Ducati Monster Forum

Need some info

I wanted to know about fitment of 2001 748 forks for a monster 05 S2R 800. Please respond to questions below

1) I know the 748 forks are longer and hence have a clearance issue with the existing handle bars. I have cycle cat clipons for my monster but was wondering if I could use them to clamp directly to the 748 forks under my existing triple. Or are they a different diameter?

2) I've been told that you have to make modifications to the lower triple (Shimming) to allow the forks to fit right. If I got a 748 lower triple clamp would this solve the problem and not require shimming?. Are the steering stems on the new monsters exactly the same as that on the 748 in width and height? Is there any work I would need to do for the top triple?

3) Brakes? I've gold goldline calipers from an M800. Will these be compatible with the new 748 forks? I've got 320mm braketech rotors right now.

4) Can I reuse my s2r axle (i have already drilled it out for compression adjusters).

5) I'm 165 pounds - probably 170 w/ gear. These forks are stock. Any issues with using them on the S2R 800?

Based on responses to these questions I will post additional ones later.

Thanks in advance.

bump

I'm not sure what forks the '08 800 uses, so mic the diameter at each clamp as well as the overall length on the forks. The 748 forks are 43mm Showas and have clamp diameters of 53mm and 53mm. On traditional 900 bikes, you have to bire the upper triple and shim the lower. Will probably cost $60-80 at any machine shop and you can get shim material from McMasterscarr. Use brass in eith .015" or .020" depending on how much time you want to spend wiggling things in place.
The rotors will interchange bit you'll have to make sure your brakes will fit. The only 2 sizes on brembos are 40mm or 65mm spacing between the mounting bolts.
The 748/916 series uses a different triple offset so you'll have to use the triples you have. I've often thought the the greater offset of the 9*6 series might improve handling, but I don't know anyone who's tried it (including me), so you'd be the test pilot.
Again, on the axles, they've only used 20mm solid or 25mm hollow ones. All the 748 ones are 25mm hollow so be sure you have that one or you'll have wheel fitment problems. It's easy to see the difference visually.
You may find the new forks to be a little stiff, but I'd ride them and make subtle changes as you go along.

So basically, I'd have to bore the upper triple and if I wanted to use my cyclecats i'd have to bore those as well. Most likely I'd have to respring as well. Hmm. I'll definitely have to think about it.

1) your CC clip on's are 50mm and the SBK legs are 53mm so they won't fit. You need 53mm clip ons.

2) Just shim your Monster lower triple .5mm (20gauge) and you'll be fine. The SBK's lower triple is VERY different and will not just bolt on.

3) your brakes will work fine with the SBK legs.

4) your axle will work fine as it's the same

5) The SBK legs are going to be oversprung/over damped. so They need the proper springs for your weight and also would be best if they were re-shimmed too. (Cause the stock shim stack is a bit harsh over high speed bumps)

Motowheels sells a shim kit. +1 on the calipers being direct bolt on.  I weigh close to you (about 170lbs w/o gear) and I only had to remove some preload and slow down the rebound damping on the 998 fork.

did you ever do this mod? I am thinking of the exact same mod and wondered how involved it was. I have an '05 S2r 800 and am looking at installing showa forks off of 748s. I want to keep my wheel and fairing if possible. Can I install goldine calipers and run them with my coffin sytle resovoirs or do I need the masters off of the 748?
thanks

I just bought a pair of Showa forks off an 748. They should arrive today -- just in time for the weekend fun!  ;) I plan to post here once I get them on my '01 Monster 750.

The front axle size is the same, 25mm and the caliper offset is 65mm so wheel and brakes should be fine.

The forks I'm getting come with the original upper and lower triples off the 748, so I plan to see if/how those fit on the monster. Once I'm there I'll also try clip-ons on the Monster, just to see how it feels (I already suspect my wrists wont be happy about it) and check if my coffins will fit on the clip-ons.

Ultimately I plan to have the Monster's original upper triple bored from 50mm to 53mm and the lower shimmed from 54 to 53. Although I will also try and see if the lower triple from the 748 can go with the upper from the Monster. I already suspect this won't work because my bike has an 'old-style' (pre-2001) upper triple, but I'm curious if the triple on the new bikes (2002+) will work.

On a side note, I've already posted about machining the top triple in the CAM section here: http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=36854.0 (http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=36854.0)

Here's a pic of the forks I got off eBay.
(http://i.ebayimg.com/19/!BhZhN5wBmk~$%28KGrHqIOKigEr%294Vo1OWBLI-5Uwstw~~_12.JPG)

Speaking of eBay, after I bought my forks I also found these:

• http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140394577059 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140394577059)
  
• http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170438369548 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170438369548)
  

Does anyone have a Monster that came with adjustable forks from the factory? As far as specs are concerned, are they better or worse than those off a 'SuperBike' (916 - 999 - 1098) series? If these forks are good, then I think it would make sense to go after them, since they would fit much better (no shimming or boring).

Cheers,
Massimo

The coffins will work, but the remote style masters from a S2R or Superbike will work better with the 4 piston brakes' larger fluid volume.  Plus they had adjustable levers.  If you really want some great brakes find some 4 pads from a 999/749 and use the radial pump or older Superbike remote reservoir masters.

The S2R forks are pretty similar to the Superbike externally, but the valving stack is very basic compared to the Superbike.  Not as much compression or rebound available.  The last set of S4 forks I saw were better in that regard, but I don't know if it just depends what day they were built, or if the S4 S4R forks are setup mor aggressively.

I just did this last year. Its pretty easy. The 748 forks I got had a 40mm brake caliper bolt spacing so just check. Luckily for me my friend who gave me the forks also found the brakes, so no big deal. The top triple cost me $70 to get bored. I also gave the machine shop a fork leg just to make sure it fit. You may be able to put your clipons above if you want to. Just make sure you measure the distance from the the bottom triple to the wheel so the new forks go back in at the right height. I also put new springs for my weight and oil. The seals were recently replaced before my friend took them off his 748. They work great and I`m really happy with it.

The forks do stick up higher but not really a problem.

(http://i40.tinypic.com/357ldp1.jpg)

(http://i43.tinypic.com/np55r8.jpg)

EEL,

You would be treading on new territory if you used the SBK triples.  At 160lbs, I would change the springs if you don't want the bike to kill you when you first ride it with aggression. 

I was going the SBK fork route on my S2R1K project but decided on the GSXR1000 forks instead.  If you go the SBK route I have an upper triple bored to 53mm that I will no longer need.  Look for it soon on the For Sale area.

ever thought about doing this to 848 forks and radial brakes?  [evil]