Hello from Wheeling!

[cmross13]

hello. long time lurcher, second or third time poster. im Chris, i live in Wheeling WV. about 6 months ago i purchased a used M900, '96 vintage. it was faded yellow with a broken front fender and big ass touring seat on it. a friend of mine and i painted everything green(tank, carbon front fender, carbon seat cowl, carbon "M900" side panels) and swapped out the gnarly seat for a stocker(still looking for a DP "low").

i brought it home last Sunday, cut off the beer tray and installed a Monstertailchop.com integrated tail light and Atomic plate frame that had been rolling around in my trunk for six months lol. at that time i also unwrapped the shitty heat wrap from the exhaust and found an unknown carbon muffler and a spraypainted aluminum muffler, both had been cored and RTV'd shut prior to the wrap, so i found a pair of Marving cans on eBay and swapped those out. at the same time i installed some OEM Ducati Diavel tank emblems, and am currently investigating 7" LED headlight options and motowheels adaptor ring.

anyway, thats my story thus far. here are some before and after pics ..

[ungeheuer]

Very nice rescue 

Welcome aboard 

[Nekkid Tim]

Congrats, that is quite a transformation, and I'm sure your Monster is heaving a great sigh of relief!!!!!!   

[cmross13]

thanks for the welcome! IMHO, it certainly looks MUCH better, but its still a work in progress. i dont know if id call it a "sigh", more of a "caugh" lol as i'm pretty sure i need to get the carbs re-jetted and balanced out. for something that should have a little more power and weigh about half as much as my Harley, it sure doesnt feel like it pulls harder.

anyway, the truth is, this thing is really just training wheels. i bought it fairly cheap(i have about $3K in it) and plan to fix it up over the next few months, all while getting used to the riding position and being back on a sporty bike after 16 years. once i get really comfortable on it im going to trade it in on the next S4RS that becomes available, and hopefully recoup most of my initial investment as "trade in value". that has been my plan since the day this one was offered to me anyway.

also, heres my Harley over the years:

how i bought it at the dealer:


one month later(notice where the ducati paint came from lol):


current(another work in progress):


hard to see it, but thats dry metal flake, a'la 70's speedboats and snowmobiles: