Members Bike - Zimbo's 980cc monster

[zimbo]

I bought my 1995 900 monster Christmas 2004 from someone on the UK monster forum. I wasn’t really looking for a new bike, but I was going a bit too fast everywhere on my 900SSie and I felt a naked bike might slow me down a bit, and it was advertised at £1700 which seemed a bargain. I went to see it, and it was shortly mine for £1550. The last of the big valve 900s (the M900 was altered in mid 1996 with the heads and cams being replaced with 750 ones, small valves and softer cams) it was just the bike I wanted.
The bike looked pretty standard then and was in good condition for it’s age and 16,000 miles. Standard is bad though!
First mod was some proper cans, a set of Leo Vince Carbon oval low level cans was quickly sourced second hand and added, instant improvement! Over the next four months I added a carbon rear hugger and jacked the back end up a little (okay, a lot!!!), had the forks reworked by Alan Shirley including monorate 8.5kg K-Tech springs, changed the rear shock for a fully adjustable, remote reservoir Showa 888 DP unit, and got rid of the nasty Dunlop tyres in favour of a set of Pirelli Diablo Corsas. The mickey mouse mirrors were junked in favour of a pair of teardrop aftermarket ones, and a set of R&G crash bungs were fitted.
I now had a bike that looked and sounded good, and handled really well. I did a couple of trackdays on it and found I could easily embarrass much more powerful bikes on tight circuits like Mallory.
I took it to Silverstone to the WSBK pre-race dinner, and got the seat cowl signed by then Ducati world champion James Toseland, and the tank by Ducati 888 WSBK racing legend Giancarlo Falappa.
But, of course, it wasn’t enough – I needed more power and torque as well!
The plan was to fit High Compression pistons, but I was advised not to bother unless I replaced the carbs first. I couldn’t afford both, so had too settle for a set of Kehin FCR41s from the States. Fitted them, and it made a huge difference to the response – tweaking the throttle generates an instant kick of power, and the front wheel lifts off the throttle easily in first and second now. A lightweight flywheel was also installed which makes the front even lighter of the lights!
I took it to a friend with a dyno and ran it up to see how it was fuelling. It was slightly lean, so I changed the main jets and adjusted the needles and that sorted it. The surprising thing was the power and torque output, way more than it should have been. The V5 states the engine capacity to be 980cc, so it looks like a big bore kit was fitted at some stage in the past – the guy I bought the bike from wasn’t aware of that at all! The bike now puts out 84bhp at the back wheel and a massive 69ft-lbs of torque, with a lovely flat torque curve and a very progressive and smooooth power delivery. Fuel consumption is also improved, it averages around 55mpg now.
Toseland left Ducati for TenKate Honda so I t-cutted his sig off the cowl and replaced it with those of Bayliss and Lanzi.
Finally I swapped the Leo Vince cans for a set of Mivv carbon oval high levels, which I love – nice and stubby they look great and sound even better!

And that is pretty much how the bike is now. Sadly I crashed it at Cadwell earlier this year, which has left it with a small dent in the tank, but otherwise it still looks great, and is fantastic to ride!!!

The bike will be up for sale shortly if anyone is interested – I believe it to be the most powerful and torquey 900 monster in the country, with well sorted suspension to go with it. I’m getting another 900SSie and can’t keep both! Get in touch if interested.

[Frenchy]

Nice looking bike you got there Zimbo, shouldn't have too many probs selling it either

[stafford]

Have you replaced that rear tyre yet?