Ducati Monster Forum

Good morning everyone! Well this weekend was a really big weekend for my Monster and me. The story leading up to this weekend started way back on 05/23/2007 on the original incarnation of the Monster Forum.

I purchased my 2003 Monster in early April of 2007 from a forum member in Denver and took ownership of it on the 21st. As soon as I got it (shipped to Phoenix, AZ from Denver), I really fell more in love with it than I imagined. The look, the sound, the way it felt to ride it; it was just amazing.

At that time. it was nearly stock with only a tail chop and reflectors removed. Already being 4 years old, I was really pleased to have found it as at that time it only had 1,200 miles on it. It was like a brand new bike and exactly what I was looking for.

Here she was before she left Denver in 2007:

(http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/54/l_9f81f50a3aa5010a936635a5ef1282ad.jpg)

And here she was after I got her and had her all cleaned up from the shipping container:

(http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/9/l_48aa642d1e26c4f60b3d2efe6dec2344.jpg)

I started riding everywhere. But I still was relatively new to the Ducati community and certainly as this was my first motorcycle, I was new to the riding community entirely (aside from lurking on the old forum until I found my Monster).

I began to make local friends and started meeting people at the local car/motorcycle gathering every Saturday at a place called the Pavilions. It was there that I started to get my first look at what not so stock Monsters looked like and that sparked my interest! I realized that I was very interested in changing my exhaust and going with something that sounded really nice but kept with the look of my bike.

I listened to every exhaust that I could find on a Monster, checked out the look too since that would be an important part of the upgrade. Then after much thought, I decided that the Leo Vince brand had everything that I wanted in a new set of slip on exhaust pipes. But the big question was to go titanium, aluminum, or carbon fiber.

I just couldn't make up my mind. So on 05/09/2007 I started a thread on the old forum to gauge other peoples thoughts and impressions. There was so much to consider: sun damage, cost, sound, high or low mount, and the fact that I had never seen the carbon fiber ones on a Monster.

The first person to respond to my thread was SheMonster. Who promptly responded with only one word: "Titanium". The thread went on for 6 pages and I still wasn't sure. Though the months went by and much debate over which were the ones that I wanted went on for a long time, I always felt like the carbon fiber low mount exhaust was what I really wanted. Ultimately, things came up and I never got them.

It was in June of 2007 that SheMonster and I fell in love and started our own adventure on our Monsters. She always new that getting my Leo Vince exhaust was high on my priority list, but things just kept getting in the way of me being able to get them. So I never did. Though I still love my Monster, I just never let it out of the back of my mind that some day I wanted to have them.

With all things though, as time goes by, manufacturers move on the accommodate newer bikes and stop making add-ons for older ones. This became sadly evident recently when Leo Vince stopped making the one and only version of their pipes that I had wanted for so long.

This brings us up to this past weekend. My sweetheart and I recently celebrated our 2 year anniversary together and have just been so very happy together. But for this particular weekend, I had decided to focus all of our activities on her, so that she would feel pampered and very much loved. The one thing that I needed to do was drop my Monster off at the local shop to have an oil change done. We decided to leave it there and just come back at the end of the day so that we could spend the day out having fun in the sun.

At about 3:30 we returned to the shop where the guys who work there (who are also personal friends) informed me that they were able to do the oil change with no problem but when they gave my Monster a safety inspection they came across a major "problem" with my bike and that I needed to come and take a look at it.  [evil]

Low and behold my sweetheart and love of my life had worked with the guys at the shop on an anniversary surprise for me and had purchased and had them install the exact set of exhaust pipes that I have been wanting for 2 years!!! I couldn't believe it!!! I didn't know what to say - I am still smiling from ear to ear!!!! The sound is amazing and it looks so nice and clean with my Monster's color scheme.

How amazing it is to look over the history of all of this and to know that she was the first one to respond to my original thread, before we even had met, and that although her preference was titanium, not only was it she who got them for me, but more than anyone else, she knew what I had been dreaming of and got them for me. For that, I still haven't found the words to express my gratitude and appreciation.

Well now without further ado, I'd like to share with all of you my "new" monster:

(http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/69/l_e2a92ce00be04097bb0aaedb84516fea.png)

(http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/103/l_df9e9ead533d45e6a87a28e22c311b77.png)

(http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/104/l_2c6e8a6a760f4abd97e955ca1b946c97.jpg)

(http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/100/l_b44fac4149d549e0a9cece289f03c81c.png)

And one other little mod:

(http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/70/l_7484e8f14ee048ba93d1f6c2444f9edb.png)

Two years later with 26,000 miles on the odometer, she's not the stock Monster that she was a few years ago!!! Though other little mods have been done, the exhaust has really been a dream come true for me!

Thank you sweetheart soooo much!!!  :-*

 ;D  [thumbsup]

She's a keeper!

Adam

That is awesome! [beer]

super sweet  [evil]

Good on ya.

How nasty do they sound? Baffles?

Can you lose that evap canister and that slab of metal hiding it?
Surprising how clean that area looks without it.

Congrats! That's super cool!!!

They sound amazingly beefy and have a LOT of bass really quality sounding. You'd NEVER guess it was a 620 by the way that it sounds.

Baffles?? I had the guys at the shop take those out before we ever fired it up!!!

It was funny though, when I pulled out of my parking lot later that same day, I found out that the power of my new exhaust note will set off everyone's car alarm!!! You have no idea how bad I want to run through a full parking garage...just once!!! [evil]

I love how it looks and sounds now. It's amazing! And yes, she is a keeper, but for so many more reasons than just this!

