This Month's Featured Bike - Stuart Baker's Hotrod M750
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Stuart's bike, in case you've been living in a cave, is the Monster that won the Monster Challenge contest for the "Coolest Monster". Stuart is a really nice guy, unassuming, with a quiet but deep knowledge of things Ducati, and an almost scary determination to get his bike the way he wants it. Stuart would be far too modest to call his bike a "hotrod" but that's the name that came to my mind after he graciously offered to let me ride it. It was a crisp morning on the Angeles Crest, in Los Angeles, and a group of San Francisco hooligans and I were visiting the area. After a brisk and, umm, interesting ride to the local hash house that included patches of ice on the road, it was with a little trepidation that I accepted Stuart's offer. Now wadding some friend's bike would be bad enough, but wadding a bike you know a guy has spent thousands of hours making just so would be suicidal - even if that guy was as nice as Stuart. So I carefully swung a leg over the bike and marveled at how small and low it felt. It seemed more like a 250 than a 750. I reached for the bars and realized that Stuart prefers to be more horizontal than vertical while riding. But it all felt strangely good. I thumbed the starter and just about jumped out of my skin. If you look closely at the pictures, you'll see that the "exhaust system" is little more than a straight pipe with some baffling. Of course, in my excitement to ride it, I forgot to put in my earplugs. Yow! As I followed the other bikes down the unfamiliar road, riding this precious but strange motorcycle, I kept thinking to myself, "please don't let me crash", but somehow the bike just felt right. Usually when I ride someone else's bike there are a lot of little things that seem different and somehow wrong, but Stuart's bike just felt sorted and solid, and as I wanted to keep the pace with the other riders, I found myself giddily ripping around corners on this beast. The cornering was superb, and as I reached the apex I'd roll on the throttle and be rewarded with a huge BWWAAAAAAA! and the wonderful sensation of having my butt pushed back against the seatback. The rhythm of brake, downshift, lean, accelerate became familiar and good and I really started to get in the flow of riding this hotrod bike. Sadly though, we came to an intersection and I knew I'd have to give it back to Stuart. It was a wonderful ride while I had it. Oh, and I was really glad I didn't crash! |
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One of the first things you notice about the bike when you look closely, is how clean it is. Not clean as in washed, but clean as in all extraneous clutter removed. The bike just looks right; it looks elemental. Nothing more could be removed without losing something significant. The first thing that catches your eye is the large space around the engine heads - then it hits you. No airbox, no wires, nothing but Desmo. |
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The secret of all that cleanliness is a box Stuart fabbed up to hold all the electrics and wires, but still provide enough cooling to keep chips from getting fried. All the wires are routed out the back of the box so none of it is visible with the tank on the bike. |
Other esoteric treats include an insert in the oil sight window to reduce weight and add another 'little touch' that only a few would notice. There's also a nice treatment on the handlbar that integrates the turnsignals, and a custom brace for the rear brake. As noted above, the exhaust is a pretty throaty affair, with only a minimal insert to dull the desmo roar. The tail light is a reproduction taillamp from 1954 Chevy, and the seat is a custom fiberglass piece. |
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The truly insane part of this bike is Stuart's dry clutch conversion. I won't even pretend to understand it, but here's Stuart's take on the matter: "First off, it's NOT for the timid. I've heard of two other people who have done it. No-one recommends it for a back-yard mechanic. It involves 5 custom machined spacers, a custom machined bushing, and a special oil seal from Europe (for some reason, I couldn't get the right seal here in the US)." More details can be found in the Modifications section at the bottom. |
| There is also a custom steering damper mount , a custom fender mount, and a host of other small changes everywhere you look, but it's all so well done that if you don't know what the original looks like, you'd never know it had changed. |  |
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Here's some of Stuart's story: "I actually (Gulp!) bought the bike new from R&S Yamaha/Ducati in Albuquerque, NM on July 1, 2000. It had 28 miles on it. I had wanted a Ducati for a while, and thought that I would always keep it 'as new'! In hindsight, I knew that was BS....I don't keep things stock for too long. When it had about 800 - 1000 miles on it, I stopped on a highway to help a guy with a classic mustang on the side of the road. A semi-truck came by and gusted up enough wind to leverage the self-retracting kick stand. The bike tipped over and the tank dented and broke my shift lever. After that.... the slippery slope of modifications came into play." Stuart started with a photo of the stock bike and with a pen and some white-out went to work, envisioning a cafe racer. As you can see, the final product is very close to the original vision. |
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| Below are a few photos of the build process: |  |
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| Here's Stuart with Michael Lock at Daytona | Modifications:99 Monster 750ELECTRICS
ENGINE
BODY/FRAMECustom modified frame including the following:
BRAKES
SUSPENSION
Plus many other custom touches to complete bike aesthetically and mechanically (read the above as: I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things here.....) |
Stuart would like thank the following people: "I'd like to thank the following people for thier help with my project: My EXCEPTIONALLY understand wife Patricia, My friends Zak Gutmann, and Michael Hidvegi, and the countless others who helped in very little but important ways!" Since his Monster Challenge win, Stuart has gone on to open his own motorcycle shop. He'll be offering his talents to other Desmo-heads at Flight Motorcycle Company. Contact him at: Flightcycles@yahoo.com Do what you love and the money will follow. Good luck Stuart, and keep building interesting bikes! |
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