Ducati Monster Forum

So new guy here.. I bought a 03 620 Dark, it's incredible! I'm enjoying almost everything about it.

I see everyone here has mod'd their 696's.. 750's.. 900's but I don't see many threads about the 620.. I'd love to do some simple mods (like a slip-on set, getting rid of the huge tail section, and some different mirrors..) to separate my bike from all the stock ones I see riding around San Francisco...

It seems like my bike has too much "hardware" I'm a minimalist and my bike has a TON of plastic on the rear..

I'm not sure I'm brave enough to do a tail chop yet... Maybe eventually...

Anyone have any ideas/tips? It seems to be a big aftermarket world and I can't figure out what would actually fit on my bike.. Are their some rules? Like "anything on a 750 fits on a 620" etc? (i'm sure this isn't the case)

(http://imgur.com/Lqeif.png)
(http://imgur.com/Krhyj.jpg)

most of the bits for 2002+ monsters (body parts, suspension, etc) are common

mirrors will fit all the same

slip-on exhaust, anything 620/695 should fit the same

question is how handy are you? and how much you got?  [thumbsup]

simple stuff is color change
other stuff is bling.

looks like your frame has been painted. the darks have black frames..

they also swapped out the plate mount, and looks like the emissions can was removed, too

brakes too. those are from the 900. the 620 is itty bitty brakes.

more than likely the tank was painted. ;)

running change through MY05... up to early 05, they came with 4 pot  :)

Fork reflectors off [leo]
Emissions can side cover off or replaced by the smaller Euro type.
Rear hugger off or shortened.
Smaller or no beer tray.
Mirrors, yes.
Exhaust - of course [thumbsup]
Paint belt covers.

How deep are your pockets....LOL!!!!!  Once you start, it's very VERY hard to stop!

I can do $1 here and $1k there.. every few months or so..

I was told the frame and tank were originally from the factory with that color, and I've seen a few bikes around here that match (they're all from 2002-2003)... Anyone have the story on the paint?

How can I tell what it looked like from the factory if this wasn't standard?

these mufflers will look and sound great...

(http://www.desmoworks.com/images/ncr-monster-round.jpg)

http://www.desmoworks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=405&products_id=482 (http://www.desmoworks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=405&products_id=482)

http://www.bikez.com/motorcycles/ducati_monster_620_dark_ie_2003.php (http://www.bikez.com/motorcycles/ducati_monster_620_dark_ie_2003.php)

apprently thats how the 2003 Dark looks!

THe frame is like that!. not much of a dark is it! lol

Like all Monsters, the 620 is an blank canvas


Seat
Exhaust
Handlebar
Grips
Mirrors
Cam Belt covers
Indicators


Just pick a part and start replacing  [laugh]

I'd put on an oil cooler when you can find a good one off an bigger Monster or a SS.  Your manly bits will thank you.  :)

Here's more pics if anyone is interested. I'm trying to figure out how far from stock my bike is at the moment.

Anyone spot anything that isn't stock?

So far, I think I'm going to

1. Get rid of fork reflectors (do you actually get a fix-it ticket for this?? I'm in CA)
2. New slip-ons (those posted above look pretty awesome and around the price I want.. I know termi's aren't legal here, are those?
3. Mirrors
4. Getting rid of the beer tray (not sure what to do exactly though, I'd prefer just having the brake light under the seat..

You guys are awesome! Thanks!

Thanks!
(http://imgur.com/hsXET.jpg)
(http://imgur.com/l4MEo.jpg)

you also have a sargent seat
 [beer]

you may, or may not, need the oil cooler for your bike... if you start tinkering with the engine (intake, exhaust, ecu) it may run hotter...

I wouldn't worry about the legality of the mufflers, it'll still be far quieter than a harley... after the pipes, I'd swap out the forks for those from an S2R1000/S4/ST4/ST2, they'll be adjustable and work far better than what's on the bike. They're pretty easy to find on ebay as well. A replacement rear shock from an early ST2/4 is also a great and inexpensive mod.

A silver-framed 620 dark.  I like those.  DanTheMan had an '03 as well.  There are lots of little free things (or cheap mods) to do to start.  Like others said, some of the plastic on the rear has already been made gone.  A tail chop is the next order of business.  It only costs a coupla bucks to a home-made one.  We (i.e. the locals) can walk you through it.  

Ditch the mirrors.   I like CRG Lanesplitter mirrors, but they cost a lot.  Third Eye mirrors from REI (do they still make 'em?) are a cheap and workable alternative.

Ditch the fork reflectors.  Yes, they're a fix-it ticket ($25) if the cop is being a dick, but if you stay away from the Santa Cruz mountains (e.g. Alices, Highway 9) in the summer when they're doing moto crackdowns, you'll likely be fine.

Termis are not technically legal, nor is any aftermarket pipe.  Yet we all run 'em anyway.  Ditch the stockers.

You don't need an oil cooler for a 620 'specially in SF.  

It looks like someone has already pulled off your frame stickers.  Either get rid of the zipties and hide the wiring or replace the black ties with clear ones.  It'll clean up the frame.  

