This time the development seems to be a bit costly… we had the issue with the fuel line leak. Needed to buy another Panigale 1199R obviously.
Let me tell you: if you buy your future wife a diamond ring for the ceremony but lost it on the way, what are you going to do, give her a glass ring instead?! When you love that woman, you will work out a second round for the diamond ring – simple is that.”
For more about this incredible project you can visit the Mario Kleff’s Facebook Page!
