Ready for Vegas

The bike is officially ready for Vegas. New Michelin Pilot Road tires are on the bike, and the DDM HID headlight has had to come off. The incredibly long, automobile-derived wiring loom is far too much for underneath my tank and was a short ride from melting into oblivion. The AG Hammer rearsets (AGgressive Hammer is the full name of the manufacturer) work very well, and all necessary adjustments to actuate the brake light and pedal position have been made. 

The Nichols flywheel performs very well, however there was a bit of a challenge in getting the VeeTwo basket/hub and Barnett Clutch to perform. The malfunction, however, was at the slave cylinder side, and was the result of the shorter (225mm) pushrod of my 1999, compared with the longer (235mm) pushrod of the later bikes. Also, the STM pushrod pin (cup that fits into the pressure plate bearing) had the small bearing inside it seize, and had begun to drill into my original pushrod, and similarly the clutch pressure plate bearing had all but given up as well. The combination of tight spot in the bearing, short pushrod, and seized pushrod pin bearing had the bike unable to shift gears very well (The clutch wouldn't disengage without repeated pumping of the lever). Stuart Rust was able to identify the problem, and we replaced all failing components, and bolted up a new Ducati Performance slave cylinder as well. (Turns out the malfunction was from no fault of my own!)

Here's a pic from about a week ago, and but they don't include the new slave cylinder, or new tires yet. New pics tomorrowish with the bike geared up and ready to go. 

After the trip, the bike is due a valve inspection, and there's a set of Sil-Moto Spaghetti pipes waiting at home as well. 

Winter Work - 2007-08

Not too much new for the bike this winter. A set of Ducati Performance Reverse Megaphones has replaced the Ex Box as the classic, or retro look was desired. Gold Anodized Vee-Two cam pulleys have been installed as well as CA-Cycleworks Ignition Coils to liven up the spark. Alain @ Corse Motorsports supplied the work, but obviously the slipons were a breeze to install, and the cam pulleys were relatively painless (said Alain) and just required proper degreeing. The ignition coils installation has been covered ad nauseum so it would be silly to remind you again how painless this install is.



On order from Motowheels is a custom Sargent seat to replace the stiff, improperly angled stock seat. The often colored welt will remain black on my seat, with the Italian Flag on the side and the CarbonFX seat material insert. The seat cowl will still adorn the rear as it fits over the Sargent without too much issue. The underside of the aftermarket seat has increased storage making stowage of a wheel lock or wallet much easier.



Shifting has changed as the bike is now setup with a GP-style shifter from Motowheels. Their new style reverse shifter has an upgraded curved look with your choice of anodized color for the toe piece, but is unfortunately too long for Monsters with the large diameter bolt kickstand and stock rearsets. Their other unit, with replaceable toe piece is shorter, however, and should work fine. Riding with the new shift pattern may be tricky but a post-it on the tach reminding "down for up" will help me. Pictures will be featured below within a few days.

Next up on the list? Tail Chop, Reworked forks, New
rear suspension, clutch plate & cover.

Nearing Completion

Things have been going well in the rebuild progress. The Vee-Two pulleys will wait for installation until the riding season has come to an end as it requires pulling the alternator side cover off to properly adjust them (otherwise, why have adjustable pulleys?) This will allow me to have the alternator side shipped off to be coated by Performance Coatings for a nice satin silver to match the heads/swingarm/suspension arc etc. While the motor is slightly opened up, the clutch side cover will likely be sent to DesmoTimes for Corse-style slotting, enabling the spinning basket to be visible as well as extra heat rejection.



The only other remaining piece from this past winter's (2006) planning is the Red Racing Bellypan. It is due back from paint (at Speedzone Paint & Bodyworks) by the end of next week and will be installed shortly after. Things like DynaCoils, FCR's, Ohlins Shock and RaceTech springs have been put on hold while I work on getting gear together for trackdays and a track duty bike. Current pictures are of the bike from June 18th, 2007.

Italy & Australia

Two big parts came in recently. The Rizoma Belt Covers (ZDM018A's) brought to me from Italy by PJ's Parts and the Vee-Two Pulleys (V2-12-305) straight from Australia. The pulleys are billet with gold anodizing and one of the last of the color anodized sets available. They are adjustable and the gold anodizing will be visible through the windows in the billet belt covers. This improves significantly on the appearance of the motor as the stock belt covers were worse than ugly and the pulleys were non-adjustable. It is luck that the gold was still available as it has been discontinued (they only make 'clear' finish now) and this piece compliments the majority of the billet on the bike which is gold (the rest being silver, save the handlebars and new top triple, see below).

Also in recently with pics up now are the Spiegler custom brake lines in red and gold, with gold banjo bolts and gold fork preload adjusters to boot. See the pics below. From Motowheels.



The other big thing to come in recently is a CycleCat DTC-2 Top Triple in Titanium anodizing. This matches the CycleCat DBR-3 clipon handlebars (also in Titanium) that are currently on the bike. The top triple was technically a blem though you'd be trying really really hard to be able to find a blemish anywhere on it. It is simply beautiful. Purchased directly from OnCycles.com