Monsters-Only Track Reviews!

[showerfan]

I would love to hear some reviews and experiences from forum members riding Monsters of any kind. The track day post-ups sticky is great but seems to be cluttered with loads of people riding other bikes. I have tracked an 1199 and an S1krr and had a great time with both but want to get out there with a Monster.

I'd love to hear what people are doing with Monsters in regards to rearsets, exhausts and fairings, etc., as well as  just the general experiences of what it's like to ride different Monsters in a track setting. I have an M900 and an M1100 -- I'll probably take both out to the NY Safety Track in the coming weeks.

Thanks, Matt

[stopintime]

Priceless 

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=63600.0

[MonsterHPD]

Well, Stopintime, I did not make the connecion until now :-)

See you at Rudskogen at the Italian Days next year, if not sooner. You are my target :-)

[stopintime]

Well, Stopintime, I did not make the connecion until now :-)

See you at Rudskogen at the Italian Days next year, if not sooner. You are my target :-)

Isn't it hard to aim for a target that is so far away?

 

See you next year (if you're not visiting at Vålerbanen September 14. 15. (challenge!) (including Alfa and Ferrari 

[MonsterHPD]

Well, aim for the stars, hit the treetops :-)

Sorry, no Våler, I´m out of vacation days (and budget ...) for this year.

[showerfan]

i went to the New York Safety Track on my monster 1100 last week. still feels kinda slow and geared too high. i'll go back this weekend coming up on my m900 -- hopefully i know it better and can thrash that track. NYST does seem kind of tight though. i may prefer New Jersey Motorsports Park.

[MadDuck]

I think that if you have ridden an 1199 Panigale and a BMW S1000RR at the track then you might be disappointed with the Monster, but maybe not.  I tried for years to make my old M900 into a racer and did pretty darn good with it but try as I might, with all kinds of suspension improvements, it never really worked like I wanted it too. My real epiphany was riding a 2008 GSXR 750. OMG! It did everything great except make the kind of noise I liked to hear. Then I set up an 848 with full Ohlins front & rear. Now that was handling! Don't get me wrong. You can go fast, sort of fast, with a Monster and have a lot of fun on it but it's no where in the same league as the first bikes mentioned.   

[duccarlos]

I went to a couple of trackdays on my Monster. I did learn how to ride it better, but for a dedicated trackbike, I would not recommend it.

[thought]

I'm a pretty big fan of NYST vs NJMP.  NJMP can become a bit of a HP war but NYST is more rewarding with all those blind corners... and not to mention that polymer they use and the grip it gives instead of asphalt.  And I mean... the elevation changes at NJMP just clinch the win on my side.

[ducpainter]

I rode my M900 for 5 or 6 seasons on the track.

It was fun, but you'll reach the limits of the bike before you get as fast as you can get.

I only upgraded suspension and put a set of A/M cans. Ran the stock rearsets. When my feet started getting caught between the pegs and the brackets it was time for a different bike.

[pesto]

I rode my M900 for 5 or 6 seasons on the track.

It was fun, but you'll reach the limits of the bike before you get as fast as you can get.

I only upgraded suspension and put a set of A/M cans. Ran the stock rearsets. When my feet started getting caught between the pegs and the brackets it was time for a different bike.

Yeah, I'm at the point where I'm buying a track bike or swapping rearsets/installing clipons on the Monster. Kind of leaning towards the former and keeping the M696 for the street.

[MadDuck]

Yeah, I'm at the point where I'm buying a track bike or swapping rearsets/installing clipons on the Monster. Kind of leaning towards the former and keeping the M696 for the street.

You would be well advised to do just that.   

[showerfan]

Well fck. I'll bring the HP4 too. But I'm only a novice track rider, so I'll probably drop it.

[MadDuck]

Well fck. I'll bring the HP4 too. But I'm only a novice track rider, so I'll probably drop it.

Are you baiting me about dropping HP4's?   

[Greg]

I tracked my S2R-1000 for over a year, while I had a lot of fun with it, they do have a lot of limitations. The stock suspension sucks, brakes kind of suck as well and you'll end up wanting to spend money on ergonomics such as rear sets and new bars. Even if you do all that you'll still have a pretty slow bike, that is expensive to fix when crashed. I ended up not wanting to put all that $$$ into the bike and bought a cheap ZX6R already set up for the track. My lap times dropped by a huge amount and I was no longer worried about dropping it and facing a big repair bill.