Members Bike - Loons '93 Monster 904cc

[banditloon]

1993, a bleak year for motorcycling. Well I past my bike test just after Easter holidays in 1993. I remember the instructor from CSM asking us what bikes we wanted after we got the piece of paper to 'ruin' our lives! Everyone else going for the sensible ZXRs or Fireblades, while I had been reading about the new Ducati Monster. I wanted!!

After all those years, I stayed on Jap bikes. The NSR I rode on my test was smashed up by a drunk driver, I then had a Diversion 600 which was evil, but looking back at it now, it had twin exhausts and a rattly clutch!! The engine blew, I went and bought a brand new ZX6 F3, then my Bandit in 1999 which is still sitting in my garage. In 2005, I hit the magic 30, and finally bought some Italian machinery, an Aprilia RS125. 12 years of riding 4 strokes and I went back to basics! Nothing like flying around Brands Indy Circuit on a 125 and just grinning like a stupid idiot, when flying past the bigger bikes (until the straights!). That went the same way as most 2 strokes. The engine blew after 10,000kms of fun, and I sold that on Ebay. The Bandit was restored with an MOT and ridden for another 8 months.

2006, I started doing some freelance photography at BSB meetings and MX. The bike wasn't getting used much, as I was stuck at a race track most weekends. FInally the voices started shouting "GET A NEW BIKE!!!" And thats were my Ducati owning started. December 06, I'm trawling through ebay and spotted a 1993 Ducati Monster 900. Price was at just under £1000. I put in a bid (max of £1500) and didn't think of it. Autotrader bought the next day, and spotted a Monster 750 Dark, phoned them and it had already gone! Back to ebay, then noticed a similar bike. The Monster I was bidding on, on ebay was in Bike Trader for £1400. A phone call, and the bike was secured! A trip to Liskeard on the train, and I'd be riding home on the Monnie! I looked over the bike at Liskeard station, was a bit worried about the milky oil (oh how little I knew about Monsters!), kicked the tyres, paid the cash and rode home!



The trip home, was greeted by my Jap owning biker friends saying "you'll never make it out of Devon, unless you have AA cover." Oh how little the know! The bike run superbly all the way home, through the rain/fog/snow on the 23rd December 2006! The screen on the front was crap for motorway riding, so the first bit to replace. I nicked the one off of my Bandit (which was and still is in boxes!!) and that cured the wind problem.



Everything else was fine, but I decided to get Rosso Corse to check her over. Belts changed (they didn't even recognise the part number on the old belts!), the chain was completly knackered. The rollers were in and around the sprocket cover! The gear lever return spring had broken, but decided to live with it. The old Monster lives again!



For the first part of 2007 she was in Rosso Corse over 4 months, getting bits fixed on her. The final shock was the gear lever selector had finally broken. RC striped out the old bits, and the broken bearings from the engine, replaced them all and that was the last 'problem' I had with her.

Since that ride home in December, she had done about 35000 miles, I've just added around another 9000 miles to that this year. A trip to the Isle of Wight, which was the main reason for buying a new bike, which got the Monster and me covering around 1400 miles of the island! The speedo cable snapped on the first day, but I worked it out on the fuel fill ups! The Viper cans were starting to fall apart though. The rivets kept popping out, and the cans were scratched and looking rather nasty. Well according to some over on the UKMOC, she was becoming the new 'rat bike' of the club.



So this month has been spent on ebay. A belly pan and some Termi slip ons bought off of there! She is not looking like a rat bike now! The exhausts sound a lot better! No rattles from the cans, just the clutch. The old lady of the Monster club is being revived. 1993 is now a good year!

Items on the shopping list now, well the carbon fibre clock surround has been ordered as well as a new analog rev counter. She needs some attention on the rear wheel, a new spacer and wheel bearings and the front fork tubes replacing or re-chroming. Then that just leaves the flakey paint on the engine and the damaged paint on the frame to do!

And as my H**da riding mate said in a text message "Is Nessie about tonight?", so from now on will she be known as Nessie the bright red Monster!

[dakk66]

Great read

[Oldie]

Good post,great reading.

Rick

[Chewie]

You've turned Nessie into a lovely monster, nice one!

[banditloon]

Still a way to go in the 'restoration' of the old classic Monster. But she's getting there slowly

[Rudolph Hart]

Smashing post. Nice to see you've embraced the 'work in progress' spirit of Monster ownership. Nessie is looking better & better.

[Bambam]

Excellent read, and I can see why you're into photography - you've got a good eye for a tasty pic 8). IMG_0113.jpg (third one down) is one of the nicest pics I think I've seen for quite a while.

[banditloon]

I decided to go back and get some comparison pictures.

Back when I bought her on the 27th December 2006


Now the 27th October 2007;


Even the dash has changed. The broken idiot lights replaced with a new carbon dash, new analogue rev counter in place of the dodgy LED set up. 5 minutes to swap the wiring over, and hey presto!

[banditloon]

Well the old Monster is still going. One year of ownership has passed. Around £3500 spent on her, and yes she is still running!!

Due to the lovely weather of the past couple of months, she has been stuck in my warehouse, only used three or four times so far this year (one of them I managed to get a nail in the back tyre, hence why the bike was stuck at work!).

Fingers crossed, she'll be back out on the road for the spring / summer biking season, depending on commitments for the AROC and racing photography, ok change that, she WILL be out on the road this year, I can't neglect the old Monster