I can't tell if Munroe's took off the emission's canister or not, but if not, ditch that.  It's on the right side, right behind that silver protective shield above the rearset.  While you're at it, pull off that silver shield.

Also, either pull off your sidecovers or replace the right side one with one that doesn't have the bulge.  You can order a replacement from monsterparts.com.

I always ran my monsters without a hugger, even in SF in the rain.  That's another thing to take off.  

Belt covers, you can either take off entirely and run without 'em (a lot of us do), or you can rattle-can 'em black.

Lots of folks rattle can their rearsets as well, along with some other random bits.  Take a look at a 695 dark for an example of what people used to with their 620s (Ducati incorporated a lot of the standard "black-it-out" from the 620 into the 695 dark.

Having that sargent seat is lucky.  You don't know how much happier your ass is with that seat.

I'd buy a dark seat cowl from monsterparts.com to finish off the bodywork.  You don't have to and there's better places to spend money, frankly, but it'd make a cosmetic different.    

Wow.

This is all great information... I want to do all of this!!

I'll start with the easy stuff (removing reflectors, changing the mirrors)

I'd like to get rid of the zip-ties, but up-close clear zip-ties might look... not right.. Anyone have any other ways of keeping the wiring secure without all the zipties?

-Jon

Sure.  Take the zipties off the frame and ziptie the wires together behind the frame or re-route 'em.  Juan's '05 m1000 is a good example.  (It's also a great example of what can be done without spending a billion $ on mods.)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/3018534432_6a8b8f568c.jpg)

I cleaned up the zip ties once

and later took it in for service.

it came back with everything the way it was, stock  [roll]

Wow, nice bike! I hope to get there someday...  I see, that'll be my first order of business, looks really clean without the ties.

I'll have to find some SF ducati guys to walk me through some of this stuff, I'd rather not do something dumb haha.. I'll try to make the meeting this week, is that a good place to explore mod's?

-Jon

look to the left.

local club boards.

ducati MOB.

they are nutters. you have been warned.

where did you take it to service? Id tear someones head off pretty fast if that happened.

the dealer.

the ONLY place on the island...

I'd be pissed.

I was annoyed... but I got over it.

it's not nearly as ugly as that bent shifter lever that mac900 used to constantly give me grief over

spidey wrapped it all up pretty good.

Couple other things. 
Lengthen and reroute the wire for the oil temp (I think that's what it is).

Length and reroute the starter wire.

Look for the forks/shock off a S2R1000 or S4.  Get them resprung/oiled for your weight.

Are not!

Best bang for the buck mods I have done to my 620 were a 14-tooth front sprocket ($50) and lightened flywheel ($100).  Hands down, the best money I've spent on it.

I've noticed the clutch is really a tough pull, I rode a 695 and 696 and it seems wayyy easier of a pull.. My hands get crazy cramps around the city.. Is there a way to modify this cheaply? I'm thinking maybe aftermarket levers that are adjustable and give me a shorter distance to pull..


Or.

I just get used to it.

+1
I've read explanations and seen pix (pic above is a nice example) of the starter wire reroute mod and plan on doing this myself.  I've read of the oil sensor wiring reroute mod but can't find any example pix or explanations of where the wiring is getting rerouted.  Can someone please point me in the right direction?  Thanks.

Another free mod that I don't recall being mentioned - flip the handlebars to lower the controls

for the oil sensor wire, I just cut off the end, stripped a little off the wire, used a butt splice to mate on some more wire, routed it around the back of the clutch cover, put another terminal on, a little shrink tubing over the splice and the terminal, done.  use some zip ties to keep it tidy with the other wires and such running around over the clutch and down towards the rear brake.

The 695, 696, and newer 620's (like mine) have the APTC clutch, which has a significantly lighter pull.  Your '03 does not.  That being said, I swapped my APTC clutch for a non-APTC.  I actually like the stiffer feel of the standard wet clutch and how it engages, over the APTC.  To lighten the pull effort for free, you could take the clutch-side engine cover off and then remove 2 of the clutch springs, opposite each other to keep things balanced.  More expensive would be to get an aftermarket clutch slave-cylinder.  

...and please revisit my post about the 14-tooth sprocket and lightened flywheel.  Seriously... best mods for the money... and the prices I paid were on the high side.

;D

Really? Can you tell me what exactly they both do for you? I read a little about a lighter fly-wheel, but I can get a good feel for what both mods would do together.

14 tooth front sprocket alters the gear ratio front:rear, giving you more usable low rev power (but buzzier, high revs, at like freeway speed)

lighter flywheel will help the motor itself spin up faster, and engine brake more (less mass=less intertia)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/mk116v/IMG_0434.jpg?t=1266867157)
Mine. It now has a rear cowl on it too. This is the actual factory 1/2 dark color also.

Looks great!

Can you list off real quick what you changed? It seems I want to do a lot of what you did (no balls for the open belts though)

Thanks!

