To Wrench or Not to Wrench

[BarneePhife]

Seeking LSD advice.

Lyndy's bike is not finished  (v1.1, seeking to upgrade to v1.9).  Several more goodies are lined up (and have already arrived), but need to be installed.

The question is:

Pay someone to do it?
Or do it "ourselves" (note:  ourselves means - eager members of the DFWM doing it with us).

See... we don't' have the equipment. lift, tools, and knowledge to do it ourselves.  But the great thing about the bike, and the community, and you  guys is that just about anything is possible for a DIY.

What we're faced with at the moment:

Raise ride height, front and rear.
Remove existing stock bars and install clip-ons, Rizoma grips, bar ends, new Pazzo levers.
But we don't know if we even have all the right parts, or spare parts in case something comes up.

Pros:
DIY = fun, and learning, and a reason for people to get together, share knowledge.
Pay = confidence in job done right, safety.

Cons:
DIY = safety concerns if not done right, project could take a long time, inadequate tools/facilities
Pay = money, not learning anything, no grease under fingernails to show that you're cool like that.

Discuss.

[Bonwilder]

Don't know anything about raising the ride height, but everything else can be done fairly easily.  It's fun to work on bikes and satisfying.  I say make it a day and we can all do it, but that's easy for me to say because I prob won't be doing the work.  Would love to help in any way possible.... Happy decision making!!! 

[BarneePhife]

Would love to help in any way possible....  

Funny, that's the same thing we're thinking about our involvement in this effort. 

[Ideapimp]

Just do it. It's good for you both. Sarah's always happy when I have her help me work on her car. She loves to learn the ins and outs...and what have yous.

I almost never pay to have stuff done on my cars...and now bike. I'm consistently surprised at how easy this thing is to work on. I guess because half the pain in the arse about working on a car is having to crawl inside and around things having nothing to do with what you're trying to work on.

Case in point - it took me about 5 min. to pull the tank two days ago for paint. Imagine pulling the gas tank from my car! 

[pipeliner1978]

Well, I have zero skills at wrenching and I intalled the bars that are currently on the 600 and all the mods on the S4R.  So, if I could do it in my garage, multiple people could surely make it right.  Make a day of it, and have Lyndy start sweet talkin someone with a lift....

[El Matador]

That is all pretty easy stuff to do. I've done all of it except raising the front, which I still don't know what you mean by it. By doing that you would be changing the geometry of the bike and thus changing the handling pretty drastically.

There are some really really knowledgeable peeps among you, so it would not be a problem I'm sure.

Plus, you can find directions for most of what you asked here. 

[pipeliner1978]

That is all pretty easy stuff to do. I've done all of it except raising the front, which I still don't know what you mean by it. By doing that you would be changing the geometry of the bike and thus changing the handling pretty drastically.

I think it was already lowered when Bon (mmmm.......bon bons <drool>)bought it from Eurosport.  Damn little people got make it hard on everyone else...

[bryant8]

First do you need to raise the height?  Geometry change may be a side effect.  If it's a comfort thing, consider rearsets

You'll need to measure the stock set up and keep record of it somewhere in case the adjustments are less than desirable

Tools - most of the bolts and fasters are pretty standard metric socket sets or in your basic metric allen/T-handle sets.  If I recall the M600 has the "hoop" over the rear wheel.  I think David know more about the details of adjusting that.  

Clip ons are pretty straight forward.  Just take your time and get familiar with the process before you dive into it.  Take pics each step of the way, so that if you find a fastener that doesn't have a home you can located its origin.  

Have fun, 14t sprocket a painted belt covers while your at it

[El Matador]

MTC you have 666 posts

[BarneePhife]

That is all pretty easy stuff to do. I've done all of it except raising the front, which I still don't know what you mean by it. By doing that you would be changing the geometry of the bike and thus changing the handling pretty drastically.

Yeah, I'm concerned about changing the geometry, but I don't think it's configured "stock" right now.  I believe this was done for the original buyer of the bike who was pretty short.  Look a this pic.  See how far out the top of the triple the fork comes up?  I'm thinking we want to "raise the front end" by making the tops of the fork tubes relatively flush/even with the top of the triple.  Even in this pic you can see that it sticks out about an inch or more.

Plus, she wants to put clip-ons on there - so they will either need to go above or below the triple, and no matter which is chosen, the current setup won't allow that.

[BarneePhife]

First do you need to raise the height?  Geometry change may be a side effect.  If it's a comfort thing, consider rearsets

You'll need to measure the stock set up and keep record of it somewhere in case the adjustments are less than desirable

Tools - most of the bolts and fasters are pretty standard metric socket sets or in your basic metric allen/T-handle sets.  If I recall the M600 has the "hoop" over the rear wheel.  I think David know more about the details of adjusting that.  

Clip ons are pretty straight forward.  Just take your time and get familiar with the process before you dive into it.  Take pics each step of the way, so that if you find a fastener that doesn't have a home you can located its origin.  

Have fun, 14t sprocket a painted belt covers while your at it

B8,

As Tommy pointed out, the bike was already lowered by Eurosport for the first owner of the bike.  So much for measuring stock geometry.  I don't think's it really a riding comfort issue, but more of a inseam issue.  Lyndy is 5'11" and when she's stopped at a light her legs are still bent pretty far (almost looks like she's still got her feet on the pegs  ).  So we're looking for a little more "seat height", through whatever means are available without making the bike strange to handle.

Sprocket and belt covers are on the list that will finally bring the M600 to final v2.0!   

[bryant8]

That does look a bit much, here's a pic of my 620 with the stock bars still on.  The top of the forks are not flush with the triple



You may want to look at ducati.com and see if you can hunt down how much the forks stuck out stock.

Or call AMS and see if Jeff's around

[fastwin]

Lowering the forks so the top of the stanchion tubes fit flush with the top of the triple clamp is no biggie. That's where they should be, go look at a stock (and I do mean stock) 600 and see. Maybe look at Lisa's 600, if the tubes are in the original stock position. I see by the pic that you are right, the front was lowered by raising the tubes in the triple clamp.  

The back I don't know. I've never owned/worked on a 600 but don't they have a non-adjustable ride height rear suspension set up? Good question for Bryant, Lisa or Scott.

[El Matador]

the six nine fiver



You should have about 3 cm of tube above the triple. another option to consider are cyclecat fork extenders, they look sweet and give you an aggressive position that is not too aggressive.

[pipeliner1978]

MTC you have 666 posts

no I don't