What I did last winter, by Cider

[Cider]

Yes, the chicken-strips are shameful, but I have lots of excuses for that.

[Juan]

Nice work, beautiful looking bike..!!  wt:

Wait....     can we have a picture of the oil reservoirs please ??

[CETME]

It looks real nice. Can you tell us what you did to the bike?

Is the swingarm painted? what about the engine? Did you change the color of the frame? if so, how was it stripping it down to bare frame? Tell us something!

[Cider]

Thanks for the compliments!

Wait....     can we have a picture of the oil reservoirs please ??

By oil reservoirs, do you mean the brake and clutch?  They are from a 999.

It looks real nice. Can you tell us what you did to the bike?

Is the swingarm painted? what about the engine? Did you change the color of the frame? if so, how was it stripping it down to bare frame? Tell us something!

Sorry, I was afraid that I would bore everybody with a bunch of prose.  The bike is a 2003 M800s with about 19K miles.  Here's how it looked last summer; I changed quite a bit:



Everything that is black is powder-coated except for the engine, the starter, and the trim ring around the fuel cap.  Duck-stew was gracious enough to advise me on how to paint the engine, and I think it turned out nice.  If nothing else, it exceeded my expectations.

The wheels and frame are also powder, and the color is striking in person.  It has some flake and a lot of gloss.  Disassembling the bike was actually very easy; putting it together was more difficult.  Painting the engine was the most time-consuming part of the project, though.

Here's a partial list of the changes I made over the winter:

• Suspension rebuilt by Lindemann Engineering; forks re-valved
• Braking rotors from PJ's Parts
• 999 radial calipers from eBay
• Radial caliper adapters from OnCycles (closeout/seconds); anodized locally
• 999 radial master cylinders from eBay (replacement Chinese levers from eBay also)
• Custom Galfer lines from Cycle Brakes
• Header ceramic coating from Performance Coatings
• Mivv pipes from PJ's Parts; baffles removed (loud!)
• Painted locally; I think the color is a Chrysler silver, but I forget; decals from a Sport Classic
• Swingarm, headlight assembly, triples, rearsets, etc. powder-coated black
• Engine painted black with VHT paint
• Frame and wheels powder-coated with "illusion red" (I don't know if that is the manufacturer name or not)
• Fuel cap from MotoWheels
• Metal fuel quick-disconnects from industrial supplier
• Plug wires from Magnecor
• Wheel decals from Twisted Vinyl Graphics
• New chain/sprockets from ? (I forget)
• SpeedyMoto tapered head bearings
• Ventilated belt covers from DesmoTimes
• Spools from PitBull; bungs welded on locally
• Carbon bits from MonsterParts
• Clear turn signals from MonsterParts
• Fuel tank sealed and drain plug installed by local radiator shop

[Juan]

I see, very nice, I have been thinking about the same thing, I just don't like the cylindrical shape reservoirs, very nice man, very nice.
Congratulations   :wine

[Sgt_H]

You're my new hero  be::

[DJ]

Nice job Cider!!

[kenrok1]

Awesome - what a transformation  wt:

how do you like the suburban bars (how was the install on those)?

[jclin]

Gorgeous! B.O.M.b! http://ducatimonsterworldwide.org/index.php?topic=442.0

[m1moto]

Sweet, great color combo, I'm not a big fan of metallic red but on your bike it looks awesome

[James.M]

wow looks great!

[Cider]

Thanks again, guys!

how do you like the suburban bars (how was the install on those)?

I like the bars a lot, although they seem expensive for what you get.  I didn't care for the chrome on the stock bars, and the lower position of the SM bars suits me well.  The cable routing was very tight with the original lines (I had coffin masters); so tight, in fact, that I was resigned to custom lines even before I decided to change everything else on the front brakes.  I do like that the SM bars include locating holes for the controls, even though I removed the locating pins when I switched master cylinders.

[Mac_48]

How did you go about painting the engine?  I've been thinking about doing the same thing...

[Cider]

How did you go about painting the engine?  I've been thinking about doing the same thing...

I don't know if this is the best way to do it, but this is how I did it: strip, clean, degrease, prime, paint, and cure in the kitchen oven.  I used VHT paint and primer.  I didn't split the cases, but I disassembled pretty much everything else.

[YellowMonster]

Very clean... been considering doing a similar rework to mine... your photos just helped me make some decisions. wt: