Ducati Monster Forum

Yes, the chicken-strips are shameful, but I have lots of excuses for that.

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3175/2472035161_7d096340f0_o.jpg)

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2151/2472850864_2184df1d88_o.jpg)

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2032/2472850716_bf1e49bf13_o.jpg)

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2402/2472850648_11f366dbd4_o.jpg)

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2312/2472027697_8aaf3eac1a_o.jpg)

Nice work, beautiful looking bike..!!  wt:

Wait....   :o  can we have a picture of the oil reservoirs please ??

It looks real nice. Can you tell us what you did to the bike?

Is the swingarm painted? what about the engine? Did you change the color of the frame? if so, how was it stripping it down to bare frame? Tell us something!

Thanks for the compliments!


By oil reservoirs, do you mean the brake and clutch?  They are from a 999.


Sorry, I was afraid that I would bore everybody with a bunch of prose.  The bike is a 2003 M800s with about 19K miles.  Here's how it looked last summer; I changed quite a bit:

(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/52/150562691_329dbc48c1_m.jpg)

Everything that is black is powder-coated except for the engine, the starter, and the trim ring around the fuel cap.  Duck-stew was gracious enough to advise me on how to paint the engine, and I think it turned out nice.  If nothing else, it exceeded my expectations.

The wheels and frame are also powder, and the color is striking in person.  It has some flake and a lot of gloss.  Disassembling the bike was actually very easy; putting it together was more difficult.  Painting the engine was the most time-consuming part of the project, though.

Here's a partial list of the changes I made over the winter:

• Suspension rebuilt by Lindemann Engineering; forks re-valved
• Braking rotors from PJ's Parts
• 999 radial calipers from eBay
• Radial caliper adapters from OnCycles (closeout/seconds); anodized locally
• 999 radial master cylinders from eBay (replacement Chinese levers from eBay also)
• Custom Galfer lines from Cycle Brakes
• Header ceramic coating from Performance Coatings
• Mivv pipes from PJ's Parts; baffles removed (loud!)
• Painted locally; I think the color is a Chrysler silver, but I forget; decals from a Sport Classic
• Swingarm, headlight assembly, triples, rearsets, etc. powder-coated black
• Engine painted black with VHT paint
• Frame and wheels powder-coated with "illusion red" (I don't know if that is the manufacturer name or not)
• Fuel cap from MotoWheels
• Metal fuel quick-disconnects from industrial supplier
• Plug wires from Magnecor
• Wheel decals from Twisted Vinyl Graphics
• New chain/sprockets from ? (I forget)
• SpeedyMoto tapered head bearings
• Ventilated belt covers from DesmoTimes
• Spools from PitBull; bungs welded on locally
• Carbon bits from MonsterParts
• Clear turn signals from MonsterParts
• Fuel tank sealed and drain plug installed by local radiator shop

I see, very nice, I have been thinking about the same thing, I just don't like the cylindrical shape reservoirs, very nice man, very nice.
Congratulations   :wine

You're my new hero  be::

Nice job Cider!!

Awesome - what a transformation  wt:

how do you like the suburban bars (how was the install on those)?

Gorgeous! B.O.M.b! http://ducatimonsterworldwide.org/index.php?topic=442.0

Sweet, great color combo, I'm not a big fan of metallic red but on your bike it looks awesome

wow looks great!

Thanks again, guys!


I like the bars a lot, although they seem expensive for what you get.  I didn't care for the chrome on the stock bars, and the lower position of the SM bars suits me well.  The cable routing was very tight with the original lines (I had coffin masters); so tight, in fact, that I was resigned to custom lines even before I decided to change everything else on the front brakes.  I do like that the SM bars include locating holes for the controls, even though I removed the locating pins when I switched master cylinders.

How did you go about painting the engine?  I've been thinking about doing the same thing...

I don't know if this is the best way to do it, but this is how I did it: strip, clean, degrease, prime, paint, and cure in the kitchen oven.  I used VHT paint and primer.  I didn't split the cases, but I disassembled pretty much everything else.

Very clean... been considering doing a similar rework to mine... your photos just helped me make some decisions. wt:

amazing work, Cider  wt:

Definitely MOM material!

That ventilated covers are very sharp,very clean bike. wt:

Amazing looking monster you have there!  Looks the business!   [wine]

man that's one M800! a credit to you Cider, it looks awesome  [thumbsup]

It seems like cable routing trouble with the SM bars is really on a bike to bike basis. It would appear that each individual  bike comes from bologna with different lengths of cables and brake/clutch lines.  I had absolutely NO problems using my stock stuff, the install literally took 30 minutes, and everything lined up perfectly. A lot of people have had similar luck, but i also know alot of guys on TOB had just as much trouble as cider.

They are awesome bars, and I get nothing but compliments on them. The people that manufacture them are also very easy to deal with. I ordered mine, and received the FedEx box 24 hours later. Great customer service.

The nicest thing about these bars is that they are made specifically for our bikes. You don't have to drill holes or grind of mounting pegs/nubs if you don't want to. The holes are already there, and are in the right spots.

 [thumbsup]

Very nice looking specimen [thumbsup]

WOW!! +1 on BOM (bike of month) vote! Awesome work and still looks very much like a Monster! - Chris

ps, your engine paint tip is pretty well much spot on.

 [thumbsup]

very nice man, that's night and day over what it looked like originally   [thumbsup]

Thanks!  My wife (and others) have pointed out that I simply reversed the colors, but it seems like a new bike to me.  Some random thoughts after the first 200 miles or so:

• The brakes are nice--maybe not quite as strong as I expected, but much nicer than what I had before.  Very, very smooth.
• I put the baffles back in the pipes.  It doesn't sound nearly as cool, but I don't feel so conspicuous either.  Sometimes anonymity is nice.
• The bulbs that come with the Clear Alternative signal covers are too weak.
• The paint on the engine seems to be holding up well.  I think the durability continued to improve during the first few heat cycles.
• I had to fiddle with the front fender a bit to prevent it from contacting the fork at full extension.  Maybe the Ohlins mounts are slightly different?
• The seat cover looks very pedestrian to me now.  I'm considering a LuiMoto cover.
• My headlight must be aimed incorrectly, because some old lady was flashing her lights at me and giving me dirty looks.

What year/model is your bike? ...I see Cider started with an 03 M800, mine is an 05 M620
If I was guaranteed your experiance I would go ahead and order them

Looks great - and I bet it rides the part too!

 [thumbsup]

My bike in a 2006 S2R 800.

I believe SM has a new style of bars that fit the coffin master cylinders better (M3).  The nice thing about the bars I have (M1) is that they give lots of room to adjust preload and rebound on the forks.  I also think they look a little better.  However, if you don't want the hassle of trying to get everything to fit, you might prefer the newer style.

http://www.suburban-machinery.com/duchypmoto.html