LeMarsu
26-01-2004, 08:34 PM
Originally posted by djdmonster on 26-06-2003
I purchased my red M750 new in the summer of 1997. The only real weakness of the bike was the single front brake disk. The 1997 model did not even have a caliper mounting bracket on the other fork leg so if you wanted twin disks you had to replace the fork leg! That said, once braided lines were fitted the braking performance wasn't too bad anyway. But all that was a long time ago! Since then the bike has done over 20,000 miles, including a couple of trips to Italy. It's been crashed twice; once at fairly high speed in the rain at Knockhill and once at low speed on a patch of diesel. Both were annoying and costly. If you haven't done it yet, when you crash a Monster the bars almost always bend into the tank giving you a nice expensive dent to fix. The engine doesn't touch down, as the main force is taken on the bars, exhausts, foot rests and the bottom of the fork legs. Since the last crash I've fitted a pair of Moko crash bungs. These a very substanial items which look as if they might actually do some good. Hopefully I won't find out though!
I have a head lamp fairing which is painted up in Infostrada colours by MRS Racepaint, with Ducati Performance and Corse logos elsewhere on the bike as approriate to give it that 'racer' look! Kind of a Foggy rep but I did mine a few years before the official one came out!
The bike has been heavily modified over the years. A while ago I stripped the whole thing down to individual parts and had the frame, swingarm and wheels powder coated. The frame and wheels are a dark metalic grey and the swingarm is black. This was cheap and looks a mile better than the original paint which was beginning to look a bit tired in places. I also repainted the engine cases (black) at that time.
I've been few a couple of different exhaust systems. The first were a set of low level road legal carbon Termi's. These looked quite nice but were still a bit heavy and quiet. Secondly were a set of carbon high level Sils. These sounded good (very loud) but the fit was a bit dodgy. Once the carbon got a bit scorched I had them resleaved with titanium. The current set up is a two into one full system with titanium can from Sil Motor. These fits really nicely, is about half the weight of the original system, larger bore throughout and is probably slightly quieter than the two can set up (and only cost £500 from Spareshack).
The bike has a stage two dynojet kit fitted, top off the airbox with a stage 2 K&N held in place with a very nice billet frame from Dr Desmo in the US. The engine is standard except for a Nicols fly wheel which is about a quarter of the weight of the OE item. This noticably improves throttle response. I also use a Techtronics quick-shifter which is fun and worth having for track days.
I've replaced the forks with some from a 750ss so I now have twin disks, which I upgraded to fully floating cast iron items. There's a wave disk on the rear. All brake lines are kevlar.
The OE shock at the rear was replaced with an Ohlins job. The rear feels much better than previously- not as inclined to bob up and down for no apparent reason mid corner!
I have clip on bars from ProItalia in the US, Road Racing mini mirrors, tacho unit and air scoops. Lots of carbon fibre- mud guard, hugger, bellypan, cam belt covers, tank guards, side panels, tail unit (with built in indicators) ignition surround and headlamp supports. The clip-ons place a bit more weight over the front end and really help you feel whats happening with the front tire better. They do restrict the steering lock still further though and I had to get slightly longer brake and clutch hoses made up.
I have Ducati Performance rear-sets and a Corbin seat. The seat is a great improvement as the OE one forced you into the tank, which combined with the rearsets made it very difficult to get your knees into the tank cut-outs. The Corbin seat is a lot flater which makes it far easier to move about on as you ride. I understand that newer Monster has a better designed seat than the old ones.
The rear-sets had to be spaced out away from the frame to give sufficient clearence for the gear shift from the side stand on one side, and to give space for the rear master cylinder next to the high level exhaust pipe work on the other. It's not great when offical aftermarket parts don't actually fit without further modification!
There's a cheap but servicable steering damper (from Spareshack) which it doesn't really need except at Cadwell Park when going over the Mountain! The petrol cap is now a screw-in alluminium item which saves another few grams of weight!
I've also begun the process of replacing the bolts with titanium items (I'd replaced most of the original ones with stainless some time before as the plated OE ones look tatty very quickly). I've done the disk bolts, caliper mounting bolts, rear-set mounting bolts, side stand bolts, tripple clamp pinch bolts and some of the engine mounting bolts so far. I've ordered some rear axle nuts but I'm waiting for these to be made. It's quite a lot of money for a weight saving of a few grams but the bolts do look nice!
All in all I've had a lot of fun with my M750, both riding it and modifying it. Despite it being six years old it still looks remarkably good. The key to keeping them looking good is lots of TLC and don't ride them when the raod has been salted. It's done quite a few track days and although slow on the straights is fast enough around the corners (top speed is a fairly true 125mph. At somewhere like Cadwell Park with quite short straights I'm lucky to break 95mph). I even embarrased a couple of 996's and 748's last time out at Cadwell. Admittedly, they were ridden by twats!
There have been no mechanical faults to speak of (or electical ones). The only little gremlin in the early days was the fuel line getting a kink in it under the tank. This was a common problem on all Monsters and was easily solved by fitting a longer piece of car fuel line form Halfords.
