Gavin’s Cagiva Elefant ST3

I’ve done quite a few of Gavin’s bikes. They are always pretty special, and this one continues the tradition.

It’s a Cagiva Elefant with trick suspension, a custom fuel tank and swing arm, smaller wheels, and a Ducati ST3 engine. The Elefant never had this wonderful motor, so it’s an exciting combination.

Now building a loom for an ST is quite tricky these days. As far as I know you can no longer get the ECU pins, made by Cinch. I mentioned this to Gavin, and he decided to switch to carbs. This is always a possibility when you’re modifying an injected bike, but the catch is the MOT: will it pass the emissions test? Gavin is willing to take the chance.

It’s easiest to build a loom onto an otherwise finished bike but with one thing and another this one was more of a work in progress. Hence no bodywork, no brakes and lots of labelled connectors.

A glance at the diagram shows that Gavin has specified an above-average number of dash warning lights and tail lights. There’ll also be two PIAA spotlights, and the hazard switch on the right handlebar brings in the PIAA spotlights. Another switch activates a pump which transfers fuel from the rear pannier tanks to the main fuel tank. Cool, huh?

Because the carbs aren’t fitted yet I can’t be 100% sure I have the right ignition coil sparking the right cylinder. The last Elefant I did for him, also with an Ignitech, needed a swapover. I’m not sure why this is. Ducati do vary their pickup hardware, and sometimes the factory wiring diagram doesn’t give enough info to tell you. No matter. It’s easy to know if you’ve got it wrong, and easy to sort out.

I had to leave a few bits of the loom unfinished because the custom bodywork isn’t sorted yet. Gavin can do the connections himself but I hope he brings it up with his next bike for me to do, because with custom bodywork and paint this thing will look extraordinary when it’s finished.