Monster 796 2010 Exhaust, ECU upgrade

[Curmudgeon]

That's the rumor..., if you read fora. If in doubt, best to ride a 2011- and compare for yourself. Everything is subjective.

When my 2011 came in, my dealer, who is Ohlins-certified and an ex-racer (Ducati) with many titles, fitted the DU-737 and set the sag for his weight (slightly more than me) and only backed off the damping one click. He WAS going to tear the forks apart and play with tuning them and adjusting air and oil levels..., but after riding the bike, he pronounced the bike "perfectly balanced" and saw no reason to do more. As far as he was concerned, the shock did the trick. To make either end 10% more plush would probably cost major $$$. Not in my budget. http://www.ducpond.com/aboutus.asp

Can't help you with the brakes. Might be worth changing the fluid with some premium, long-life DOT 4 though.

[Raux]

Change pads. look at cali cycleworks for a great pad comparison

[freeclimbmtb]

At the risk of starting a flame war with Curmudgeon...I'd junk the front end and look for a set of 1100s adjustable Showas, or Ohlins up front.  You can rebuild and respring a set of used adjustable forks and get them dialed in to right where you want them pretty affoardably.  ($1500US should be able to get you riding on a set of Showas...figure $3000 for everything to run the Ohlins...of course this could be high or low depending on how easily/cheaply you can get parts/favors) 

(Sorry Curmudgeon...this is where we have vastly different opinions of the bike)

I've got my new (used) forks out for a rebuild and respring while I wait for the rest of my parts to show up. 

As for the brakes, pads should help, radial master cylinder will give you a better feel/more control too.

[Curmudgeon]

Flame war? Figure you just have idle hands and too much snow on the ground in New Hampshire.

Everybody is entitled to their $0.02. The OP might not have wanted to throw this kind of $$$ at a $10,000 bike which isn't a horror out of the box. Always a good idea to take it slow trying to "fix" something which isn't badly broken. Every radical mod you do usually results in other costly mods ad infinitum. Don't ask how I know this..., or maybe ask Reg Pridmore, AMOL Precision, Reno Leoni and Eraldo Ferracci. (My pockets were deeper in those days!)

Back to the 796: Hadn't had a Ducati since my 851. When I spotted the 796, it looked like something which might replace my 600 SL which was always a fave to ride but had race ergos. The M796 appeared to be a good replacement with upright ergos. Sooo..., I rode the demo on a mixed course with rail road tracks, twisties, broken pavement, 70+ MPH, etc. When I got back, I picked the bike apart with the dealer, who's a Master Tech and an engineer. The bike was light, nimble and sure-footed enough and had no evil manners. The rear wasn't doing much but the forks were acceptable. No doubt the factory preload setting was too high, but the Sachs didn't seem to be doing anything useful.

The Ohlins DU-737 has decent damping for a decent price. Naturally it could be better for X3 the price. At least now both ends are working together.

Three years ago I broke my shoulder bigtime, so I'm very sensitive to shock and jolts. This set-up is firm but never pounding. I'm retired, so my budget is tapped. No doubt if this combo were really "off", I'd grit my teeth and "fix" it. Been there, done that, drawer full of t-shirts. The Marzocchi fork could be smoother. If it had a drain like the older bikes, I'd have tried a couple of things already. Always had great luck with Golden Spectro 10W on Euro bikes which called for 10W as it's ~ 8W and SMOOOOOTH. Tried 'em all too. At the 7.5K I'll have it changed and drop the level 20mm for starters. If that makes it too soft, it's easy enough to add more.

Now..., would I like a controlled, plusher ride on both ends? Sure.... But not at great cost. It's just not cost-effective on a $10,000 bike. And virtually none of it is recoverable when you sell or trade the bike. (Not my first rodeo.)

Good luck with the 1100S forks. Maybe they'll ring your bell. You may have to play with them a bit before you're satisfied. I have no clue why you started on that end first though. Are you sure you bought the right bike? 

What are brakes?

[ungeheuer]

...I'd junk the front end and look for a set of 1100s adjustable Showas, or Ohlins up front.

M1100 has Showas.  M1100s has Ohlins.  And really, I wouldn't bother.

[G.T.design]

Interesting comments. I thought that most of you would be positive on upgrades, especially when it comes to brakes and suspension. But when I think of it, it really makes no sense to invest tons of money in upgrades, when I could be getting a motorcycle that has better components as stock.

[Duc796canada]

Hmmm, Marchos, better than Showa? IDK. Anyhow, do the 1100 forks a direct bolt on, as in no height adjustments? Second, who has installed Race-Tech internals in the stock 796 Showas?

Thanks

[freeclimbmtb]

Hmmm, Marchos, better than Showa? IDK. Anyhow, do the 1100 forks a direct bolt on, as in no height adjustments? Second, who has installed Race-Tech internals in the stock 796 Showas?

Thanks

Sorry to the OP to keep drawing your thread away from your actual original question...  (just reread and saw you did actually ask about suspension)

But everyone keeps throwing around dollar signs about suspension and why/why not to do it.  So for a little prespective, when I had the 696 I looked into upgrades to the stock forks, traxxion has the AX-20 cartridge kit for $2000, I think racetech was around $1500, (parts only) and both required you to ship your forks to them for basically a retrofit since they needed to be drilled and tapped for the rebound adjustment screw.  This was 3+ years ago so things may have changed in terms of direct drop in kits and cost...but no matter how I looked at it, $1500-$2000 +maching costs (I think racetech quoted me around $2600 to get the fork to the point that they would consider it "pretty good") was more than I could spend at the time. Now that I can spend the money on suspension...my thought process was "why butcher and modify a stock fork to make it 'pretty good' when I can upgrade the entire front end (including triples, bars, brake/clutch controls) and retrofit a fork already proven to be 'very good' for not much more money?"  The suspension techs know how to work on the Ohlins, theres no secret there, not to say a traxxion AX-20 is more complicated...but being a sealed gascharged unit...it is a bit more restrictive in tuneability.

Now the one single point that I will agree with my buddy on is the DU-737.  Like he said, a "cheap upgrade" at least as suspension dollars go.  My suspension tech advised me to go with that shock to compliment the front hes building, but he also noted that when sprung for your weight, the stock is "eh" and leaves something to be desired, but not the worst out there.  As for using 1198 parts, front end sure, with the other work involved in doing the swap.  Rear end, sorry, your SOL.  the SBKs use a linkage rear suspension that the monsters dont...as an alternative to the DU-737 I am investigating an external reservoir rear shock, but so far its not been promising. 


SBK (848/1198)


Monster 796/1100




If you decide you want to trade up to an 848, I wouldnt blame you...I had the thought myself (Blasphemy!!)  BUT, if you decide (as many of us here have) to pour your heart, soul, and savings accound into your monster...there is a wealth of information and knowledgeable people on here that will be more than happy to help you run up your credit card bill.  I am working on the SBK front end conversion for my 796 in the mods section, and will write up a tutorial when finished.  If you decide you want to do something like that, I for one, encourage it! (Hell, its a better habbit than heroin right?)

Cheers 

[Duc796canada]

So just ride the bike the way it is unless you are racing...