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month's featured bike - Steve Metz's 'Tigre' |
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With a bike like this, I get a
lot of questions. For example:
“Why would anyone do this to their bike?”
“Why a tiger?”
“Is your name Tony?”
and, my personal favorite: “I just have to ask… what’s with
the lion theme?”
(yes, someone asked me this once)
Hopefully I can answer some of these questions (except
for the last one)…
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The beginning of the tigerbike
The
story of the tigerbike starts with the first new bike
I’d ever owned, a black 2000 M900s. It originally looked
like this. After picking it up from
the dealer on that fateful day in April of 2000, I
was driving over to a friend’s house to show off the
new
bike. I never made it. About 1 mile from the dealer,
some clown in a cage pulled a U-turn in front of me
(from the right lane, not the left, mind you) and cut
me off.
I didn’t have time to brake to a stop, so I ended up
hitting the front corner of his car and got tossed
over the hood. I had one mile on the bike, the dealer
had
4. I got carted off in an ambulance and the bike got
towed.
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would be the last time I would see my bike for the next
6 weeks – a period I like to refer to as the “wait of shame.”
Parts for the model-year 2000 bikes were in scarce supply,
as apparently Ducati had wisely assumed people would not
crash within a mile of the dealer. As it later turned out,
my dealer very easily could have taken parts from a prior-year
model and got me driving again pretty quickly--oops. With
my knee was recovering and my bike in the shop, I had a
lot of spare time to sit around and think about what I
wanted to do with the bike. |
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The damage to the bike wasn’t all that bad – cans were
scratched up, front fork had a scratch at the bottom, and
the tank had a big dent from the handlebars (handlebar
lock had also snapped). After a little research, I realized
that new exhaust cans and a remap of my fuel injection
should be the first thing on the list. My dealer told me
they’d never done that with a Monster before, so that’s
when I found BCM Ducati in Laconia, NH. They would end
up helping with all the work on my bike from that point
forward. They even helped me put together the custom high-mount
on my cans. However, that still didn’t take care of my
tank. I was told a new tank would run over $1,000. Instead,
I found a guy who could bang the dent out of the tank and
repaint my front fairing, tank, side panels, and rear seat
cowl for less than that. I was sold.
So,
what design should I do? Another “black” (but really
dark metallic gray paint job), or something unique? I
decided
to try to do a theme related to the “monster” name. My
first inspiration was from the Wizard of Oz -- “lions and
tigers and bears.” Of the three, tigers are considerably
easier to convey through a motorcycle. Furthermore, this
color scheme helped the bike maintain its true Ducati heritage:
orange (the combination of red and yellow) and black were
the true Ducati colors! Also, my college mascot was the
tiger. Because I ran track in college, I felt a special
tie to the mascot. I felt I was on to something. The first
result:
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Something was missing… The suggestion for the tail came
from Susie at BCM Ducati, who happened to be an alumna
of my college. The result (at right)...
I would go on that winter to paint my rims, and my helmet.
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Need
for gear
I
bought this orange jacket, but it still wasn’t enough
for me. By now, you may have
noticed a significant under-investment in my gear.
I certainly did. Give me some
credit for progress—look where I started!
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My
first attempt at new riding gear left something to be
desired:
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Then I found an Australian company called Tiger Angel. At the time, the exchange
rates with Australia made this company particularly attractive. They allowed
me to design a two-piece zip-together suit with soft armor, have it custom-fit,
and using a custom shade of orange (that matches the bike in natural lighting)
for the same price as some off-the-shelf suits here in the US. Some tiger-ear
stick-ons for my helmet and the result: |
(Yes, that’s a tiger sewn onto my boot) |
I
later added a tiger-head helmet done by an artist in the
Boston area and the result was much better:
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Approval from Corporate
At this point, you might think a normal person would say
“whoa… what have I done? I have gone overboard and should
stop.” Instead, I came out to my bike one day and found
a business card sitting there. It read:
“I love the TIGRE. It’s a great bike.
