Monster Mod #4: Brakes that Bite
The Monster's new Brembo Forged Radial Brake Master Cylinder
My, oh, my, how I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole… After nearly nine-months with the Monster it felt like it was time to take care of my biggest issue with the bike – The OEM Brakes…
Repeatedly, when either the old man or I have returned from a ride on the Monster, our most common post-ride talking point has been how poorly the machine seems to stop compared to a full-blown, fully-faired sportbike.
There’s nothing worse then having to do an emergency stop, pulling the front brake lever back and feeling as if there’s nothing happening.
What has been missing is a sense of immediate action and reaction on the lever and in the calipers. That’s what gives me confidence when I ride and the Monster, as it came from the factory, simply didn’t instill that sense of faith. Instead I found myself constantly thinking, ‘this is a different bike, ride slower, be safer, don’t trail-brake, be conscious of the limits’… These are not exactly the most enjoyable or pleasurable thoughts to have while riding…
Of course, I’m not exactly sure my assessment of the Monster’s stock OEM brake system is fair because I’m fairly certain that MotorMilt and I exist in a really warped place when it comes to brakes. After you’ve see the top of the line systems being built, tested and then put through their paces, it’s hard in the back of your head not to acknowledge that whatever the bike shipped with from the factory is not nearly the same or as good as what gets put on fully-blown sportbikes.
The solution was what amounted to an entirely new brake set-up for the bike, starting with a new Brembo Forged Radial Brake Master Cylinder (along with a new Radial Clutch Master Cylinder to match), new brake lines, new brake pads, and the left over Brembo Calipers from the 999 (which were replaced with a set of Brembo monoblock calipers last year). As with previous installs, Alex White and his team at Motorcycle Performance Services on La Brea Ave. in LA got everything up and running with minimal issue. Many props to them.
The result is absolutely awesome – The Monster is quickly becoming my favorite bike. It’s just so damn light and nimble, and now that it has awesome stopping capabilities, it is so much more exciting to ride. I don’t know that I’ve ever felt so in control on a motorcycle in my life. It is just a hoot to attack the canyons with!
In the end, the Monster is so much more than just a mechanical object – It’s unquestionably an art form, a clean canvas that you get to mold in any way you see fit. It has a character that eschews traditional sportbike aesthetics yet it also supports them because at its core the Monster is nothing but sport. A full fledged, unadulterated, blast of performance and passion – only you get to uniquely tailor it to your own tastes, adding performance to a platform that rocks…
Monster Mod #3: BoomTube it Baby… And Chop that Tail too!
Bada...Boom... The BoomTubes get Installed
Amazing how the desire to wrench myself versus the desire to get things done quickly took an unexpected turn yesterday… After waking up WAY to early — like 3 AM early — So early the dog looked at me in fact, shook his head as if to say ‘really?’ and then went back to sleep — I ended up rolling into LA with plenty of time to spare. As in all day - and the old man, MotorMilt, came up with a brilliant idea.
With less than twenty-four hours before the next great personal moto-adventure begins, he suggested that I swing by Alex White’s Motorcycle Performance Services on La Brea and see if I could get a quick oil change and once over the Monster. Since I was planning on doing that after the great ‘09 moto-adventure wrapped up, I figured why not.
