Monster peg to lever and riding position

[hector]

Somehow I thought Ducati monster is a bike on which I can sit upright. I test rode the used 796 for the first time  and it did not feel the way I expected. I experienced that I wasn't sitting upright completely. I felt like I was leaning down a bit. Leaning down itself wasn't that big issue. I felt that gear leaver and break lever were significantly lower that pegs where we keep our heels. I was expecting them to be in line so that my feet would have stayed in almost horizontal position.

Sales person mentioned that it was modified and can be easily changed so that my feet would stay in almost horizontal position.

What is your experience? What is the normal pegs to leavers position in Ducati monster?

[PhilB]

The lever positions are easily changed; usually they are on splines on the shafts, so you just pull them off, put them where you want them and tighten them down again.

The riding position on the older Monsters was more upright, but the front end was very light and handling suffered a bit from that.  The new generation (696, 796, 1100) frame uses a more lean forward position to improve the weight distribution and therefore the handling.

PhilB

[stopintime]

Not quite, the S2R/800/620 are all positioning the rider with more forward lean than the 796.
This is because of the new Monster's shorter distance from seat to bars.

Knee angle on a S2R is practically the same as on a 796.

http://cycle-ergo.com/

Hector: the best way to be in control is to have the balls of your feet on the peg, not the heel.
From there you'll slide your foot forward until it reaches the toe peg (shifting or braking)
The levers can and should be adjusted so that your toes find the toe pegs without too much flexing or stretching.

[Greg]

Not quite, the S2R/800/620 are all positioning the rider with more forward lean than the 796.
This is because of the new Monster's shorter distance from seat to bars.

I agree - my M1100EVO is much more upright than my S2R-1000

[Slide Panda]

... gear leaver and break lever were significantly lower that pegs where we keep our heels. I was expecting them to be in line so that my feet would have stayed in almost horizontal position.

Well, you should have the balls of your feet on the pegs, when not operating the levers.

On a sporting bike, it's the norm to have the toe pegs to be a good bit lower than the foot peg. If you take a look at the site stopintime liked to - you'll see that unless you have a really short inseam (so short you cannot put a foot down) you would need to flex your foot a lot to operate a lever with it's toe peg in the same plane as your foot peg. Sufficient flex you might not be able to do it, or at least do so comfortably.

The shifter on my 900 is about 1.75" below the pegs. About the same on my Super Moto

Either way, it's easy to adjust the positions. For the shifter, big moves need to you to move the short arm on the splined shaft a notch. Fine adjustment are done via the connection rod. One hemi joint is normal thread the other is reverse. So you loosen the choke nuts and turn the rod to alter the length which will move the toe peg height. Different method, but similar concept on the brake side

[PhilB]

The S2R then must have had power/shorter bars.  I noticed the riding position on the new M1100 to be significantly more aggressive overall than on my original-issue M900.

PhilB

[hector]

Thanks a lot for your help. As always I learned something new about monster today.