So far behind on updating!

I can't believe how I've let things get away from me as far as updating this blog goes.

Lets see - I acquired another frame awhile back - yes, another M900 frame (pre-02, like the others - something about the racing 851-888-926 derivation of the early Monster frames that excites me most). So that makes 3 M900 frames and the 2V SBK.  For a swingarm, I happened to acquire a certain Febur Single-Sided Swingarm for the 94-01 Ducati Monster - so it will be a 916-Styled Swingarm on a '99 M900.  Whoo hoo!   Its not so straightforward, obviously using a different exhaust setup, different wheels, different rear brake setup, different suspension linkage and reaction rod, and get this: one-off dished/offset front sprocket. That was hard to come by (and you can bet I got a spare in case the source dries up down the road!)   I plan to use a bit of a custom exhaust setup to pull this off as I won't be able to migrate over the Sil Moto Spaghetti headers and Sil / NCR titanium pipes.

IMA Special Parts MOD4 Hybrid top triple with MOD1 Lower on Ducati Monster

Also, I've gotten another set of IMA billet triple clamps to put on the bike - but these are fancy, very fancy. They've got adjustable offset, anywhere from 25-31mm - I pick. Feel like changing? Change two bushings, and its done. IMA has gotten a US distributor now - and the 'full name' of their motorcycle parts brand is IMA Special Parts. That's worth noting since IMA SrL - the main company - does much more fabrication than motorcycle parts alone. Their bread 'n'  butter is manufacturing parts for FIAT Group Automobiles, the legendary car manufacturer (in existence since 1899!).

Here's some cool parts related to that tidbit - I can make a few short jumps (OK, some are stretches), and go from my Ducati Monster all the way to World Champion Jorge Lorenzo and to legendary automobile manufacturer Ferrari. Here we go:

IMA Special Parts MODEL 4 Adjustable Billet Triple Clamps ("MOD4"), and Adjustable Clipons

IMA Special Parts N.A. is the "North American" distributor of IMA Special Parts, the motorcycle products division of IMA SrL, of Torino, Italy. IMA SrL's main client is FIAT, and FIAT is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino - Italian Automobile Manufacturer of Torino. IMA Special Parts has just released their newest triple clamps design - highly versatile track-oriented triples for modern superbikes. They have branded MODEL 4 or "MOD4" (the next number in their products lineup. The new design is a product of a university study, with some pretty significant changes to the profile of the top triple to allow a designed-in amount of flex - and this reduces the front end 'chattering'. So you get more confidence over the front, and as they say "With more confidence, more podiums!"

IMA Special Parts MODEL 4 Adjustable Billet Triple Clamps ("MOD4"), and Adjustable Clipons (detail of profile)

"More podiums? Prove it, I say" And its not hard to see: The MOD4 departs from the basic triangle or bar configuration of triple clamps made in the last 50 years. Many manufacturers make aftermarket triple clamps from billet aluminum - whether is 6061, 6082 ANTICORODAL, or 7075 ERGAL. Big deal, nothing new there... but they are all the conventional shape with straight edges, or perhaps a decorative cutout here or there. The MOD4 has curves on the side of the triple towards the rider - like cutouts - and across the top are longitudinal cut outs - literally channels from front to rear. Its pretty wild looking. I've posted the pictures I got off their website (I'm sure they wouldn't mind) to show what I'm trying to describe. So, looking at these...I thought "I've seen this before"...and from another person related to FIAT, no less: Jorge Lorenzo uses triples like this - nearly identical to this - on the FIAT Yamaha M1 he won a world championship on!

 If you peak through the windscreen of his bike on the track, you can see the top triple pretty clearly.

And here's a detailed view of the cockpit on his pure prototype, no-expense spared, MotoGP FIAT Yamaha M1 from his World Championship season:

Same changes to the profile and same longitudinal cut-outs?! Both related to FIAT in a motorcycle capacity?!  Surely no coincidence... and sure enough: IMA has lots of pictures of on-track testing the triple clamps!  (Here's but one from their IMA SrL website)

Sometimes the world feels like a smaller place in the neatest ways.

Project 2V SBK photo updates

Lots of carbon fiber. Lots and lots of carbon fiber. 
Carbon Dream bodywork, headlight bucket, front fairing stays, tail, sebimoto airbox & air-runners, DP under tail, GPR half-system, CM Composit swingarm guard, DP heel guards, DP chain guard, CarbonDry heat shields, and other miscellaneous pieces. The triples are 30mm DucShop triples, NCR clipons, and lots of titanium. The rear has a magnesium eccentric, lots of titanium, billet brake caliper bracket, BST wheel, NCR ride height rod.

There's so much more to be done, but its a long-term project and finding the parts for an older generation bike takes both time and money.

Pictures? I got pictures.

I didn't forget the pictures from before, I just didn't have a good place to put them as I hadn't been good at taking pictures "mid-progress". As of today, here we have some pictures:

The M900 'V' with upgraded front end:

The details are: BST front wheel, 996 forks with TiNi sliders and Ohlins internals, all titanium hardware, TPO lightweight front axle, Motovation axle sliders, ISR billet monoblock 6-piston 6-pad calipers, ISR rotors, IMA 30mm offset triples, BST front fender and Spiegler brake lines.

