Monster Race Bikes

[fasterblkduc]

Here's one in progress for a 450 moto conversion. It wouldn't have to be as big as this one, and could look a lot cleaner but you get the idea.

[jarelj]

Yeah, something like that could work, the only issue we'll have on the Monster is flex since those tabs that hold the rearsets on are just two little tabs off the bottom of the frame rather than bolting right into the frame as on that motard bike.  That's why I was thinking that a thicker billet piece might be better than thin steel.  We'll need something that can take the side load of the rider's weight on the pegs.  I'll get the machinist over to take a look at it and we'll see what he comes up with.

[jarelj]

Well, the rearset plate idea is not dead but taking WAY longer than I thought it would.  Looks like it might be something that can finally be ready for next season.  I just put some 10mm spacers behind the bolts to get them out a little wider for now.  In the meantime, I did finally get my first race weekend done on the Monster!  I took it out to Motorsports Park Hastings this past weekend for the CCS races.  It took all of one lap in the track day on Saturday to figure out the geometry was still too steep, it was head-shaking too much and was falling in through the corners.  After waiting for a couple hours of rain to pass, I got some more laps in the afternoon with the front end raised and rear end lowered, and it was handling much better.  It's still just a tad steep, but I can't lower it any more in the rear without machining down the spacers I have installed in the U arm.  Corner entry on it is nearly perfect, it feels as good any any bike I've ridden going in, turn-in is very low-effort and it holds a line very well.  The riding position still needs some tweaks, it's not ideal.  I need to get the footpegs back a little farther, which will require having the up-pipes on the exhaust reshaped to be lower.  The motor pulled well, and I had no mechanical problems at all the whole weekend other than my oil breather filter was spitting out oil, so I had to replace it with the patented Ducati Corse 900 Monster Oil Breather Catch Kit (aka. a water bottle with a rag stuffed inside...).  Overall it was a very enjoyable weekend, I did 4 races on Sunday, never crashed or had any "oops" moments, and had the best looking bike in the Lightweight class!  I was only .5 secs off my fastest pace ever at that track on the brand new bike, so it's looking pretty good for the Monster as as Lightweight class race platform!

[fasterblkduc]

Cool! sounds like you're shaking the bugs out. .5 secs away from your best time is a great way to start on the 900. Was your best time on a SV?

I'm still interested in a couple of sets of rearset adapter plates. Let me know what you figure out.

Congrats on getting the bike on the grid   You should come up and run the last weekend with CRA. We'll be on the new short course for the first time at BIR! 19th-21st, with a trackaddix day on the 18th to give us an extra day to learn the track...can't wait!

I'm ahead in the UL championship by 23 points going into this last weekend...fingers crossed!

[jarelj]

Cool! sounds like you're shaking the bugs out. .5 secs away from your best time is a great way to start on the 900. Was your best time on a SV?

I'm still interested in a couple of sets of rearset adapter plates. Let me know what you figure out.

Congrats on getting the bike on the grid   You should come up and run the last weekend with CRA. We'll be on the new short course for the first time at BIR! 19th-21st, with a trackaddix day on the 18th to give us an extra day to learn the track...can't wait!

I'm ahead in the UL championship by 23 points going into this last weekend...fingers crossed!

My best time at Hastings was on the Ninja 650R in 2006, 1:41.9, it was good enough for a podium in the LW Am class back then.  I used to race an SV back in '04/'05 but that track wasn't built yet. 

Good luck in wrapping up the championship! 

[jarelj]

I've had the Monster racer out at two more track days since the last update, last Monday at Putnam Park at the Ducati-only track day following the Indy GP, and then today at the TrackAddix MotoMonday event at Mid-America Motorplex.  It's really working out well, I'm having a lot of fun on the bike and am coming to terms with how to ride the air-cooled motor fast (short-shift and ride the torque curve).  I had never been to Putnam before so I had no lap times to compare to there, but I liked the track and after I figured out a decent line through the blind turns I was going pretty good in the afternoon in the "A" session.  MAM is my home track, so I know exactly what the score is there, and the Monster is right on track.  I was less than 1 sec off the fastest lap I've ever done there on my 1098, and I think the 1098 is AT LEAST 2 secs faster on the front straight so that means I'm carrying more speed everywhere else on the track on the Monster.  Pretty cool what you can do with a light and easy to ride bike.  Our last race weekend of the year is in 2 weeks at MAM, I'm looking forward to it! 

[fasterblkduc]

Cool, good job! Once you get it set up just right, you'll go even faster. MAM is fun. I haven't had my Monster on it yet, only a middleweight but i would like to bring it down there.

Keep us posted on how you're doing on it

[jarelj]

My race season is officially over following the final CCS weekend at MAM.  Unfortunately I only got to race in one class (Thunderbike) due to business commitments keeping me away from the track, but even just doing one race was a total blast!  I started in dead last, worked my way past the Buells to maintain a little Ducati pride, and finished 2nd in the class.  I was hoping to battle for the win, but after the awesome wheelie I did at the start, it was going to be very difficult to catch back up to the leader.  He ended up 9 secs ahead of me at the finish, and I was 15 secs ahead of the guy behind me.  So sad that the season is over, but I'm really looking forward to next year since I'll have a little time over the winter to really get the Monster dialed in, get the suspension redone, shave a little more weight, raise the compression and get the dual-spark setup working.  I'm already dead-even with the XB-12R's on the straight, so if I can squeeze out another 5 hp it should be a lot of fun!

Here are me and the Monster working hard for the Ducati pride!

[zooom]

I am not racing my 98Monster900...but it is my track pregnant dog...which has slowly evolved through some different phases and looks..

when I got it, I pretty much changed the tires and took off the streetfighter lights the guy had on it  and put on a crashable clutch cover as apposed the the cut plastic stocker the guy had on it and ran it like this...


then I put in some winter wrenching time and had picked up this skin job from a DML'r that was hung with brake tubing that was custom bent to hang off of various points of the bike for support. I painted it up myself in a makeshift EZ-Up turned into a paint booth in the cold heated by a propane tent heater and bolted on some rear sets that I traded for and VOILA...

http://www.mad-ducati.com/GalleryShowTN.php?GalleryId=436

the second track date with that set-up, I had a brake problem and ended up putting the bike down in a low side and trashed the plastics, so it was off to the next incarnation. I had picked up a spare parts kit (sorta) for the Cycle Cat parts that got trashed too. There was a Ducati Dealer (Bogarts Motorsports in Alabama) who was utterly fed up with the whole Cycle Cat debacle that he had a Multistrada kit that had a couple bits missing (but had what I needed in it) that he sold to me at a  stupidly deeply discounted price just to be rid of it. I had a bracket fabbed up for the steering head downtube for bolting on a proper fairing stay and have a 748/916/996/998 upper with double bubble windscreen hung. I have gotten rid of the MacGuyver'd 2 into 1 exhaust that the guy I bought the bike from made for it and hung a proper header with Silmotor pipes. I had the adjustable Showa 888 forks that are on it resprung and resealed and got a fully adjustable Ohlins rear on it now. Also I am having a new set of bearings installed on a set of red 5 Spoke Marchesini wheeels from a Senna style SS900 and am hitting the track this coming Monday and Tuesday with some new rubber booties as well!