Will This Be the Ducati Scrambler of the Future?

We love the current Scrambler…but we really hope the next one looks like this.

The future of the motorcycle, like the future of anything, is yet to be written. It may involve more electric-powered bikes; it may involve legacy brands climbing into new categories in bids to stay relevant, or maybe even the occasional hover bike (though that seems less likely). But when you walk into a Ducati showroom in 10 or 15 years’ time, don’t be surprised if there’s a Scrambler that looks something like these there to greet you.

This Scrambler concept is the work of Peter Harkins, a student at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California who was one of 10 original designs for the Scrambler of tomorrow submitted to Ducati as part of a design contest put forth to the school by the motorcycle maker. Ducati Style Center director Andrea Ferraresi, designer Jeremy Faraud and the members of the Scrambler Ducati Brand Unit all put their heads together to evaluate the submissions, andultimately found Harkins’s vision the most compelling.

“Peter Harkins was the best in transforming the brief into a decidedly spot-on project,” Ferraresi said in a statement. “The reinterpretation that he proposed takes its inspiration from the values of the brand and maintains the typical stylistic canons of the Scrambler Ducati, such as lightness, simplicity of lines and the headlamp characterized by the unmistakable X, now recognized as the signature of the bike.”

Indeed, while the bike does bear an obvious familiar resemblance to the current Scrambler line, Harkins’s creation is very much a modern beast. The lines are sleeker and more athletic, the sculpted fuel tank perhaps portending a future where the L-twin engine is far more efficient than today. The headlight is an LED ring with an X through it, enabling air to flow right through, while the beefy suspension seems better suited to pound over whatever post-apocalyptic hellscape terrain we have to look forward to.

As a reward for his work and vision, Harkins will get the chance to do a design internship at the Ducati Style Center in Borgo Panigale, Italy. Not surprisingly, he sounds rather excited about it.

“I am extremely excited to be working alongside such a talented group of designers at Ducati and look forward to learning new skills and techniques,” he said, according to Ducati’s press release. “Thank you to my classmates who pushed me to do better and to our teacher, Alex Earle, for inspiring us through his Powersports Class. This is a dream come true!”