What's your most expencive or useless mod that you wouldn't live without?

[Drunken Monkey]

There's plenty of mods I tried and discarded on the road to a heavily modified bike, but if I hadn't tried them out my bike wouldn't be where it is.

But the most useless / expensive mod was the microswitch handlebar controls. I'm still sorting out how to wire it up properly after many many hours of different wiring set-ups and prototypes.

While they work fine, they resulted in a snakes nest of wiring. I hope to post on the wiring clean-up coming soon

[junior varsity]

Bummer. my sil headers went straight on, no issues.

[Drunken Monkey]

Bummer. my sil headers went straight on, no issues.

Whoops, I edited out the bit about my Sil header experience.

Huge issues, couldn't return them, had to get them modified and they still aren't on the bike (yet)

[redial]

Gawd, on my bike?  Most of it.    One of my favorite parts that adds no functionality (other than the MCs and quick turn throttle) but that I couldn't live without is the ungodly amount of time and $ spent on the cockpit.



 

holy dear god is that sexy.  
is there a thread with more pics and some reading about that clock setup?

[M900]

holy dear god is that sexy.  
is there a thread with more pics and some reading about that clock setup?

bcr has a carbon fiber bucket for a 7" headlight with the necessary stuff to hold a speedo for $200.  I've wanted one, but I didn't want to give up my tach and I didn't want to drop $$ on a single tach/speedo unit.

[R0CKETMAN]

I would have to say the clutch cover.No function but got to have it:-)

Yep, it really may be the best looking mod

[ducrider45]

It has got to be my custom handmade single sided swing arm. It cost a bit more than $2,000.00 and serves no real function over the stock unit.

[NoisyDante]

It has got to be my custom handmade single sided swing arm. It cost a bit more than $2,000.00 and serves no real function over the stock unit.

But you saved so much money with the rear fender, so I'd say it evens out. 

[ducrider45]

But you saved so much money with the rear fender, so I'd say it evens out. 

Well if you add up the cost of the doner bike for the engine, all of the parts and the swing arm; subtract the amount that I sold all of the un-used parts for, this bike only cost me $200

[Spidey]

And Spidey... it was worth the effort.  Billet, billet everywhere.  Beuatifully utilitarian.  I'm trying to figure out what the polished item is just above the left grip.  Switches?

Yeah, switches.  On the left are turn signals, horn, brights and toggle for gauge.  They're on the right (starter and kill) too.  There's actually not much billet.  I was trying to stay away from the billet-everything look.  A lot of the pieces have been bead blasted to remove their shinyness. 

holy dear god is that sexy. 
is there a thread with more pics and some reading about that clock setup?

Thanks.  Stuart has some info and pics on his website:  http://www.flightcycles.com/FlightCycles-M1000SS.tpl

Here are some more pics if that doesn't satisfy you.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/28553001@N05/page8/

and http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=205.msg1463#msg1463

[msh441]

There's actually not much billet.  I was trying to stay away from the billet-everything look.  A lot of the pieces have been bead blasted to remove their shinyness. 

With the bead blasting it had such a uniformly clean look, I assumed it was billet.  Very, very well done.  At that angle I get sort of a late '40s, early '50s Velocette, Triumph, MV, DKW vibe.

Well if you add up the cost of the doner bike for the engine, all of the parts and the swing arm; subtract the amount that I sold all of the un-used parts for, this bike only cost me $200

Yeah... that sounds like somthing I'd tell my wife!

[ducrider45]

With the bead blasting it had such a uniformly clean look, I assumed it was billet.  Very, very well done.  At that angle I get sort of a late '40s, early '50s Velocette, Triumph, MV, DKW vibe.

Yeah... that sounds like somthing I'd tell my wife!

She helped with the project, there is no way I could get away with making up a story on this one. After I parted-out the 900S and old 620 parts, I almost broke even on this project. I still have a bit of work to do though.