And since a box of parts was already in the back of the truck, because in my perfect world fantasy, I’d install the new bits with the old man post-trip, I couldn’t help myself. Alex had a hole in his shop schedule and the bike was there and ready… So the latest, next step, in the Monster mod project got a bit of a jump start…
Pulling the box of assorted bits out of the truck, I watched as Alex’s face lit up — Apparently I’m not the only one inflicted with the moto-lust disease… He smirked and smiled and then dived right in… “What’dda we got here?” he asked… Well, let’s see…
Moments later, Alex and his crew went to town… Bits and pieces started flying around… And at 5:10 in the afternoon the results of their labor rolled into the driveway…
Because it was a one-day affair a few things got a touch rushed and in some respects this is just a first generation version of these elements — after speaking with Alex afterward, I think it’s clear we’ve got a bit more work collectively ahead of us. For starters the Tail Chop isn’t quite perfect yet - it’s installed, safe and legal, but it’s not quite as eye-catching as either of us would like. Purely a function of time. Post trip that’ll be at the top of the list to sort out. No doubt a black powered coat is in store for the mount. Also the remnants of the homologation fender are probably on their way out — at the moment I’m thinking some sort of custom mount for the taillight is in order. I’m just not real keen on the dreaded ‘black tray’… though I suppose it’d make a fine place to place a beer 
Also the Power Commander settings for the BoomTubes aren’t quite perfect yet - I’ll be playing with them on the upcoming adventure and surely there will be a bit more tweaking post-trip as well…
In addition, as you’ll notice from the picts that Alex sourced up some nifty expandable soft FirstGear saddlebags — this will be my first trip of any kind with something other than a factory installed hard mounted set of saddlebags. I have some doubts about them, but of course plenty of folks tour this way, so I suppose it’s bound to work. Just not quite what I’m used to using… As with so many other parts of life, ultimately I guess we’ll see… There’s nothing quite like giving something a go on a long voyage…
All in all, I couldn’t be more pleased at the moment. Great adventure coming down the pike, awesome bike that’s getting progressively more awesome each day and a slowly evolving road map for where it’s headed…
This should be quite an adventure — the riding and the rebuilding 
Another shot of the new BoomTube exhaust
Tail Chop-Suey
Tail Chop-Suey 2
The new Rear Sprocket & Chain
The new Rear Sprocket & Chain Pict 2
Back at the Track… The 999 Returns
The Rebuilt Ducati 999 Trackbike
And it’s back…
The 999 returned to life at Buttonwillow Raceway, after many months of hard work by a number of individuals, and it was absolutely magnificent to ride!
At the moment I’m soooo fried it’s not even funny, certainly a bit sore, and well, more than anything just stoked to feel like the bike and I are back together… This has been a long day coming and post-crash I’ve often wondered what it was going to feel like — Would I still enjoy it? Would I be freaked out about it? Would I lowside the bike again? Would inherent danger trump desire for speed and skill? All human emotions, all real and justified to have floating around your head… And all incredibly annoying when all you want to do is return to a place of enjoyment with your bike…
Sitting here now, with an adult beverage in hand, it feels f’n fantastic to have been able to get back on the bike, go reasonably fast and end the day unscathed and with the bike all in one piece. It couldn’t have gone better for a first-day back at the track sort of experience. I’m not sure the demons of destruction are completely out of my head yet, but they’re well on their way to being vanished and that in and of itself is a worthwhile achievement. To have been able to forget about life and just enjoy the day while riding the ‘9 once more is icing on the cake and absolutely marvelous…
Couple of quick shouts out to Mark and his crew at The Trackclub who did an outstanding job coordinating well over one-hundred riders in the blazing Central Valley heat. Also to Alex White and his crew at Motorcycle Performance Services, the group that rebuilt and retooled the 999. It was everything I remembered the bike having been before and a whole heck of a lot more — same vibe, different experience…
And while I’m greatly looking forward to writing something more intelligent and meaningful up this weekend, right now I need another drink and a good, long hot shower…
It’s Alive!… The 999 Returns ( Sort of )…
It's Alive - The 999 Returns
After spending a week getting my feet back underneath me after the latest European Adventure, Friday afternoon I finally got that one phone call I’d been waiting for, “Dylan, why don’t you come on over, the 999 is basically done“… And a half-hour later I entered Alex White’s Motorcycle Performance Services shop in LA unsure of what I’d find…
Unsure, you ask? Yep…
This has been the first bike build I’ve at least tangentially been a part of outside of a 1:12 scale model as a child — only instead of glue and xacto blades, this one is comprised of real world materials — so I don’t have a ton of experiences to compare it to, really just what I’ve seen on TV (oddly enough) or witnessed during motorsport shoots for various documentaries, but I suspect it’s been somewhat unusual since during most of the build process I’ve been out of the country.
In the past when I’ve day-dreamed about rebuilding a bike the images that flashed through my mind were always very hands on in nature. This however has not been hands on by any means. But I knew that going in.
