Biggest bang for buck speed/handling mods

[makowb]

I've a 98 m750. Got an ohlins rear in the shed, yet to fit it. What I did do is put 98 m900 forks on the front, they're adjustable and a direct swap. Should be able to pick up a used pair for under $400. That's less than your $200 per fork wheels would be nice but won't make the price cut.

What forks does my monster have stock? It definitely has showa's on it right now, but they're silver, not gold in the slightest, and don't have the blue/red top of the superbike forks. And how can you tell they're adjustable? I've seen 97 m900 showas but the tops don't look adjustable.

[junior varsity]

If your fork tops don't have the flat-screwdriver 'clicker' adjusters pocking through with a larger hex nut top (preload adjustment) protruding through the largest hex fork cap, its non-adjustable.  The nonadjustable ones just have a single hex-nut cap on top, nothing else going on.

[thought]

Also, offhand... how old are you tires?  You'd be amazed at how much better your bike feels on new rubber...  something you're going to wind up doing anyway but I still do classify this as one of the best bang for your buck handling upgrades albeit a temp one.

[junior varsity]

on that note, check the profiles of the tires too.  The OEM tire spec with a 120/60 or 120/65 isn't quite as conducive to diving into turns as the later OEM spec 120/70

[showerfan]

i don't want to hijack this thread, but i am trying to decide myself whether to rework my adjustable shows (99 m900), or do a SBK or GSXR1000 swap. i'm leaning toward the gixxers, because they look so frisking sweet

is that wrong of me? suzuki on ducati?

[showerfan]

by the way -- do you really need all that stuff for the GSXR fork swap? i can't use my own wheels? that would suck the price will then approach a full ohlins setup. and do you really increase the handling that much?

seems consensus on the monster is, the most improvement comes from the rear...

[koko64]

I had my stock nonadjustable Showa forks resprung/revavlved, a big improvement. Some would argue that the old nonadjustable Showa is a better starting point for a revalve than the old adjustable Showa.
Also recently fitted a budget Penske shock and it works great.

[junior varsity]

On my '99 M900 - the first one I really got to tinkering with, it came with 3-way adjustable showas from the factory.  It was horribly undersprung for a large american mammal like myself.  The adjustments to compression/rebound didn't seem to have any noticeable effect whatsoever.    So I resprung, replaced fork oil with fresh stuff, and revalved it with the gold-valve kit from RaceTech (springs and oil also from racetech).


Went from feeling like rocks to feeling wooden. An improvement, but adjustments still didn't do all that much (not like "they made subtle, fine-grain changes" - i mean, "from all the way out to all the way in, very little difference"). 


saved up for correct bored triples (53/53) for bolting up some superbike forks (better starting platform).  I went with IMA Special Parts triples because I could get them bored properly for the forks, rather than having to track down a machine shop to bore my top triple and acquire shims to shim the too-large lower triple.  The billet triples came the right size, but were also beefy billet triples, and black anodized like I wanted. 

I think that was a better fork than I ever had to begin with using the '99 Monster adj. forks. But the superbikes use a larger hollow axle (also used on all 99+ Supersports and 00+ Monsters... but not on the 99 and earlier bikes).  So I had to get a new front axle and new front wheel (upgraded this while I was at it - lightweight front wheel makes a huge difference in handling I learned). 

The forks now have the ohlins valve kit put in there and fresh oil - the OEM SBK fork springs were actually correct for my body weight, so no spring change was necessary (they are much stiffer than the ones on a Monster because of the more forward weight bias on the superbikes - so it was like getting correct springs included).


This was not cheap, all-in.  But I am really happy with the result.


If you find some GSXR 1000 or Yamaha R1 forks, you should be able to get the forks, axle, wheel, rotors, calipers and bolt it all right up.  They are 50/54 as well, and I know for sure that the Yamaha R1 (even the current big-bang motors) use the 205mm fork spacing - same as OEM Ducati.  These would bolt right into your triples, and you could upgrade to their radial brakes and such at the same time.  They have little dainty rotors, probably, but whatever (I think 310's... maybe they are up to 320's now). 


I can't say that the new model japanese oem forks would be better than the oem ducati superbike showa forks, I really haven't done a purposeful comparison of the two "stock parts".  Seems like both are an upgrade over the monster's forks.  I like the Ducati bits because i can get seals and anything else at my local dealer, same place i could get my belts or crush washers or muffler bearings or headlight fluid or regulator-smoke-refills.

[koko64]

Yeah, instead of modifying 90s technology you can upgrade to more current suspension which will often be better in stock form than the old stuff with money thrown at it.
But down here the used parts market is different.

[showerfan]

So... i found a set of '04 gsxr 1000 forks that have ohlins R&T internals installed by a suspension tech who rode them like that for about 500 miles they will come with the calipers, for sure, but i'm not sure about anything else. maybe he has the axle too. but i know he doesn't have the wheel or rotors. does anyone know if i'll be able to use my own wheels and rotors? i have a '99 m900 city edition.

anyone know if i can just get spacers? and if so how or from whom? would really appreciate any help on this! can pay you back in beer
__________________
New 1999 M900

[zooom]

since I am guessing you didn't use the search function...

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=37335.0

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=9367.0

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=14080.0

[junior varsity]

If you need axle spacers made up, a good start is Fast Frank Racing.  Doesn't mean the axle diameter will be right for you though.  Your 99 will have a 20mm, not sure what the 04 GSXR uses, i ain't got one of them.

[showerfan]

sweet, thanks -- will find out right away!