Congratulations.
Federico”
I looked at the other side of the business card and realized
it was the CEO and Chairman of Ducati’s business card. So,
as much as anyone could criticize me from then on, I figured
that if the CEO liked it, it couldn’t be bad.
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Perks
One of my first trips on the bike after it was painted was a road trip to New
York. On the way back, I was coming through the toll-booths in Boston.
The woman collecting the tolls liked my bike so much that she just waved
me through. It saved me $0.50, and got me thinking that if that happened
enough, it would represent a pretty real subsidy. Unfortunately, it hasn’t
happened since…
One
other time, I took a buddy out for a spin around Boston.
He’d been thinking about getting a bike and wanted to
see what it was like to ride around on one. We went driving
through downtown Boston on a Friday night. On Mass Ave,
near the center for the bars and restaurants, the girl
in the car next to us started waving. She seemed pretty
excited to see the tigerbike. My friend and I look over
as she flashes us (while she’s driving). My friend was
pretty surprised and asked me about it when we stopped.
I tried to play it off and tell him that women love motorcycles
and that it just happens all the time when you’re on
a bike… He signed up for the motorcycle safety class
the next week.
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Racing
I started doing some track days through BCM Ducati in Laconia, NH. They sponsored
a few events a year at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon.
After I have done my 6th track day, a few people asked me if I had ever
thought about racing. I considered it (briefly) and then decided it was
worth a try.
I
moved out to California in the beginning of 2003
– mostly to be in a place with better riding conditions,
roads, and tracks. I picked up a used Apr%l?@ RS250
and started racing. A complete novice to paintwork,
I took a stab at making the bike a two-tone orange
and black. After my first crash, I went to the tiger-striped
theme with the help of a friend. Recently, the motor
on that bike croaked, so I used it as an excuse to
make the move I’d always wanted to – and picked up
a 749. I plan to do a reasonably nice-looking tiger-striped
paint job on it (myself) next month and have it ready
to race at Sears Point in the last AFM event of the
season in its true tiger-striped form.
Modifications:
Functional
mods:
-tail
-944 kit, ported heads
-lightened flywheel
-up one tooth on rear sprocket
-Yoyodyne clutch slave cylinder
-Barnett clutch pack with gold-tint springs (with painted spring cups)
-stiffer fork springs
-DID EVR2 race chain
-Braking Wave Rotors and sintered pads
-Ventura Pak luggage system
Cosmetic
Modifications:
-tiger riding buddy near instruments
-“TIGRE99” license plate
-carbon fiber belt covers
-Rizoma open clutch cover
-Rizoma black clutch and brake fluid reservoirs
-Black radiator cover
-tail chop (complete with orange plugs for the opening in the frame)
-gold and black gas cap (complete with orange-painted screws)
-custom paint (windscreen, tank, side panels, seat cowl, rims, rearset bolts,
frame plugs, handlebar clamp, handlebar clamp bolts, instrumentation bolts,
clutch and brake fluid reservoir clamps, clutch pressure plate)
-powdercoating (rearsets, sidestand, rear brake linkage, clutch and brake
fluid reservoir mounts, exhaust hangers, brake and clutch levers)
Planned
modifications
-Paint frame orange
-Powdercoat engine casings black
-Ceramic coat header pipes, custom connectors to cans, and exhaust can tips
all black
Wish
List
-Powerdercoat forks black
-Orange triple-clamps
-Single-sided swinger
-Magnesium or carbon fiber rims
-Horn that emits a tiger growl
-Dual headlight that sits mostly flush with current windscreen (I think it
would help made the headlight assembly look more like a tiger head)
-Fuzzy dice
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My
eventual goal with the bike is to turn every part orange,
black, or gold – eliminating any silver part on the
bike (with perhaps the exception of the rear shock).
It’s not an easy road to go down, but once I have the
frame and the engine “de-silvered” it should be within
reach.
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