That rocks!  What a great story.  Congrats on the exhaust, and even more so on the great gal in your life.

dude seriously my right eyeball almost shed a tear to that story.
either that or this cold that kicking my ass......... i think it was your story

Sweet Ride [thumbsup]  I have aluminum leo vinces on my 620, and now I realize that I should have gone for the carbon 'cause they look awesome!!

sniff sniff.......what a great story!

Congrats on the bike. Your girl sounds like she is a keeper just like the bike!   [thumbsup]

And a big thank you to Michael, Scott, Chris and Bill at On Any Moto in Tucson for everything they did to make this surprise work out so fantastically well!   [clap]

Happy Anniversary sweetheart!  [wine]

 :-*

Really, the guys were such an integral part of helping this surprise work out so well! I really appreciate it guys!!


Sweetheart, you're the best.  :-*

I am going home to tell my wife i love her...

Congratulations.

My kids *bought* me some pants for Father's day - as my 5 year old son put it "to keep me from skinning my knees"

I'm emailing this thread to the mrs....  [thumbsup]

Very nice.   [thumbsup] 

It is one of those feel good sweet threads and I was excited to share it with everyone!

That picture pretty much says it all.  [thumbsup]

Best you keep SheMonster close by - plenty of guys on the board would try to steal if they knew she came with a set of Leo Vince pipes!  [laugh]

Seriously though, thanks for sharing - nice story, good way for me to start my day. [beer]

 [clap]

Sweet looking, congratulations.   :D

Nice story.  She knows you well.  Congrats to the both of you


You're obliged to, you owe SheMonster  ;D 
Find a big concrete one... like a shopping maul with lots of soccer mom mobiles and give it a go... it's fun fun

[cheeky]

Thanks! It was really special and great to share.

;D I'm keeping her forever!!!! We're perfect together and very very happy.  [thumbsup]

There's a 4 level garage near by that I just am sooo tempted to rip through. LOL, even at idle I hear cars chirp in my parking lot.  [evil]

I don't want to be obnoxious, but this has an irresistible allure just to do once!!!

May I offer a suggestion? Have her cloned immediately! Please do that as a favor to an old married guy whose wife doesn't like bikes. [bang] [laugh] [thumbsup]

Nice story! Congrats on the anniversary, the pipes and the sweet gal. You're living a dream! [clap]

Great story and thanks for sharing!  It is nice when you found someone, who not only support your interest, but she would go out of the way and do something that's totally out of expectation.  That makes so much sweeter. 

Earlier this year, I had a similar situation where the Mrs, knows nothing mechanical nor motorcycle, did all the research and calling around local shops and surprised me with a pair of pazzo levels for my birthday  ;D ;D ;D  I can't ask for anything more!

 [clap] [clap] Great story!

Dear SheMonster,
Please tell my wife that i need a new Monster for the Anniversary, ... not just a lousy Happy Anniversary Card. ;D ;D ;D

Congrats Monsterdave .......

Congrats on the anniversary [thumbsup]

Oh my gosh, that's fantastic!!! Congrats on all fronts!  [thumbsup]

Thanks so much everyone for sharing in this with me. I'm sure that I've throughly embarrassed my sweetheart for all the attention that this has gotten! But it really deserved to be acknowledge and I wanted her to know how special it really was to me and as an overall gesture of thoughtfulness and love.

:-* Love you baby!


Oh, and cloning is out of the question - she's allllll mine!!!  ;D

Sweet :)

Nice story [thumbsup] [thumbsup]

Wow! sure is a dream come true having a GF like that man!!! congrats on having a girl like that and good job on the monster,one remark though,i think it will look much meaner with the fender in the rear, off.just MHO:-)

Thanks!

I considered that (removing the guard) at one point, however we had a chain break on our other Monster a while back and it ripped into the crank case, so the thought of removing the only part of the chain guard that's protecting my leg from major injury isn't something that I want to risk. I already shortened it when I did my mod to the rear guard.

[thumbsup]


I found out yesterday evening that the weight savings from removing the stock cans to adding the CF ones was 17.5lbs! That's a lot of weight to shave off!! I also notice that my gearing seems to be a bit different now, meaning that my bike runs in higher gears at lower RPM's more smoothly if that makes sense? Strange as it may sound I nearly skip over 2nd gear and it feels like I run from 1st strait to 3rd.

what a great story!

Hey thanks!  ;D

I still love the new roar and look as much as I did when I first posted this!  [thumbsup]

Dave,

Thanks for the wonderful story! I can't wait to hear those things in person! Any chance your better half could convince my wife to get a Ducati? PLEASE!!!!!   [thumbsup]

Hey Ryan thanks! I'm sure if she needs some convincing that Maureen could do that!! She's actually a very experienced rider and has attended some really great racing schools. So she could really give her a well rounded riding perspective - from weekend cruising to track days!

Most important question here has yet to be asked.  Does she have an available sister?  ;)

 [thumbsup] [clap]


 ;) my wife is still more better


 ;D

You guys crack me up! And no, unfortunately she doesn't have any available sisters! Sorry guys!  [cheeky]

i just ready! amazing  [thumbsup] i loved my Ti Leo's on my 620..they sound was just amazing and super spanking...but then my 620 went to heaven and the leos went on a m900...

and now i have a 2-1 carbon leo my on my monster  ;D

Nice!  [thumbsup]

First cousins?

[laugh]


I don't think so.  [cheeky]

 :)

Hmmm....I wonder if a subtle reference to this thread might help secure that local '07 S4R.....

LOL - subtle...now that you've posted your idea.....not so much.


Good luck though!  ;D

 [clap] [clap] [thumbsup] Good thread. Thanks for sharing. Life is all about the people.... our monsters make it more fun, but real joy comes from sharing your life with your spouse and kids. So when is the wedding?

Hopefully soon!  ;D