Hey everyone,
I got the 2003 Monster 800ie! I LOVE IT. it feels great, has plenty of power, and just hugs the road on the turns. I haven't gotten a good chance to ride it through the mountains (I'm in Denver, CO) yet, but that's definately happening this weekend. Thanks for all the advice, it totally helped me in choosing to buy. I soon found out the bike has some problems, and was able to fix some on my own...it felt good to find the problems and fix them
Since I've got the bike now, I'll prob post in the introduction page a little "hello". But since I posted here first, here's some pics of the bike as of this morning
not the best pics, but will do for now just for show
I do have some problems that I found after riding that I'm possibly a bit worried about and was hoping for some advice. I did research and found out some info, but nothing conclusive. Sorry, I have a lot of questions...looking into buying a book to help with maintenance etc so i can learn more and do stuff on my own
I also wasn't sure if I should post the questions here, or move them to a different thread in the technical threads. If I should do that, let me know and I'll edit this post and move the questions over there.
1) When riding, I found the foot brake was somewhat recessed, meaning i had to tilt my foot under the clutch cover on the right side to actually get to the brake. On the dash, the high beam headlight LED, and the turn signal LED don't work (they don't light up on startup either), so I was curious about all the other lights. The actual turn signals are ok, high beam works, but pulling the brake lever or stepping on the brake pedal didn't trigger the stop light in the back. Turns out, I think somehow the foot break pedal was bent inwards toward the bike so it's against the frame, and it's now misaligned with the stop light's "off trigger" and no longer makes contact it...so the brake light is essenitally ALWAYS on. I disconnected the lines connecting that foot break trigger to wherever it goes, and now the brake lights work on the handlebar, so I know that's the problem. Also, whatever it's connected to (I think it's the rear brake master cylinder?) is ever so slightly bent. That's what worries me, can I just "unbend" it? Here's a picture of it...you can see on the bottom left, there's a nut and bolt, that's the nut that you shouldn't be able to see and should be flush with the stop light trigger to the right of it...which I think you can't see in this pic
2) The exhaust "pops" or "backfires" when I decelerate with a load. I researched and read that people said this could mean an air leak somewhere. My bike has slip-ons, so I checked where they slip onto the pipes. It looks like there's some leaks because I can see black marks where exhaust probably escaped and has left marks over time. Is this bad? Should I find some gaskets or something to close these gaps? Or are these backfires ok? I also looked at where the pipes connect to the engine and it seems like they're connected, but there's a small gap there too.
where the pipe connects to the engine...looks like its flush inside, but there's that little opening you can see all around the connection...
3) The fast-idle lever doesn't do anything, and upon further inspection, I see that the lever itself works, but it looks like it's been adjusted so that it doesn't actually engage the throttle (or the valve or whatever the throttle is connected to to make the engine rev higher). Should I readjust it to function correctly? Why would someone not want the fast-idle to work during warm-up? Though the bike has no problems starting up and running.
4) Because the dash LED's for the high beam and turn signals aren't working, I was curious to see if the "Low Fuel" LED would work too. I saw that it lights up on startup, but tried to ride till the tank was low and would show the light, but it never turned on. I went to 150 miles, and got really nervous because I read on a lot of other posts in these forums that people usually refill around 110-130, which is close to when their "Low Fuel" light goes on. Is there another way to check the sensor in the fuel tank if it's working or not, and how would I do that? I'd prefer not to find out it's not working when the tank is empty and i'm on the side of the road somewhere
5) I don't see many posts or stuff on the '03 800ie, and I wanted to make some mods to it. More specifically, the belt cover. It's ugly...plastic, looks old and discolored, and stands out. Does the 800ie have the same engine as all the other monsters? Because when I look up ducati monster timing belt covers, the 800 doesn't always come up...I wanted to get one of the see through ones, but those are expensive
so maybe i'll just buy a black one to replace mine or something i guess...
6) Last question...sorry, haha. Simple one though. The bike is kinda dirty, and I Want to clean it. Looks like some grease in places, and dirt everywhere too. What's a good safe thing to clean all the parts with - calipers, forks, engine, chain and area around the chain, etc?
Thanks!!