Here's the M900 'W' on its way home from Northern Arkansas:

And with the work I've put in, the current bike looks pretty close to this:

Note the now-red frame!

M900W - Fueling

Still on the project M900W, the next element to sort out was the fuel system. The previous owner had really messed this up. I gutted the entire assembly and installed new fuel lines, a quick disconnect by the tank, a new fuel filter, a Pingel manual petcock, a new Mikuni vacuum fuel pump, and lastly pulled the already equipped Keihin FCR 41 carbs and thoroughly cleaned them.

This segment does not yet have a happy ending, as the electrical system was in even worse shape, so there was no chance of a test fire just yet.

The wiring harness had been cut through as if a kindergartner had been let loose on it with a pair of non-safety scissors. The taillight and turnsignal wiring was in shambles. Luckily, over the Christmas holidays, my father felt sorry for the poor bike's ugly wiring and sprung for Rizoma signals, which I believe he got from PJ's Parts. After some cutting, some soldering, some crimping, and some posi-locks, things are almost wired up. I still had a MotoLED tail light board from the M900V leftover when I upgraded to the Vizi-Tec system, so in it went as well. The tail was further chopped to accommodate a TPO taillight / license plate kit.

A Shorai battery just arrived from Motowheels, and I am excited to install it in the bike. But before a test of the bike can be performed, the electrical circuits must be reviewed again - the regulator had another ground wire coming off of it and running down the frame to the original battery location, and the fusebox contained all 30A fuses! These things will be remedied before its set in motion, and the regulator may be preemptively replaced/upgraded as well!

Other things done: All controls mounted on new handlebar (previous owner had poorly thought out clip-on installation), fresh oil, oil filter, oil cooler lines, bled hydraulics and put in new brake pads (will be upgraded masters to radial SBK masters with folding levers, purchased but not yet installed)

What's left to do? Tires, Chain, Clutch pack, install frame and rear axle sliders, CA-Cycleworks Exact-Fit Coils, sort out the remaining wiring, install shock and hoop, fill it up with gas, and hopefully ride off!

M900 V v. W

It has been sometime since I have updated this blog. The projects in the garage have progressed, and I've added a second 1999 M900 to the garage. This bike has the "W" stamped heads rather than the "V" stamped heads among several other odd features, and will be referred to as the M900W (where the "W" stands for the heads it is equipped with, or 'wife', take your pick).

This bike is for my wife to learn to ride on and for me to piddle about in comfort (as it has been setup with comfort in mind). The bike came from a gent in Northern Arkansas who did horrendous and unthinkable things to the bike, the least of which was spraypainting the already red-powdercoated frame a dingy black color. (The true frame color, under the red powdercoat is the antique gold, like my original 1999 M900V).

Beyond the frame paint, which my wife has since resolved, the bike was not properly running. The fuel lines, fuel vacuum petcock, fuel pump, and carburettors were in disarray. The fuel filter looked dark through the white plastic exterior. The swingarm had been chewed through by a malfunction cush drive lug on the rear wheel.

The bright: A quick perusal of eBay got me a black powdercoated swingarm in good condition, and a clean cush drive. These things went in straightaway, as well as a new sprocket set: 14/39T ratio, 520 pitch. The front wheel turns out to have been bent - back to eBay and that problem is also resolved.

Perusing the Ducati Monster Forum, eBay, Ducati.MS and other classifieds, I was able to locate a carbon fiber oil-catching bellypan, carbon underseat sidepanels, carbon rear hugger, and other bits and pieces of carbon. My M900 recently received a second set of IMA SrL Triple clamps with superbike fork diameter boring, along with a BST front wheel, TPO lightweight front axle, and 996 era forks with Ohlins internals (more about that in a later post).  That meant that the IMA triples that were on my bike, along with the forks with upgraded RaceTech internals were free to use on the M900W.

What's great about the IMA triples for the Ducati Monster is that they are true in shape and bolt location to the original Ducati triples, meaning that one can still mount a bar with riser to the top triple, and more excitingly, the original 'old-school' 1998-99 style front fairing. (This was not true of the CycleCat triples for that era bike).  As luck would have it, the previous owner had the original fairing brackets and fairing (and I still had the front fairing from the M900V as well), so I was able to mount that up along with the upgraded forks and triples.

More good: I still had a sidemount Ohlins steering damper from my M900V that was on the shelf unused (I preferred the under-triple location of the Motowheels kit with 68mm damper). So on it went with no issues. The front end was not only functional, but now substantially upgraded from stock (More for me to enjoy than for the wife to learn on).

The bad: I sat on the bike with the new front end to feel the balance and was horrified. The back end sank down like an overloaded pickup truck. Enter Motowheels and an Ohlins rear shock with remote reservoir, and billet reservoir mount! This has just arrived and will be installed shortly to complete the suspension upgrades on this bike. All three components of a suspension system have been upgraded now: The forks, the shock, and a steering damper. The chassis has been upgraded in the front with new triples, and the only missing element to upgrade would be a billet rear hoop. Turns out, Style & Performance still has these in stock in Europe, and Anthony @ Desmoworks was able to order one up. When this gets in, the bike will essentially have all the great upgrades one could look for in a chassis/suspension for this era Monster. (The only two possible other upgrades is a braced swingarm from Metmachex/JMC and Superbike forks with good internals).