Lowered headlight and gauges
Cermic coated header
Cored stock exhaust and 4" chop
Tail chop
Dinky winkas signals
Suburban machinary bars
powder coated side covers
powder caoted the rearsets
stock rear hugger cut down
removed the side panels and relocated the crap behind them under the seat
The belt covers aren't open, they have lexan side them to protect the belts.

And I put 30k on it in the first 4 years of owning it.

Lots of the things I did are just stock part modified, to keep things cheap.

i have a 03 620.  did minimal mods.

unlike others i do not like the tail chop so i have a stock back, meaning beer tray, hugger, and seat cowl are all there.  i also kept the carbon canister on the bike.

termi slip on low mounts titainum, crg bar end mirrors, front bikini faring on the bike, top mounted matris steering damper (ok this is really just for bling), and i go thte oil cooler kit put on the bike, make sthe bike temp run20-30 degrees cooler.

unlike others i did not put any carbon on the bike.  also i took the fork reflectors off but keep them on if you like them, they make the bike look better.  crg brake lever adjustable but didn't put one on the clutch side bc honestly the stock levers feel a little more sturdy to me.  personally i like that the 620 has a slightly heavier pull than the 695 or 696 bikes, but that is a personal thing..  

Hey it's nice to finally see some others of our rare color scheme for 2003. An interesting fact is that there were only 199 of our type sent to the US in 2003.  [thumbsup]

Here's mine as stock:

(http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/9/l_48aa642d1e26c4f60b3d2efe6dec2344.jpg)
(http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/54/l_9f81f50a3aa5010a936635a5ef1282ad.jpg)

And a few tasteful mods that I've done:

(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)

The Leo Vince pipes are AMAZING. Hands down the best that I've heard. Love'm.  [thumbsup]

So, I did:

1) Clear Alternatives Smoke Tail Light
2) Tail Chop
3) Leo Vince Exhaust
4) Tail Hugger mod
5) CF seat cowl
6) Bar end mirror
7) 14t front sprocket
8 ) CF Tank Protector
9) Ducati Valve Stem Tops:

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

Here's the story on mine: http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=25682.0 (http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=25682.0)

How did you hide your cables and ditch the zip-ties? I really want to do this ASAP, but I'm afraid I'll do something wrong.

Quick question for the guys with the 2003 620..

I had this strange thing happen today, on a stop-sign little rev..

It gave me almost a backfire... it didn't rev up, just got almost silent with a little "pop"... scared me, and it happened one more time on my ride today. Bike was around 230 on the oil temp, and i had just gotten gas. I can't really re-create it, but it only seems to happen on a really quick twist of the throttle..

you can't really do it wrong.  cut the zip tie, see where the wires droop, if at all, then zip them somewhere else out of site, or to another wire harness.

if it doesn't work out, then reapply the zip ties where the factory had them.

(http://imgur.com/KcAZ8.jpg)

Did my best, could use a little cleanup, but it looks 10000x better!

Got rid of the frame stickers too (but kept them in case, doubt i'll ever need them again)

Only thing i wasn't sure of, was the tie that's right next to the engine.. will that wire melt if it gets too close? I took one tie off, but figured I'd keep the other until I'm sure.

Thanks guys!

Keep the emissions sticker that is under the seat (it's the same one that's on the frame).  If it's not there, put the emissions sticker from the frame there.  You may need it if you ever sell. 

looks good.  Mine's an 04, very similar:

I noticed that my 620 has a heavy clutch pull and the contact point is really far.  In traffic, my left hand got tired really quick.  Best solution - Pazzo levers.  I set the clutch side at 2 and brake at 1. 

Nice job on removing the zip ties.

Found a small trick, you can get rid of the bottom zip ties, if you use the inside of the frame.

(http://imgur.com/leg0h.jpg)


Privateer, I'm guessing this issue is why you left the two lower ties on?

Anyone enlighten me on what this is, and how I put it under the seat?

I removed both back covers, it looks awesome! On the other side, I managed to get everything up under the seat and zip-tied down. Now I just need a tail chop!

(http://imgur.com/HaneL.jpg)

I was a little hesitant to leave the clutch line hanging free and didn't put 2 and 2 together and use the cross support.  Honestly I'd forgotten all about it until you pointed it out.

that's a coil

I did a bunch of cheap fairly easy mods to my old 620
1. black out the headlight ring i powdercoated mine but some flat black krylon would do the trick just fine. the most difficult part is taking the headlight appart but it will still be fine with one less spring clip (i know this)
2. chop the stock cans (procedure can be found using search) i would pant the sleeves on them with flat black grill paint on hi temp powder coat them. i took off 7 inches they sound great and look much better.
3. ditch that canister shield when i took off my canister  shield i used washers to replace the thickness of the shield i don't know if you have to do this but i was trying to be safe
4. the tail chop is what it is. it took me a few months to feel comfortable making the cut but once i did it i was stoked it looks so much better
i powdercoated the rearsets but its allot of prep work and i think you silver ones look good with the silver frame so i wouldn't do it if i was you
looks great so far though..

[img]a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29402637@N03/2746146633/" title="IMG_0326 by csvasatka, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3109/2746146633_e00035e917.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0326" /></[img]