Bitubo cartridges for Marzochi non adjustable forks (did we not see this?)

[xcaptainxbloodx]

Dude, I'm just saying...  A thousand bucks for what you described is pretty damned pricey.  I put 999 forks (sprung to my weight), with a fresh rebuild and SBK valves on my bike, and it cost me something like $400.

does that include milling/shimming the triples and whatever you did for the brakes? were you able to use your stock bars or did you add clip ons?

[DRKWNG]

does that include milling/shimming the triples and whatever you did for the brakes? were you able to use your stock bars or did you add clip ons?

No, the cost I mentioned was just for the forks, but included the internal parts, the work done to them and the shipping to get them from New England to Hawaii.  I did a lot of other work to the bike at the same time: speedymoto triples, 999 brakes and BST wheels.

[He Man]

I'm pretty sure that's not the case. They should be accessible from the top - there are three separate adjusters anyway. Might be wrong, but that's my understanding...

Theres a fat  25mm (or similar) bolt at the bottom. It fits stock showa adjustables but the marzochi uses much smaller bolts.


DRKWNG. You cant say a 999 fork modification is $400 bucks, cause you missed a lot of things. its usually upwards of $700ish after you factor in all needed mods. BTW: you have 749 forks not 999 forks.

Bike looks good btw, i always had a thing for sport clsssics, but their seating position is like willingly submiting to torture for me.

Whats worthwhile to me? people seem to raved about GP stuff. You can sometimes find a whole cartridge on wera for $800 bucks. thats a freggin deal since its drop in for SBK and Showa 3 ways.

[xcaptainxbloodx]

when I was researching all the options to upgrade the forks on my s2r800  I found about 4 realistic options that ranged from 400-600$.

 the s2r1k was the most direct replacement but were hard to find, sbk required new calipers and machined/shimmed triples (also new clip ons in my case) and were the most expensive, gsxr required calipers, spacers and lines, they were easy to find and pretty cheap but the spacer machining put me off of it. then there was st3/st4 which gave adjustability but would need upgraded valving for my purposes which put me off of it before I could see if there was anything else it would need.

in the end I lucked out with a buddy pulling some strings at GP suspension

[DRKWNG]

DRKWNG. You cant say a 999 fork modification is $400 bucks, cause you missed a lot of things. its usually upwards of $700ish after you factor in all needed mods. BTW: you have 749 forks not 999 forks.

No, you mentioned the cost of "drop-in" S2R1K forks being in the ball-park of a seven hundred dollars after all the springs and valves.  I was commenting that the price you mentioned was quite high compared to the price that you can get SBK forks for; i.e. four hundred.

[He Man]

Drop in was the point.
The price i set out is a realistic price including labor to install valves and springs. Your $400 forks were priced at what someone wanted to sell them for. I can't say 749 forks with aftermarket valves and springs cost $400 everywhere. If you priced it out realistically, it would cost the same $700 bucks depending on the cost of valves. + the extra cost of getting them on the bike.

[xcaptainxbloodx]

No, you mentioned the cost of "drop-in" S2R1K forks being in the ball-park of a seven hundred dollars after all the springs and valves.  I was commenting that the price you mentioned was quite high compared to the price that you can get SBK forks for; i.e. four hundred.

getting cheap forks is great but its even better when you can put them on the bike.

 when you add in the costs to make the sbk forks work it gets at or over 700$ pretty easily.

[DRKWNG]

getting cheap forks is great but its even better when you can put them on the bike.

 when you add in the costs to make the sbk forks work it gets at or over 700$ pretty easily.

Sure it does.  My point was simply that better deals can be found if you look for them hard enough.

[Roaduser]

No, the cost I mentioned was just for the forks, but included the internal parts, the work done to them and the shipping to get them from New England to Hawaii.  I did a lot of other work to the bike at the same time: speedymoto triples, 999 brakes and BST wheels.

the s2r1k was the most direct replacement but were hard to find, sbk required new calipers and machined/shimmed triples (also new clip ons in my case) and were the most expensive, gsxr required calipers, spacers and lines, they were easy to find and pretty cheap but the spacer machining put me off of it. then there was st3/st4 which gave adjustability but would need upgraded valving for my purposes which put me off of it before I could see if there was anything else it would need.

i have a question here for you guys if i could please, you both mention calliper changes in your sbk conversions. elsewhere i have read others saying that they didnt need any changes to the wheel end, simple bolt up. namely http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=41414.msg740226#msg740226 between the 7th and 8th photo.


Cheers Clint.

[xcaptainxbloodx]

It depends on the fork, 999 has radial mount and 998 doesn't.

[DRKWNG]

It depends on the fork, 999 has radial mount and 998 doesn't.

No they didn't.  999Ss and Rs had radial, but regular 999s had axial mounted brakes.

[He Man]

No they didn't.  999Ss and Rs had radial, but regular 999s had axial mounted brakes.

Axial mounts are the same through out hte ducati line up for the later years. the 695 brakes will work on the fork, provided you have the adapter. S2R1000 brakes will work and so will any of the SBK Axials IIRC.

999S from 05+ are radial. all 04 including S and R were axial as well.

[Roaduser]

soooo if i have this right,

any of the 65mm axials callipers will bolt right onto the 998 or 999 axial mount forks. Then on the wheel end if i keep the 10mm offset monster rotors ill have to run some 5mm rotor spacers to over come the sbk forks being spaced for the 15mm offset rotors the sbk's used. then if i use 999 forks ill need a sbk guard or an adapter if i want to keep the monster guard and then up top ill need some 0.5mm sleeves for the bottom triple and to bore the top triple to 53mm. then use clip ons or big handle bar risers to clear the longer forks and finally re-spring the forks for my light weight combined with the lighter front weight distribution of the monster compared to the sbk and i should be in heaven yeah?

piece of piss.. haha  [moto]

[xcaptainxbloodx]

No they didn't.  999Ss and Rs had radial, but regular 999s had axial mounted brakes.

true. i was just referring  to the examples he provided, not trying to give specific model examples.

[stopintime]

Almost all of the posts in this thread discuss the alternatives, which often, I suspect, complicate things
to a point where many riders loose track and give up.

It's not that I'm against finding good affordable DIY solutions, but there is a need for plug & play upgrade products.
Or maybe I'm mistaken - perhaps most Monster riders just don't care about performance upgrades?

Hmmm - in fact I haven't heard or seen a Bitubo or Matris story in a very long time and compared to the total number of Monsters, the number of upgraded bikes must be very low?