We all have to work in order to pay the bills and as it happened to turn out, since March we’ve more or less hit our ‘busy season’ when it comes to work (which continues to be busy and in this economy that’s not such a bad thing)… So instead of worrying about it or obsessing about the things I couldn’t control, I decided to go in a different direction — I compiled a ’short list’ of qualified bike builders based on the recommendations of several individuals I trust (both within and outside of the industry itself) and then went with the individuals I felt I hit it off with and who seemed talented at what they do. I walked them through what I was thinking and then basically let them do their thing…
It seemed like a logical and sensible approach. Yet through our shoot in Europe it was damn near impossible during idle times not to wonder how the build was progressing, especially while standing around a variety of OEM factories and OEM supplier shops… You see enough parts getting manufactured and you simply can’t ignore the rebuild that’s going on back home…
But bike builds are not linear, simple, easy to detail events. Rather they strike me as somewhat organic in nature - like any rebuild for that matter - where within the process of fixing one piece, you suddenly find the need or the rational to fix or change another…
And when I walked in Alex’s shop that’s exactly what I found — A bike, quite similar to what I’d seen in my mind, yet different as well…
Better picts are coming shortly (I had the brains to take the digital camera but not its battery!) but Matt Polosky of Color Zone Designs took a basic concept and ran with it, in a very low-key mellow kind of way, which is exactly what I’d wanted… It’s hard to see in the iPhone snapped digital still, but Matt extended the Italian Tri-Colore color scheme from the belly pan of the bike to all the number plates and the top of the gas tank. I never even thought of that stuff… He also did a quite a number on the carbon fiber front fender…
The dark gray base coat on the bike is a bit different than I thought it would be — Though I have a feeling it’s actually cooler… Instead of the shiny light gray from the Lamborghini Gallardo that I’d more or less based the bike on, Matt took it more gun-metal gray metallic direction. It’s flat, like he and I discussed, and is sort of the ultimate sleeper look because from a distance the bike vaguely reminds one of a 749 Dark, but up close it’s a very subtle and nice metallic vibe that’s altogether a different beast…
In terms of bits, as I was standing next to the bike, it was suddenly clear to me why folks always talk about bike builds as never-ending projects. The second you upgrade one bit, almost instantly the unchanged bits stand out as glaring mistakes. The 9 is no different. The Sato Rearsets, STM slipper clutch and Speedymoto clutch cover have made the unchanged fuel filler cap, exhaust system and Showa forks look completely out of place, along with some other minor bits. Basic, silver alloy is just dull compared to the rest of the machine’s new soul. So undoubtedly it’s time to save some coin to upgrade the rest of the bits too…
But these are minor thoughts, the bottom line is that the bike is awesome! It’s everything I wanted it to be and more. Something unique, different and not even comparable to what it had been in its last iteration. Plus, and perhaps most importantly, it’s just comforting to have the original Diva back — And surprise, surprise, I feel a strong need to get it out on the track…
The 999 Rebuild Continues
Over the weekend I got a chance to pop over to Alex White’s Motorcycle Performance Services shop in LA and take a peek at the beginning of the 999 rebuild. I say ‘the beginning’, because it was my first time seeing the Duc up on the work bench, but in truth Alex and his crew have been cranking pretty good.
So far the new fairings have been fit on the bike using a set of Dzuz fastners, the new fairing stay has been installed, the gauge set has been put back into place, the rearsets have been put on the bike, new tires mounted, and the clutch has been disassembled.
While we wait for the STM Slipper to arrive, the disassembly of the clutch has brought another decision to the forefront.
As it turns out MotorMilt, myself or perhaps both of us, apparently are quite hard on the clutch. Once the guys got it apart it was fairly obvious that the clutch basket was pretty well shot and needed to be replaced too. Option 1 was to use a similar to stock steel basket, which can take a more strenuous pounding, or Option 2, order a new aluminum basket, which is lighter and therefore creates less rotating mass but wears out quicker. Given that the bike is going to headed for the track, we’ve decided on the latter. Time will tell if that was a correct decision or not…
Next up, painting…
Trading Paint On The 999
So while I was out of town, the rebuild of the 999 got into full swing and surprisingly it was a rather painless process. Much simpler then the last time I dealt with the insurance company back in 2004 when the 749’s were stolen. This time around the insurance company cut a check for repairs in record time - though frankly I suspect this was a pretty easy deal in their eyes since after all it was a single vehicle accident.
