So I put up a teaser pic of my Multistrada project in Randall's MTS thread and a couple people said I should start a new thread about it. I planned on waiting until I was finished...but they talked me into it...so here it is.
I'll update it as progress occurs.
I’ve had my 2004 Multistrada 1000DS for about 2 years, and have put about 12,000 miles on it…mainly from commuting year round. I live in Seattle, so this means I probably ride more in the rain then in the sun.
I really love the bike, but as time went on I really wanted another naked bike (I used to have a 2001 Monster 900)…but I didn’t want to pay for a new one!
That, coupled with my wife getting a new car which means I don’t
have to commute on the MTS anymore, convinced me to turn the Multi into a naked bike.
I figure I’ll get the comfortable MTS seating position, combined with the awesome look of a naked sportbike. What's not to love?!
Here’s a before picture. I’d done a few mods…namely exhaust, levers, CRG mirrors, pressure plate (not shown), new wind screen, and probably a few more I can’t remember. IMO a very nice MTS...removing the mirrors and adding a dark screen really helps with the looks.
I first thought doing this a while back when I saw Nick’s (motogpfan) modded Multi on the DML. I didn’t really want the motard style, but I really liked the overall look.
http://www.duccutters.com/NickCzerok-NakedMultiStrata.tpl
Then I saw this bike…and knew I had to transform mine.
I don’t like everything on this bike…but again I really like the overall theme/look.
http://www.duccutters.com/cianr-MultiRacer.tpl
So the first step was to tear everything down. Here’s the bike sans fairings. It gives a hint of how it will look when finished. I really think the bike looks tough without all the fairings.
All of the electronics on the MTS hang off the left side of the frame. So the first thing to do is relocate all of that. I am putting all of the electrics in the air box, which means I have to switch over to pod filters. Nick (motogpfan) gave me some good direction on this, as it is how he did his. Nick really is a great guy...very helpful.
The battery will be located under the seat. Here’s a shot of a cardboard mock-up I made. I’m currently getting a nice Aluminum one fabricated. Nick put his battery in the airbox, which I tried. The wiring harness is very stiff though, and I was having a tough time getting it to work. So...under the seat it will go. I will also put my Powercard in there which will make tuning it a bit easier than if it was in the airbox.
Initially I was going to just leave all the extra tabs on the frame…using a couple of them to mount the oil cooler above the horizontal cylinder. I even made the oil cooler mounting brackets. They were to be powdercoated so they’d look better than this pic:
BUT, the more I looked at it the more I thought the tabs had to go. A discussion with Dave R of Ducati Seattle a few weeks ago confirmed this when he admitted he wished he would have ground the brackets off of his SBK turned Monster he did a while back. After removing the triples for powdercoating I figured it was only like 4 more bolts to take off the whole frame.
So, I began the process of removing the frame so I could grind the brackets…and get it powdercoated a cool color. In the engineering profession we call the process of a job slowly becoming more involved “scope creep"! I am definitely experiencing scope creep!
Minus the front end:
Removing the frame took a bit more effort than I originally thought.
Turns out I had to remove the swingarm mount bolt, as well as the throttle bodies. A guy from our local club is rebuilding his MTS after a crash, and gave me some pointers…and moral support!! My dad had welded me up this engine stand back when I had my Monster…came in handy again!
Here’s where the bike sits today:
Frame…ready for powdercoat. All of the brackets have been ground off. I was going to have a couple tabs welded on for the oil cooler...but I looked at a Hypermotard yesterday at Ducati Seattle, and I'm now going to get a valve inspection plate from a Hyper or an M1000 and just mount the oil cooler to that. Nice and simple.
I think I passed the point of no return a while ago. There are a LOT of parts laying around my garage!!
Finally...here’s a teaser shot of my exhaust. It will be a 2-1 system. The can is baffled and for an R6...made by
Competition Werkes in Oregon. The angle here is wrong…but the can slides over the header perfectly…I just have to get a short piece welded on to reposition it a bit. Thanks again to Dave R for showing me a bike in his warehouse with this exhaust. I was sold.
I dropped the tank off for bodywork and paint yesterday, and I expect to drop off the frame, rims, triples, and a couple other small parts for powdercoat in the next couple weeks. Dave R also hooked me up with a guy from Boeing who makes custom moto parts on the side...he stopped by yesterday and will be making me custom brackets for the taillight and gauges. The battery box fabrication is also in progress.
It really is nice having a dealer like Dave R (Ducati Seattle) around. He's
very helpful, and has a lot of contacts in the local moto scene for fabrication...even though his shop isn't making much $$ from this project since I'm doing as much of it as I can by myself.
I’ll post up progress reports as I move forward. [moto]
