Monster 1100Evo Front end update

[Barney]

a few weeks ago was the delaware valley norton rider's meet up in Washington Crossing, PA, so I decided to take a ride across the river to check it out  - couldn't get over the endless rows of amazingly beautiful machines of all makes, and once again I was lusting for something a little more classic than the looks of my newer Monster - When i first got the bike, i loved the futuristic looking front end, but over the years it's started to look cartoony to me, and several times ive considered trading it for a R9T or a Thruxton, but i just can't bring myself to do it. I love the looks of those bikes, but I know i'll miss the Monster too much if i do make a change. So, last week i finally bit the bullet and ordered up a new light and blinkers and I couldn't be happier with the results - here's a couple of crapy cell phone pics to give you an idea, and i'll be getting some more up this weekend





Let me know what you think!

[koko64]

They should have come like that.  It would have been a nice update in style while keeping touch with tradition. That head light is old enough and new enough in style to work really well.

[koko64]

That would take a bikini fairing if so desired aka S4R, M900ie, S2R, etc. Better than the stupid little monkey hat that was available for that model.
It opens possibilities.

[kopfjäger]

  Monkey hat 

[Barney]

They should have come like that.  It would have been a nice update in style while keeping touch with tradition. That head light is old enough and new enough in style to work really well.

You're absolutely right - I know I'm not the first to swap the headlight on the newer bikes, but I'm surprised it's not a more popular mod.

I had the bikini before the swap, but that's only because I didn't have the regular cover and I wasn't motivated enough to swap just that out - I've never really been a fan of them on any of the monsters to be honest. It will be interesting to take it out on the highway though, I haven't had a chance to really ride it since I swapped, and I'm sure it's nowhere near as aero as the stock setup.

[Barney]

Got a couple new pics

[wannabfast]

where did you get the light/bucket, bracketry from? i wanna do this

[koko64]

You got me thinking about doing this to my Hypermotard.

[Barney]

sorry for the delayed response!  I've been too busy riding...It's definitely less aero than the old set up was, but I'm loving it none the less. actually got some more pics, hot off the presses from earlier tonite as well.



sorry if the drama shots are not your thing - recently got into off camera flash and they're fun to me.

the whole bracket set up came from a company out of california called motodemic - I worked with a gentleman named Brad who from the looks of his email sig, appears to be the founder of the company.  Very very good service...the only thing i wasn't happy with was the brand name is etched into the bracket that holds the instruments, and it's right in your face - nothing a little bondo and a coat of paint couldn't make disappear though, which is what happened to mine before it even touched the bike.  This was actually the company I was going to go with for their universal fork mounts, so when I found this, i was ecstatic. I'm not skilled enough to have figured out what to do with the instrument mount on my own, which was part of what was holding me back from the swap...

Blinkers are from motogadget and they came prewired and with a resistors, so they're plug and play front and rear.  I also wound up modifying the tidy tail so I could run the same blinkers front and rear - did a pretty messy job but they're so tucked away that they just disappear.  In hindsight, I might have opted for an integrated tail light for ease, but I kind of like these because they're highly visible from the side.

here's that bracket thing, it's literally right underneath the instruments and the first thing you'd see every time you looked down.



and what I did to rectify it.
Bondo:

sanding:

painting:


the first time I painted it, although it was now smooth, you could still make out the logo because I was lazy and didn't prime it first and the paint took differently to the bondo than the metal - I wound up sanding it back down to metal after 3-4 coats and primed, then painted and it was like it was never there.  whole thing would've taken maybe 10-15 minutes of actual work if I'd done it right the first time, not including time for things to dry. Installation took about an hour and a half for the rest of the front end, and an evening to figure out the rear blinkers.