I moved to NM back in April and perhaps some of you have wondered 'Where's Stus' Ducati?!?' Well, she's in pieces/parts right now getting a major (last and final) re-do.
She's my Cafe-Racer Monster bought new @ R&S Yamaha/Ducati on Juan Tabo on July 1, 2000. My love-affair with this motorcycle is the longest standing time I have *ever* owned one vehicle. By a margin of over 2:1. Can't explain why I love my bike so...and I quit trying to do that years ago too.
Anywho, here's a re-cap of what's up my girl:
(link is of the WHOLE enchilada, below is a re-cap)
http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=13264.0RoadRacing wire-wheels (yes, the un-obtanium kind from back in the day when wire-wheels on a Monster meant $2500 versus the Sport-Classic wheels for $500) and my Brembo full-floating iron rotors off of an SS/SP
Excerpt snipped from the above post:
Well, even though the bike had been the '05 DMC national show winner, in my mind.....it was never 'done'. I realize now that leaving well-enough alone just *really* isn't in my DNA until the project is complete. It's a sickness yes, but I'm not really seeking treatment either. LOL...
It seems in todays motorcycle market that a 'good enough' bike well, just isn't good enough anymore. More power, lighter weights, better brakes & handling (all good things mind you) are the emphasis. The SOLE emphasis when building/designing a sporting bike. I remember being a Yamaha/Ducati salesman in Albuquerque New Mexico in 2000/2001 when the R6 was a claimed 120hp. I thought 'Wow!, 120hp out of 36cid!!!! Now THAT'S amazing!' Today....sadly....an '00 R6 would get it's ass handed to it by every other 600cc bike. In the real-world, a 600cc sportbike is overkill really... Most people rack up mileage on slabs of boring tarmac just trying to get to work, the girlfriends place (or boyfriend), go do some shopping, go out for dinner, etc... Let's face it, the real-world is about as far from a track setting as could be imagined (think the 5 fwy in CA through the central valley....).
Building a 'good enough' real-world bike is what Ducati did in '93 when it debuted the Monster. Yes, it's got an SBK dervied frame and a torquey 900 engine (no slouch in '93 mind you...) but you could do real-world stuff on it. Bags are available, handle-bar risers, wind-screens if those are your things. Heck, most here know of Phil B. in San Diego area with 120+K on his M900..... Real-world indeed. Plus, should the owner be so inclined, rear-sets and clip-ons are available as well providing a more sporting angle on a real-world bike. Ok, ok....I'm getting a bit off track here.
I decided to build a real-world hot-rod. Growing up in Detroit with all the big-block V8's around and 4-speeds and such... I couldn't understand why the old tymers would just build a nice, low-stress small-block to power thier hot-rods. Didn't make sense to me as I had my focus firmly set on bigger, better, faster, and MORE! They had learned (as I know now) that those things are well and good....but not as a sole emphasis when building a project. I knew a guy who ran a fiberglass bodied '32 Ford with a 500+cid Donovan Aluminum big-block Chevy with a 14:1 blower on it....on alcohol....on the street....and it had a nitrous-oxide fogger system 'just in case'. Well, that's all well and good....but it ain't the daily-driver he can depend on. And he'd be all kinds of make the beast with two backsed if he took it out and it rained.... Uh, yeah...call a friend with a truck & trailer. The old tymers knew enough to limit themselves to a respectable build. Not the fastest, not the most powerful, but you could enjoy it....a lot.
When I decided to dry-clutch the 750 engine most people told me to just go buy a 900 engine and put it in there. I chose not to & here's why... The bike harkens back to a simpler time. A time when the 750's were considered the MOST bad-ass thing out there (think today's liter bikes...) They were the bruisers that would dominate the road. So, it seemed fitting to mod my 750 and limit myself to that displacement (focusing on lighter weight to achieve the desired look/performance) so as to honor that time period. My take on a respectable build (at that time and with that budget too).
Well, this final (and yes dammit I DO MEAN FINAL!) re-working of the Cafe-Racer will actually stretch that displacement to 799cc's built in the original engine cases (I swapped the engine out years ago to a '99 SS750i.e. engine btw) with the following equipment:
91mm overbore kit
1985 Ducati F1 cylinder heads
40mm Dell-Orto flat-slide carbs
Custom built 2-into-1 exhaust
900SS valves
900i.e. cams (2x H cams as my vert intake comes in through the back...)
6-speed transmission from a M695 w/800 miles on it
Dry-slipper clutch
Brembo billet radial master cylinders
Marzocchi M1R front forks
Marzocchi 'Strada' rear shocks
Tomaselli clip-ons
Tomaselli throttle
Front wheel w/the rotors all 'blinged' out...
From the post about my triples:
Yes, the triples look simple. The 'usual' for me...the mods *look* simple, but actually are quite involved.
The casting ridge got polished out, but that opened up a couple of the ends of the pinch bolt bores. So, I had to get them welded up and then repolished down again. Got all that sorted out and got the '91-'98 SS steering stem. But, that wouldn't fit as it was too small for the bore of the lower triple as well as being too short. So, the lower bore had to be recessed 0.100" as well as welded up and then bored to receive the SS stem. After all that, in addition to the purchase price of the F1 triples...well...I'm out about as much as the Speedymoto billet units. I glass beaded them to a nice finish and added chrome plated steel 12.9 bolts. Oh, and she's topped off with a '91-'98 SS top nut.
The sketch that inspired most of this (the rest was brewing in my head for a few years...)
Front-end installed:
Custom built (only one in the world...) round tube aluminum swingarm:
Clutch cover from an '87 Paso 750 (same as a 1987 F1 750)... Hehehe... NO oil pressure sender hole!
Was an EPIC amount of effort to find a brand-new 11 year old Akront 40-spoke rear hoop in 4.25" width, but she's laced up & ready to go
Rim did arrive safely and was un-drilled so it had to go to the experts @ Buchanan's Spoke & Wheel in Azusa.
Here it is. The worlds ONLY 4.25" Road-Racing wire wheel for a Ducati Monster with an original Akront hoop.
She's good in pics, better in person....
Width difference between the old 5.5" hoop and the new 4.25":
Frame coming together:
Minor detail, but makes me happy:
Oh, and my old personalized plate from NM *can* be hung back on the bike now that I'm back here. It's a little thing, but to think about it makes me so happy....
Here's the updated frame and very rough idea of the bodywork:
----versus before----
