prospective monster owner with a few questions

[deviant]

Hi guys long time lurker here so in the next few months I’m looking into getting my first Ducati a Monster 600 as prices here in England at the moment are ludicrously cheap and I’m wanting something to fettle with over summer turn it into a bit of a contemporary café inspired racer so to speak.

Few things I want to ask you guys first though first now basically if this works out the Monster will become my general run around no journeys over about 20 miles in regards to the engines is there anything I should look at what’s the general mileage before they need anything done to them barring the timing belt and valve adjustments etc…

Secondly the original monsters come with that horrid looking ride height adjuster now I unfortunately haven’t been able to find any decent photos but would it be feasible to remove this entirely and weld in new shock mounts to clean up the rear end. This possibly sounds like a lot of work but I’ve a friend who’s a fabricator so the work will be free and gives him something different to play around with.

On a slightly unrelated note I’ve seen metal fenders from a company called DP who also make metal belly pans which I thought would finish off the build quite nicely I however cant for the life of me track them down so if anyone could shed some insight on this is be gratefully appreciated. I think that’s about it for now though I’ve bound to have forgotten something but any help would be great.

[thorn14]

They should run at least 50k miles before anything would need to be looked at as long as maintenance was kept up. And honestly, unless there's some problem, it should last much longer.

Others may know, but I believe you can change it out, but it's a lot of work and painting it black seems so much easier 

I think the DP you are referring to is Ducati Performance, in which case they can be found floating about on ebay and sometimes this forum.

[stopintime]

http://stores.ebay.com/valtermotousa/Ducati-original-parts-/_i.html?_fsub=2536232010&_dmd=1&_nkw=chin

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ducati-Monster-Front-Guard-Fender-Ducati-Performance-Aluminium-/161282043664?pt=AU_Motorcycle_Parts_Accessories&hash=item258d28af10&vxp=mtr

This type of fender was recently sold with brackets to fit newer (less high/long) fork bottoms - you may or may not need them depending on which year bike you get, and if you do, they shouldn't be too hard to make.

[Rudemouthsky]

I bought like 3 of those nose chin/belly pan thingys and a couple of those alloy fenders one night on eBay when I was drunk and thought it was an insane deal. If you want either one lemme know I'm tired of tripping over the damn things.

[Rudemouthsky]

http://stores.ebay.com/valtermotousa/Ducati-original-parts-/_i.html?_fsub=2536232010&_dmd=1&_nkw=chin

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ducati-Monster-Front-Guard-Fender-Ducati-Performance-Aluminium-/161282043664?pt=AU_Motorcycle_Parts_Accessories&hash=item258d28af10&vxp=mtr

This type of fender was recently sold with brackets to fit newer (less high/long) fork bottoms - you may or may not need them depending on which year bike you get, and if you do, they shouldn't be too hard to make.

Oh and you'll need those brackets no matter which Monster you buy. Unless you buy a 99 or <. In that case you won't need them because the fender won't fit at all.

[deviant]

Hey thanks for the replies firstly I now feel like an idiot I thought it might have been Ducati Performance but damned if i could find it. Thanks for the info Thorn in regards to the ride height i know its a small thing but I'm one of these people it would bug everytime i rode the bike so if its as simple as welding in a new top shock mount which i think it is may aswell do it. If anyone can chime in on this I'd be really grateful. Most of the Monsters I've been looking at have only 30k on the clock so plenty of time it would seem before anything major needs to be done it would seem. Also i did have another question just to verify was it 1994/95 where they changed the tanks from metal to plastic.

[stopintime]

The plastic tanks were introduced more like 2004 (around that time - check Ducati.com Bikes, Models archive)

The suspension geometry will be completely different without the large U. It's part of a linkage. Take out one part of a linkage = a series of new challenges.

[Howie]

There were billet replacement hoops in the past that might please your aesthetic sense a bit more, but the same design, AFAIR, a little taller though.  A re design, as Stopintime said, would be a major engineering project to replace a design that brought many Ducati Superbikes to the podium.

[koko64]

Motowheels has billet hoops/wishbones.

[Rudemouthsky]

Motowheels has billet hoops/wishbones.

Discontinued and sold out. 

Style and Performance has em...$$$$$ tho

[deviant]

Yep just saw that and they look nice too i could have one made but cnc machining is horrendously expensive here and i unfortunately dont know anyone that would do it cheaply. Ok in terms of removing it and please excuse my stubborness on the matter but its piqued my curioisty even with the hoop its a linkage actuated single pivot. So I'm thinking its possible to weld in a shock mount where the suspension link from the hoop initially resides...  I'll have a word with my fabricator about this if it cant be done i'll either get a later model price dependant or stick with the hoop.

[The ModFather]

KEYS are KEY!  Depending on the year it it's 2001-2007 (I think?)  Make sure you're getting Black Key, Red Key and the Code Card so you dont have to jump through hoops if you need to create another key (that's where the Red Key comes in). I've heard it is do-able (making another key that is) without the Red Key or key card but you wont get any help from a Duc dealer on it and you cant buy another Red Key. I've read multiple takes on how this all works and they all conflict. Either way if you get the red and black key at a minimum you should be good to go.

[Rudemouthsky]

Yep just saw that and they look nice too i could have one made but cnc machining is horrendously expensive here and i unfortunately dont know anyone that would do it cheaply. Ok in terms of removing it and please excuse my stubborness on the matter but its piqued my curioisty even with the hoop its a linkage actuated single pivot. So I'm thinking its possible to weld in a shock mount where the suspension link from the hoop initially resides...  I'll have a word with my fabricator about this if it cant be done i'll either get a later model price dependant or stick with the hoop.

Or you could be the first I've ever seen run a dual shock setup on a Monster, the DSS looks perfect for this, weld the mounts on the frame and swingarm and run Sport Classic shocks...now that would look cool...

[deviant]

Oh i know all about the keys Duck off after a friend bought one without any.... that was an expensive venture I'm looking at one of the earlier ones so its not too much of an issue especially if i get a carbureted thus no ecu to worry about. On the topic since im looking at a 1994 without any keys at the moment would it be ok to buy it gut the ignition and run it with something like a motogadget keyless ignition system. After some research today I'm leaning towards getting a really cheap one and doing it up which means lack of keys and such is a more prevalent issue.

[deviant]

Or you could be the first I've ever seen run a dual shock setup on a Monster, the DSS looks perfect for this, weld the mounts on the frame and swingarm and run Sport Classic shocks...now that would look cool...

The idea was for this to be a reasonably priced build and heres you giving me ideas like that.... though i must admit that is an idea hmm