The only real concern was just how big the repair estimate would turn out to be, because, as my insurance rep pointed out, if the estimate hit or exceeded 70% of the bike’s current blue book value the insurance company would declare it totaled. But that didn’t happen, as the estimate came in just under the magic mark… Though to be honest, I’ve got no idea what blue book they’re using since Ducati 999 prices are currently plummeting on the used market… But perhaps that’s a discussion best left for the Ducati-Superbike Forum
So the other day I popped over to Alex White’s shop on La Brea Ave in LA and counter-signed the payout check in order to get the rebuild process really started. As I type this, Alex is busy filling and parting a laundry list of bits for the bike. It is rather remarkable how many pieces one must repair or replace for a simple 20-30 mph get off…
Of course the list of parts that are required to repair the machine depends greatly on what that machine is being asked to do. It’s form follows function with a bit of purpose tossed in… In this particular case, after much deliberation, the old man and I have come to the conclusion that it’s time to give the 999 a new lease on life… It’s time to simplify it’s purpose in the garage.
So with that in mind, we’ve decided to have the bike reborn as a dedicated trackday machine.
That is to say, not a race bike, but a machine intended for enjoying the track — I have no delusions of grandeur here, I’m not a racer, and perhaps never will be one. (Though at some point I’d like to try chasing an amateur license but for a variety of reasons right now isn’t that moment). Therefore nothing is going to be safety wired and we’re not tearing down the engine or doing anything that is remotely headed down the path of dedication required to ‘go racing’.
Instead what we’re after is a machine built to mean something to us and not a lap timer.
Yet the decision to take a production street bike and turn it into a trackday toy still means a fair number of additions and subtractions. For starters a whole bunch of stuff is getting jettisoned, such as the mirrors, kickstand, and stock master brake cylinder (which is broken). The busted headlight assembly is also on it’s way out and will be replaced with a racing styled fairing stay.
However mechanically the biggest change will be a new clutch — and not just any clutch — but a brand new STM slipper clutch… Without a doubt this is the part I’m most looking forward to and frankly it was an easy call since the OEM stock clutch got pretty well torn up by the get off…
Cosmetically, a bunch of stuff is also getting swapped out. MotorMilt and I have never really been keen on the fact that the ‘9 was a biposto. Now seems like the perfect time to fix that, so in short order the OEM biposto rear subframe will soon find its way to eBay and will subsequently be replaced with a monoposto tail. The stock fairings are also on the way out and will be replaced with a set of Catalyst Racing Composites which will be adorned with Dzuz fasteners for easy on and off of the plastics…
Of course the new bodywork has created a new question, since in effect we’re now staring at a blank canvass — What do we want the reborn 999 to look like?
A whole bunch of ideas have crossed my mind thus far, and quite possibly all of this could change yet again, but at the moment my thinking is that I’d like to do something tasteful, but Italian… Something that’s clean, but not blingy or poser-ish… One of the things that keeps sticking in my mind is that whenever I’m at the track and see other race-replica Ducati’s they almost always seem relatively similar. Most of the time they either follow the Bayliss Xerox look or are derivatives of the Marlboro GP look. Nothing wrong with either one, but I feel like I’d like to do something a little different… And in strange twist of fate, it’s a former project of ours that lead to the inspiration…
Last year we did a few short webisodes for the Discovery Turbo website under the name ‘Amazing Machines’ and in one of them we got a chance to take a Lamborghini Gallardo out for a spin. Obviously the car is great fun, but it’s only slightly out of my price range — well, actually it’s well out of my price range — what isn’t however is the color!
Most of the time Lambo’s are outrageously colored — that’s what they’re known for! — but in this particular case the car that they lent us was a brilliant gun metal gray and the image of the car has stuck with me ever since. It was clearly Italian, but clean. Simple. Glossy but not overtly showy. And I dug it. So at the moment the thinking is that we’re going to try and replicate that same color for most of the fairings.
