Need 2000 M900 Advise, Please.

[redial]

Thanks guys. 

redial, when you say, " 2- the verticle cylinder seal supposedly leaks in that year range. PO of my bike had to put a new gasket in. (bone dry now)", what seal are you referring to? 

I should be able to see the bike in person later next week.  There are some "inconsistencies" with the pics and description that need to be answered and I'd like to get the VIN checked.  In the mean time, I sure appreciate the info. 

if you look into the middle of the frame at the cylinder thats verticle, its the seal directly below it, which is a horizontal seal. let me see if i can provide a picture. the PO used a gasket and also red high temp gasket maker. so thats the red stuff (doesnt look pretty, but i will address that later)

let me know if that picture is a big red X and ill fix

im not sure if the problem is common to year 2002 only, or if its 2002 or older. i have seen at least one other bike with a leak here. (on the forum)

[junior varsity]

Picture showed up fine.


ANOTHER THING I HAD TOTALLY FORGOTTEN:

Battery. Throw out that piece of shit, prone to leak battery. Ditch it right now. I have a tiny F'ing battery in mine now. Its a ton lighter, it fires the bike up EVERYTIME, doesn't sit on a trickle charger ever (doesn't need it) and it won't explode, spitting acid out all over the alternator side's engine case. this is almost an appropriate time to use many expletives because I'm still not quite over the incident of 2-years ago.

[Q]

redial, thanks, man...I'll look for that.  Pic was fine.

ato memphis, thanks for the battery heads-up.  My '03 M800 had the battery lying on it's side on top of the vertical cylinder's head.  Is that where it's located on the M900?

[junior varsity]

On my M900 its oriented vertically right there next to the airbox and vert. cylinder. Battery acid will leak down onto vertical cylinder, frame and alt. case cover if that damn little hose decides to let go. (The battery has a vent hose that is clear tubing, gets filled with corrosion and can lead to battery kaboom - this hose is routed down along the frame and is similar to the gas tank overflow tubes).

There are a variety of maintenance free batteries you could get - I'm not by my bike right now or I'd tell you what I picked up. The thing is, the stock battery is also huge. There's no reason for this unless it was to last longer - but the thing is, they don't! Its the same size battery used in our Honda Aquatrax jetskis, except Honda puts the maintenance free ones in from the factory.

So, in sum: Check that damn little clear hose everytime you get near your bike. Check the acid levels in the battery. Scrape together the pennies to replace that sucker with a sealed battery ASAP. To see the battery, just lift the tank, prop it open with the tank prop, and grimace at the little S.O.B. that's right there, mocking you.

[tcspeedfreak]

i had my metal tank on my m750 leak but only after a wreck, a little redneck ingenuity and a stick of fuel resistant epoxy and wala no more leaky tank

[redial]

Battery acid will leak down onto vertical cylinder, frame and alt. case cover if that damn little hose decides to let go.

ive seen this a rediculous amount of times. i dont care what you have to spend on a nice battery getting a frame paint job ruined is a pain i never want to feel.

[yamifixer]

I ride that very bike and love it. Other than normal maintinance the only problems were the clutch slave (after market one is easy to get) and an electrical gremlin that ate 5 brake light bulbs in a month but it has gone away. (i hate that.)

good luck and start saving for upgrades.

[junior varsity]

You can get a great LED plate full of blinding red light to replace the taillight so you can be seen by cars a bit better, and don't have to worry about them really going out. Just an idea.

The clutch slave replacement is one of the easist mods you can do, its a simple exercise in bleeding the line. And clutch pull gets a nice pull range too.

[Q]

Thanks for all the replies, guys.  Great stuff!  As it turns out , I passed on the original M900, but with the help of Dave R. and Ducati Seattle, I became the new owner of a good 'ol Monster. It's another used 2000 M900, but this one's an S model. It's my second Monster, and it'll share garage space with my MTS 1000DS. No pics yet, as it needs some maintenance attention, a thorough cleaning, and a couple of fix-its. But I have to admit to being quite excited to start another Monster project. While it's true that I wanted a second Duc, the main idea is to get my son on it and have him gain some road experience under more, shall I say, controlled/restricted conditions riding with his Dad. Besides, it sounds like fun.
Thanks again.

BTW, I need a beer tray, brake light, and rear turn signals for a 2000 M900.  That MY has a slightly different beer tray (the later style and size, but with three mounting bolts vs four on the 2001 and after), so it has to be from a 2000.  Please pm if you have one laying around that you'd like to part with.  Thanks.

[Markus]

Congratulations on the purchase! You'll appreciate the S model's factory upgrades vs the standard M900, especially if this was going to be an "upgrades project". Most of the major stuff is done for you already: adjustable suspension (with Ohlins out back!), additional body pieces, floating rear brake, aluminum swingarm.

I don't have a beer tray for you, although I think I have some turn signals somewhere which I'd be happy to part with. I'm not sure of their condition as I removed them a few years ago. Will check my garage today to see what they look like and PM you the details.

[redial]

congratulations on your new purchase. if i was your son i would be very happy  [moto]

please include pics of the multi when you post!

[Q]

Thanks, guys.  I found a beer tray and lights for the rear end today, and removed the CF pieces to clean and re-clear coat.  The bike will be at the shop until late next week, so I thought I'd get to work on locating some stuff and starting some of the fix-its. 

[Q]

Well it's been a couple of weeks since I picked up my M900.  First, it's not the one I originally wrote about.  This one happens to be a 2000 900S (Ohlins rear shock, full adjustable Showa up front and some other nice touches were added to the "S" model) with the DP air filter and DP/Remus aluminum slip-ons.  It has more miles and was in need of some attention, but overall, seemed like a sweet bike and deal.  I incorporated all of the advise that you all had to offer...thanks again, much appreciated.  It has just received a full 6k service plus belts, chain, sprockets, tires, fluids, maintenance free battery, DesmoTimes chain adjuster plates, case saver, STM clutch slave cylinder, and frame sliders, in addition to a deep cleaning and re-finish of the CF pieces.  My son and I have already put a couple of miles on it.  My Multi is a 2006 DS1000 with DP cams, ecu, full Termignoni exhaust, PCIII with a custom dual map, and Beast R intakes.   The best part is, my wife likes them both.
Thanks again for the great advise.
Rich

[erkishhorde]

I noticed in your post that you have the Desmotimes chain adjuster plates. Check that your spools (if you have them) are far enough away from the adjuster plate that it doesn't cause the forks on your rear stand to gouge the adjuster plate. I had no problem standing the bike up but when I let the bike down the stand tends to get stuck on the spools if I don't hold the bike upright as I take the stand off and the first time I let it down after I put the adjuster plates on it marred up the left side.  Hope that makes sense. I love the 900s. I think they're so much better than all these new monsters. 

PS. you cheater, the last one is a shot of your multi.   

[Yellow Meanie]

Very nice

Which battery did you end up getting?  And how did the clear coating on your CF parts turn out?