the OFFICIAL Bikes of the DMF

[junior varsity]

2000 M966Sie project which is nearly done:

This is great. 966Sie? I need details.

[Markus]

This is great. 966Sie? I need details.

Thanks man! The bike started out as an 2000 M900Sie. I had the motor built by Guy Martin of MBP Ducati into one of his Testarosso big bores. It's now a 966 and puts out 98RwHP and 70lb/ft of torque. The bike has had a ton of other performance and cosmetic mods over the last +4 years including BST wheels, full suspension reworking, and new ergos. I've tried to keep it all pretty subtle looking though and I think it's turned out that way.

[junior varsity]

Wow. that's a real monster of a Monster.  You wouldn't know it had all the super go-fast parts from a cursory glance. The heads look good with the contrasting colors.  Looks-wise, has the headlight been lowered? I think it is only fair to demand a few more pics and some closeups.

[DarkMonster620]

This is great. 966Sie? I need details.

You're never done!!!!           

[Markus]

Here you go ato!


You're right, the headlight and gauges have been dropped.


Some pics of the 966 motor being built by MBP in Quebec. Guy Martin is a whiz when it comes to Ducs. I couldn't be happier with how the motor turned out.

All told it received Mahle 966 pistons, oversized valves, new guides and valve seats, lightened flywheel (50%), adjustable cam pulleys, oil fed cam covers, rechromed rockers, MBP collets. The manifolds and heads were mated and flowed for max efficiency. The stock ECU was reflashed and the redline upped to 10k RPM, and I had my PC3 dyno-tuned to smooth everything out. We kept the stock 900ie cam so the motor is still very streetable. A hotter cam would have squeezed another +2HP out of it but I didn't intend to track the bike and wanted to keep the low-end torque where it was. I'm happy I stayed with the stock cam as the bike is a real screamer as it is. The heads were powdercoated black rather than Guy's usual Testarosso red because, as I said, I wanted the Monster to stay more or less a sleeper.







Detail shots of the motor in the frame:

[Fergus]

Here you go ato!

Badass! 

[Fresh Pants]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is this:

Ducati Performance Cattle Prod.





Kidding, it's a side mounted steering damper.

[Rob Hilding]

Disintegration Ray for f'd up cagers

But seriously - steering damper (n left out to protect the innocent)

[junior varsity]

steering damper is a shock like device - no spring, that reduces headshake. They have adjustable resistance so you can crank "it" up for faster speed riding, where the bars physically turn less, or crank it down for city riding, where you might need to turn the bars lock to lock (like in a parking lot).

Superbikes often come from the factory with dampers. On Monsters, they can be mounted to the frame, pointed forward, or laterally across the top triple using the ignition cover bolts, and thirdly there are mounts for below the triple as well. They are frequently mounted on the left side of the bike to facilitate adjustments while moving (since you can't really take your hand off the throttle to mess with it).

Nearly all suspension manufacturers market a damper. (don't mistake damper for dampner or dampener). Popular choices are Ohlins, Toby, Matris, DP, Storz, Arrow, Bitubo, Scotts, Sprint, HyperPro among many.

[Markus]

Thanks for the compliments fellas.

Yep, it's my purse-snatcher steering damper. It's an Ohlins unit that I've mounted with the adjuster wheel in the forward position. Makes it nearly impossible to adjust on the fly but I had to mount it that way or the pin would have contacted my left side frame slider at full left turn lock. When side-mounting a steering damper the fork mounting bracket usually sits above the lower triple, but I needed some more clearance for the Thruxton fairing so it went under the bottom triple instead.

There is no way I could happily ride my Monster with the BSTs without a steering damper. The wheels are so light that they follow any road imperfection and the bike tracks all over the place. The damper lessens the amount of steering correction I need to input on rougher roads. That helps a ton on our Nova Scotia roads which can be pretty beaten up. I run my Ohlins unit at 2/3 full most of the time.

[z0mb1e_DUC]

stunning, Markus. 
Truely stunning...

[Markus]

stunning, Markus. 
Truely stunning...

Thanks z0mb1e_DUC!
It's been a fun project improving the bike over the last 4 years. It started out as a new-to-me, totally stock 900Sie with 3k miles on it. The odo is now at roughly 18k so it does get ridden. We have some excellent roads here in NS but our winters are long so there's lots of opportunity for fiddling and modding.

[NorDog]

Nearly all suspension manufacturers market a damper. (don't mistake damper for dampner or dampener). Popular choices are Ohlins, Toby, Matris, DP, Storz, Arrow, Bitubo, Scotts, Sprint, HyperPro among many.

Quite right.  A steering dampener is one of those errant water sprinklers hosing down the 90 degree off camber on ramp to the interstate hwy.

I HATE those damn steering dampeners.

[clittelm750]

here she is before her Maiden Voyage - Still a few things left - But I couldn't put it off one more day!!!




and the before

[Markus]

Looking good clittelm750 The white bodywork and black frame and swingarm are really slick together. Love the older style font you used on the tank too.

Couple of questions: How much did you shorten your exhaust cans? What bar are you using?