I've owned a couple of Ducati, both 748, to my miund one of the most beautiful sports racer bikes ever but this is my first Monster and a great platform for a custom motorcycle project. The bike itself was in reasonable condition when I bought it, at least it ran! The paint was scruffy, brakes were shot and it certainly showed signs of neglect.
WATCH IT ALL UNFOLD / UNRAVEL ON YOU TUBE
While tearing it apart there was evidence of other rot, not least of all fuel lines which had not survived the arid heat of Arizona well. Oil and filters were changed as a matter of course and new discs and pads all round.
Having stripped the bike down and taken care of the routine maintenace side of things it was time to start the customization. Starting as always with the seat chop takin g a good foot off the rear frame. Finding a suitable custom cafe racer type seat proved difficult, so the original Ducati Monster seat was cut and spliced to form a single seat while still wrapping onto the fuel tank lines.
The rear foot pegs were also removed and the mounting brackets also chopped accordingly before painting with an old gold engine paint. The exhaust was removed, cleaned, painted and wrapped with new studs for good measure and a custom twin pipe "muffler" added.
New HT ignition leads were custommade and fitted while at the same time the coils were repositioned under the fuel tank where the large cumbersome air box used to sit. Individual air filter pods were fitted instead. The timing belt covers were removed andpainted the same gold as the exhaust and other elements.
The fuel tank and other elements were repainted semi gloss black using a 2K aerosol paint with great results. Gear shift and brake pedals were drilled to add lightness as well as effect. All the wiring was stripped and rerouted, along with all new switchgear on the handlebars and new LED lighting all round. The headlights were an off the shelf solution, with orange halo running lights providing a cool look, but there was better still to come with the lighting.
With the rear light, I decided to try out an idea I had seen on a car project and using a polished perspex block and standard LED rear light strip mounted to the back of it, out sight, produced a really cool rear light.
A new oil catch can was located atthe rear of the bike using the mount previously holding the rear coil, now located under the fuel tank. Other modifications to various elements to generally clean up the lines and frame completed the build.