But an entirely gray bike seems a touch dull, no? So assuming everything works out in terms of the rebuild budget, the plan at the moment is to do an Italian flag look (ok, ok, that’s not so creative, but alas it is an Italian machine!), only instead of the more atypical ‘hardlined’ racing belly pan looks, what I’d like to see happen is something that feels more organic and ’swoopy’ without being a Nike swoosh… Perhaps that makes sense, perhaps it doesn’t. At the moment Matt Polosky of Color Zone Designs is mulling the scheme over and we’ll see what he thinks/comes up…
Returning to Rearsets
Sato Rear Sets for The 999
While the jet lag that goes along with international travel is never any fun, I’ve got to say that coming home to find shiny new motorcycle parts eagerly waiting to be unboxed is one of the great joys of the moto-world!
Certainly makes waking up from a full nights sleep at 3 AM seem much more palatable
And so the 999 Rebuild begin - With a brand new set of Sato Racing Rearsets…
How and why I ended up going with the Sato rearsets is a bit of an elongated story — The short version goes like this — Over the holidays MotorMilt surprised me with a set of rearsets for the 1098 as a Christmas present, but I hadn’t had time to install them and then the next thing I knew the 999 went down. This clearly shifted the priorities in the garage but thankfully the folks from Motostrano in Redwood City, CA were super cool about it and agreed to let me exchange the first set for the Sato ones.
Thus the second choice of the 999 rebuild has been dealt with — What to do about the torn up stock pegs and brake lever… In my mind nifty rear sets seemed like the logical decision for two reasons, a) the OEM prices seem totally out of whack with reality and b) more importantly why not?
I mean who has ever looked at the original stock Ducati footpeg assembly and thought, ‘Gee now that’s a great looking part?‘… I’d venture to guess absolutely no one… Clearly it’s an area where Ducati saves some coin and frankly it shows. Of course would I have considered or thought to replace them if the crash had not taken place?
Probably not…
But since it did, it only seemed to make sense to put a better looking, perhaps better performing piece on the rebuilt bike.
Replacing the stock pegs and levers of course raised another question — minor sidebar: but it seems like every part of the rebuild process raises more questions than it answers but I digress — Do you stick with the stock shifting pattern or switch to a ‘race pattern’?
After a bit of thought and a few conversations with MotorMilt, I’ve decided that at least for the moment I’m going to stick with a standard street shift pattern on the rebuilt 999 — To be perfectly honest I’m not sure I’m quite ready to deal with retraining my brain to deal with reversing a decade of riding and the subsequent rewiring of my subconscious mind. Life right now seems to have enough to chew on without having to come into Turn 2 at Buttonwillow and wonder which way I’m supposed to click the shift lever. Perhaps that will change later on, but for right now it seems prudent to leave well enough alone… Needless to say I look forward to hoisting an adult beverage of choice in the garage, standing back and admiring the craftsmanship of the Sato rearsets once machine is reborn Right now that - just that - sure sounds like fun…
The Rebuild Begins
999 Rebuild at Motorcycle Performance by Alex White
And so it begins — A mere six days after laying the 999 down, it is time to officially tackle its reincarnation… What that means exactly is still up in the air, however where it will take place is not…
Ideally of course if time, money and legality were not issues that required consideration in this process then I’d be the first to tell you that this would have been the perfect time to roll up our own sleeves and wrench the bike back to health ourselves.
But the reality is that isn’t a realistic option right now. For starters there’s the time thing. In short order life will once again ramp up as we start production on our next motorcycle documentary, so I find myself asking the question, on those intermittent days off would I rather be wrenching or riding? Clearly the answer keeps coming back as the later…
Perhaps more importantly however, the insurance company has legal concerns revolving around one’s own wrenching versus an actual repair shop, which at first blush seem somewhat annoying, but on the other hand I certainly can’t fault them for having these sort of concerns in today’s litigious world. If someone can sue McDonald’s for coffee that’s to hot, then who knows what they could do in a rebuild situation if something were to go wrong down the road…
So, after spending a few hours dealing with the insurance company and sending out a dozen or more emails and/or placing phone calls to some of the various folks we’ve met in the motorcycle industry over the past four or five years, the old man and I have finally settled on a local motorcycle repair shop to tackle the 999’s rebuild — Alex White’s Motorcycle Performance Shop in LA. Alex is a former racer and long time mechanic, who came highly recommended to us by three different folks whose opinions I greatly admire and trust…
So now we wait for the insurance claim adjuster… And then the fun begins…