Hope that helps someone!
I purchased my red M750 new in the summer of 1997. The only real weakness of the bike was the single front brake disk. The 1997 model did not even have a caliper mounting bracket on the other fork leg so if you wanted twin disks you had to replace the fork leg! That said, once braided lines were fitted the braking performance wasn't too bad anyway. But all that was a long time ago! Since then the bike has done over 20,000 miles, including a couple of trips to Italy. It's been crashed twice; once at fairly high speed in the rain at Knockhill and once at low speed on a patch of diesel. Both were annoying and costly. If you haven't done it yet, when you crash a Monster the bars almost always bend into the tank giving you a nice expensive dent to fix. The engine doesn't touch down, as the main force is taken on the bars, exhausts, foot rests and the bottom of the fork legs. Since the last crash I've fitted a pair of Moko crash bungs. These a very substanial items which look as if they might actually do some good. Hopefully I won't find out though!
I have a head lamp fairing which is painted up in Infostrada colours by MRS Racepaint, with Ducati Performance and Corse logos elsewhere on the bike as approriate to give it that 'racer' look! Kind of a Foggy rep but I did mine a few years before the official one came out!
The bike has been heavily modified over the years. A while ago I stripped the whole thing down to individual parts and had the frame, swingarm and wheels powder coated. The frame and wheels are a dark metalic grey and the swingarm is black. This was cheap and looks a mile better than the original paint which was beginning to look a bit tired in places. I also repainted the engine cases (black) at that time.
I've been few a couple of different exhaust systems. The first were a set of low level road legal carbon Termi's. These looked quite nice but were still a bit heavy and quiet. Secondly were a set of carbon high level Sils. These sounded good (very loud) but the fit was a bit dodgy. Once the carbon got a bit scorched I had them resleaved with titanium. The current set up is a two into one full system with titanium can from Sil Motor. These fits really nicely, is about half the weight of the original system, larger bore throughout and is probably slightly quieter than the two can set up (and only cost £500 from Spareshack).
The bike has a stage two dynojet kit fitted, top off the airbox with a stage 2 K&N held in place with a very nice billet frame from Dr Desmo in the US. The engine is standard except for a Nicols fly wheel which is about a quarter of the weight of the OE item. This noticably improves throttle response. I also use a Techtronics quick-shifter which is fun and worth having for track days.
I've replaced the forks with some from a 750ss so I now have twin disks, which I upgraded to fully floating cast iron items. There's a wave disk on the rear. All brake lines are kevlar.
The OE shock at the rear was replaced with an Ohlins job. The rear feels much better than previously- not as inclined to bob up and down for no apparent reason mid corner!
I have clip on bars from ProItalia in the US, Road Racing mini mirrors, tacho unit and air scoops. Lots of carbon fibre- mud guard, hugger, bellypan, cam belt covers, tank guards, side panels, tail unit (with built in indicators) ignition surround and headlamp supports. The clip-ons place a bit more weight over the front end and really help you feel whats happening with the front tire better. They do restrict the steering lock still further though and I had to get slightly longer brake and clutch hoses made up.
I have Ducati Performance rear-sets and a Corbin seat. The seat is a great improvement as the OE one forced you into the tank, which combined with the rearsets made it very difficult to get your knees into the tank cut-outs. The Corbin seat is a lot flater which makes it far easier to move about on as you ride. I understand that newer Monster has a better designed seat than the old ones.
The rear-sets had to be spaced out away from the frame to give sufficient clearence for the gear shift from the side stand on one side, and to give space for the rear master cylinder next to the high level exhaust pipe work on the other. It's not great when offical aftermarket parts don't actually fit without further modification!
There's a cheap but servicable steering damper (from Spareshack) which it doesn't really need except at Cadwell Park when going over the Mountain! The petrol cap is now a screw-in alluminium item which saves another few grams of weight!
I've also begun the process of replacing the bolts with titanium items (I'd replaced most of the original ones with stainless some time before as the plated OE ones look tatty very quickly). I've done the disk bolts, caliper mounting bolts, rear-set mounting bolts, side stand bolts, tripple clamp pinch bolts and some of the engine mounting bolts so far. I've ordered some rear axle nuts but I'm waiting for these to be made. It's quite a lot of money for a weight saving of a few grams but the bolts do look nice!
All in all I've had a lot of fun with my M750, both riding it and modifying it. Despite it being six years old it still looks remarkably good. The key to keeping them looking good is lots of TLC and don't ride them when the raod has been salted. It's done quite a few track days and although slow on the straights is fast enough around the corners (top speed is a fairly true 125mph. At somewhere like Cadwell Park with quite short straights I'm lucky to break 95mph). I even embarrased a couple of 996's and 748's last time out at Cadwell. Admittedly, they were ridden by twats!
There have been no mechanical faults to speak of (or electical ones). The only little gremlin in the early days was the fuel line getting a kink in it under the tank. This was a common problem on all Monsters and was easily solved by fitting a longer piece of car fuel line form Halfords.
Hope that helps someone!