Ducati Monster Forum

(http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/mhanis-colt/20170205_123207.jpg) (http://s261.photobucket.com/user/mhanis-colt/media/20170205_123207.jpg.html)

After putting over 52,000 miles on my Monster I have retired it from daily commuting duties and bought this bad boy to use as every day transportation.

After falling in love with this bike at the motorcycle show last month I found this at a dealership in Lawton, Oklahoma about 3 hours from home. It is a brand new 2015 that they had listed for $2999!! I went up Saturday and took it for a quick spin, paid cash and put it in the back of the truck and brought it home.

I didn't think it was possible to get a new bike for $3,000 anymore. It is an air cooled 250cc single with fuel injection and a single disc front brake, the rear is a drum. It makes very little power but it is fun as hell to ride! And 60-70 MPG won't hurt either. But this isn't a money saving venture at heart, it is more about prolonging the life of my Monster as I love the SHIT out of that bike. I'd rather save it for the weekend and flog this thing on a daily basis.

Comments are welcome!

Mark

 [thumbsup]  Congrats!

It looks a nifty little jigger.

When ya taking the reflectors off? ;)

Cripes, I still have them on my Monster!!

(http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/mhanis-colt/Loaded%20Bike.jpg) (http://s261.photobucket.com/user/mhanis-colt/media/Loaded%20Bike.jpg.html)

Mark

make the beast with two backsing gorgeous.   Now it's gone to waste in an old man, Park it at my house.

This old man is gonna ride the piss out of it!

I just saw you called, I'll give you a shout tomorrow.

Mark

 
[popcorn]

... dam! that actually looks good ....

... good start; id start café race-rizing it; pronto!... (its 1/2 way there)

... does it go a ton?  





(ok I'll admit I bought a 93 xt225 that I'v now rebuilt ... forks rebuilt; wheel bearings and wheels trued; carb rebuilt, used tank repainted ... some new plastck fenders; oh new tires and I have a neet ol endure  put-put-put .... its fun ... it goes 110 kms per hour on the speedo  much to my surprise  ... and I don't mind leaving it undercover outside under a moto tarp ...[Dolph]

Bono,

I think it is damned good looking, that is what drew me to it to begin with! And you are right, with the way the frame is it would be very easy to turn into a Café style bike but I don't have any plans to that at this point. I bought it to commute on so anything that makes it LESS comfortable (clip ons for example) doesn't really interest me.

Although I was at the 'Zook dealership yesterday and they had a '16 that had been modded a bit and one of the things it had was a slip on of some kind that allowed for the removal of the right side passenger foot peg. THAT interests me as I have removed the rear seat in favor of an (in transit) rack back there. As it is the right side peg also secures the exhaust.

Oh the options..............!

Mark

It will not there. 85'ish is about the best I've seen with current gearing. Though like a lot of DUC owners one common TU mod is to drop the front sprocket 1 tooth and gain some acceleration. Of course I'd give up some top end, but there isn't much up there anyway. This is most definitely NOT a highway mileage eater.

Mark

I think its the café styling that you and I like; its more old school café styling that the monsters.  Always liked the café styling and the idea of tuning a bike to get the most out of it. I understand what your saying with style VS ride-ability, ya agree, as its a commuter.

Especially knowing you put 53K MILES on a monster; impressive! what have you done to keep that monster running that many miles?

Other than dealer performed regular service, nothing special! Other than a bunch of tires I had an oil leak (counter shaft seal and clutch push rod oil ring) at 44,000 miles, a fork seal at 41,000 miles and intake manifolds replaced at 37,500 miles. All in all it has been pretty rock solid. And the fork seal blew because I hit a large pot hole unexpectedly.

It is really the extensive mileage I put on my DUC commuting that drove me to get this little bugger. Of course tires and service costs are a part of it too, but really I have an AWSOME Ducati that I love and I am "using it up" commuting. It isn't going to last forever and I have certainly gotten my $$ out of it, but at some point it will need to be replaced and I am trying to put that off as far into the future as I can.

My rack for the rear just came in, check it out:

(http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/mhanis-colt/20170210_144827.jpg) (http://s261.photobucket.com/user/mhanis-colt/media/20170210_144827.jpg.html)


(http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/mhanis-colt/20170210_144837.jpg) (http://s261.photobucket.com/user/mhanis-colt/media/20170210_144837.jpg.html)


Mark

ach its a fine little bike hopefully uses 1/4 the amount of gas and 1/4 cost of insurance.  Still almost as fun.

Rack looks good in black; low profile, good practical use and aerodynamic  ;)  I thought I saw a pic with a double seat? tisk tisk.

enjoy cheers D

It came with a back seat:

(http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii44/mhanis-colt/20170205_115049.jpg) (http://s261.photobucket.com/user/mhanis-colt/media/20170205_115049.jpg.html)

But with 16hp and an M1100 in the garage I don't see any 2-up in the future of the TU.

It'll be most of 80 degrees here today, I'll get some mileage on the Zook!  [Dolph]

Mark

Congrats on the new bike...

Reminds me of the old Yamaha SR500... I was always enamored with those, for some reason.

So the thinking is “Don’t buy something to do one thing and expect it to do another thing”, right?

Don’t buy a Corvette and get ticked because you cannot haul plywood panels in it.

Don’t buy a pickup truck and get ticked because it cannot win a race at the local track.

And, Don’t buy a Suzuki TU250 and expect it to perform like a Ducati M1100. So what did I do on Saturday? I took the ‘Zook out to some of my favorite Ducati country roads!!!

Expectation level?

   Low

Expectation met.

I spent a LOT of time with the throttle WIDE OPEN and losing speed in 5th gear. 4th gear would hold speed but dependent on wind direction and landscape inclination, 5th gear was a losing proposition. It was FUN around the sweeping corners and I NEVER had to use the brakes! Not because of my extreme motorcycling prowess, but rather because I could never get it going fast enough to need to slow down!

And I saw far more of the landscape than I had ever seen before due to the relaxed acceleration of the Suzuki.

After a little over an hour of pretty aggressive riding I was back home, no worse for the wear. And I felt pretty good until I accidentally hit my hand on the countertop and it vibrated like a tuning fork! “Odd”, I thought. I let it die down and clapped my hands together. BUUUUUZZZZZZZZ!!! I don’t remember ever feeling any significant vibrating on the handlebars, but clearly there must have been a fair amount. It took about 20 minutes for it to go away.

So this morning I got on my Suzuki and happily commuted my way to work perfectly comfortable knowing that that is what I should expect from the bike.

 [Dolph]

Mark

 ;D

(lol .."w-a-d ya thinc was gona hapen on dat suki 2-fiddy")

oh you so-oooo want to do some tuning on that bike ....

I'm sure there's ways to get more out of it ...

... think on dat ...

Hi, Mhanis,

That bike is so classic looking and beautiful with the passenger seat removed and the back rack added in its place!
Could you please tell me where you bought the rear luggage rack? The brand etc., is there a website?
Thank you.

I appreciate the compliments, thank you!

I love that bike and I am so glad I got it.

http://www.manracks.com/

They also have one that goes behind the passenger if you keep it in place. Along with my rack I also got the rear blinker relocation kit to move them back by the tail light.

I contacted Manracks and spoke with Mike (if I remember right) and he was VERY helpful.

Mark