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Although my bike is a 2007, the story
behind it started long before the 07 model year was even in showrooms.
Many DMLers will remember my last Monster from multiple posts in the
accessories and mods section. I was pretty proud of that bike and
spent countless hours working on it or thinking of ways to make it
better.
All the time and money and bruised knuckles finally became worth it
with a second place finish in the Ducati Monster Challenge in New
York City in January of 2006.
Unfortunately the fun ended in June of that same year as I crashed
the bike when someone pulled out in front of me while they exited
a parking lot. Although the damage was not substantial, it was enough
to break my heart. I felt it was time to put her up for sale. I spent
the next few weeks gathering the parts necessary to put it back together
and then listed it for sale on the DML.
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After many emails back and forth, the bike was finally sold to Yuu,
a fellow DMLer. I live in Massachusetts and Yuu lives in Washington
D.C. so we loaded the bike in a van and drove to a meeting place that
was roughly halfway between us in New Jersey.
While waiting for Yuu to show up I almost had second thoughts and
considered not selling it, especially after a few other DMLers who
were out for a ride stopped while getting fuel to see the bike. They
remembered seeing it in all the posts and at the Monster Challenge
in NYC.
Yuu finally arrived and after a few minutes looking over the bike,
asked to take it for a quick spin. Watching him take a test ride around
the parking area and knowing that the bike was soon to be gone left
an empty feeling inside. I could only take solace in the thought that
I was picking up my new (to me) Ducati 749 later that day.
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Many hours of driving later, we finally arrived in
the upper part of Vermont to pick up my new 749. It was everything
the current owner said it was. I spent almost an hour looking over
the bike and then made him an offer which he accepted and we loaded
up the bike and headed home.
The ride home took almost five hours and it gave me way too much time
to think. Although I was happy to finally be the owner of a Ducati
Superbike, I just couldn’t get over a feeling of emptiness inside.
That 749 started a string of buying and selling that lasted less than
six months and saw four different bikes come and go from my garage.
No matter what bike was parked there, I just couldn’t stop thinking
of my Monster.
Although I no longer owned a Monster, I still spent many hours on
the DML each week and remained active in NEMHA, my local Monster board.
I met many of my current friends through the NEMHA board and every
time we’d get together to ride I couldn’t take my eyes
off all their Monsters. My fate was sealed when I let Toucan ride
my 999 during one of our group rides this past spring. It was only
for a short distance, but while riding his M900 I just couldn’t
get the smile off of my face. I just knew I have to have another Monster.
And I knew it had to be an S2R1000 because I always wanted a single
sided swingarm on my old M900Sie but it never was done due to the
complexity of the job.
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The next day I listed the 999 for sale locally and on every forum
I could think of. I spent every free minute searching for my next
Monster and planning it’s transformation. Less than a week
later, the 999 was sold and I picked up my new S2R1000 that you
see here the same day.
Because the plans for the mods started taking shape even before
I purchased the bike, I had time to make a list of what I wanted,
and set out sourcing parts. I try to keep a theme when I build a
bike, not just throw a bunch of different parts at it and hope it
looks good when it’s done. The idea for this bike was to take
everything that a Ducati Monster is, and stands for, and improve
on it while keeping it in line with what the original designer envisioned.
I feel that Ducatis racing heritage is represented well through
the TriColor paint scheme and the mods done to increase performance.
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| Although I still need to do a few things before I feel
the bike is complete, here is a list of the mods so far: Custom TriColor
paint
Matris F05R fork cartridges in custom black anodized fork tubes
Matris M4R steering damper custom mounted to top triple
Cycle Cat DBR13 clipons
Cycle Cat DTC8 top triple
Alth Superbike rotors
Brembo 4 pad calipers
Brembo radial brake master cylinder
Brembo radial clutch master cylinder
Spiegler custom made stainless steel front brake and clutch lines
Rizoma brake and clutch reservoirs
Evoluzione clutch slave cylinder
Pazzo Racing levers
LeoVince 2 into 1 Carbon SBK exhaust
QuatD midpipe
Sargent seat
Carbon World carbon fiber no-chop beer tray
Rizoma Zero LED rear turn signals-modified to fit
Kellerman LED front turn signals
Monsterparts belly pan
Custom made Ducati “D” clutch cover
MPL tuning pressure plate
MPL tuning stainless steel clutch springs
MPL red anodized clutch spring retainers
Custom made Ducati Corse TriColor decals
Custom black painted headlight hardware and lower triple tree
Renthal 14T front sprocket
Mirrycle barend mirrors
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| As much as I’d like to say it all came together
as quickly as I would have liked, I just can’t. I tried to coordinate
everything so the bike was down for the least amount of time possible
because it was prime riding season. Because I had most of the funds
I needed put aside for the build, I ordered everything I thought I
needed within two days with the hopes of doing most of the work while
my front forks where out getting anodized and the Matris F05R cartridges
installed.
Unfortunately, the bike ended up being out of commission for three
weeks while I waited for the forks to come back. It did give me time
to take care of some of the smaller details like custom fitting the
Rizoma Zero LED rear turn signals to the new beer tray and painting
all the hardware and lower triple tree.
All in all I’d have to say that I am very happy with the end
result. It’s great feeling when people stop you wherever you
are to pay you a compliment on something you’ve created. I’ve
had several people tell me it looks like a limited edition factory
special, which is the biggest compliment I could have received.
A few weeks after it was completed, it took best Ducati at the annual
Italian Motorcycle Owners Club (IMOC) in Sturbridge Massachusetts.
I do have some future mods planned for the bike over the winter such
as Cycle Cat rearsets, a big bore kit, and a lightened flywheel. Then
it will be done…Ok, maybe not.
I would like to give special thanks to the following:
Jason and Vicki at The Department of Suspension
Billy Lebeau at Air Brush Works-Worcester, MA.
Jeff H. at Monsterparts
Jay Lucier aka-Stuckonjapbike, for all the help
Aria Cohen aka-Jewcati, for the help when needed the most
Dana at Riverside Ducati-Somerville, MA
Mark Reynolds and T.J. Inman at Wagner Ducati-Worcester, MA
All my fellow DMLers for all the inspiration
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