'97 M900 long-term refurb'

[Andy B]

Hey guys,

finally at the stage where i'm happy-ish with the ol' girl, so thought i'd add her up to the gallery section This is going to be quite a drawn-out refurb - the plan is... well, was - to not do anything to her apart from a few minor alterations and just enjoy it for this summer - wanted to concentrate on my Guzzi rebuild - but didnt quite go to plan...

Bought her in February as quite a tatty old thing - hell, it still is.. but i'll get around to that...

it was a early birthday present for the girlfriend - we had a pair of bandits a couple of years back that i'd rebuilt, but sold them both to go travelling Australia and S.E Asia and we said we'd upgrade to some Italian twin's when we got back... I got an old 80's Guzzi whilst she wanted the Duc...

So I found this Gem on ebay one friday morning! 1997 M900 supposedly 6000mi on the clock (although i suspect the clocks have been changed at some point...) MOT'd till september - ride it away jobbie for 1200 quid! (oh and a spare seat chucked in too- bonus )

went to see it on the saturday, deposit paid and rode it home on the sunday morning!



It was very tatty but all the right bits were there... Carbon panels, braided brake & clutch lines, adjustable showas, ally swing arm, rear seat cowl, remote brake/clutch resevoirs (not a fan of the coffin style) speedo & Tacho, expensive looking blinkers... but plenty of bodge to go with it...



Found out this lovely bit of wiring was the live feed to the rear brake light switch - the original switch was swapped out for a universal type switch that had a bodge bracket holding it to the pillion pegs/zorst hanger and some mig wire wrapped around the foot lever...

and the rear lights wiring was just as bad!



So it starts

Exhaust was first...



cleaned up well..



Starter motor live terminal was corroded on solid - starter spinning and knackered the brushes inside... gah!

starter motor off! pig of a job but turned out to be a blessing in disguise...



Replacement ordered...

in the meantime, the push throttle cable was knackered so new pair ordered, battery was goosed... new motobatt ordered... started to clean the carbs only to find mixture screws seized.... new carbs ordered... this is getting expensive!!!

[Andy B]

the front tyre had a slow puncture too... so i decided whilst the wheels were off i'd paint them... I wanted white wheels for the final paint job so thought I might as well.. plus the front was scabby as anything... lots of disc lock rash and oxidisation under some of the paint... - turned out to be the problem with the tyre going flat too... leaky valve seat..



painted wheels, peeled lacquer off the carbon frame infills, re-lacquered... throw everything back on, and finally got her ready for taxing for April!



Had the first ride out today... i gave it a quick test ride to J&S in the morning to make sure it was all working fine, and when she got home from work, Annabel had her first ride on her monster....





What a PITA it's been since owning it... but well worth it now its rideable for the summer! what a bike! a proper handful to what i've been used to.. and I've got a very happy girlfriend...

now... I better get some work done on the Guzzi so theres some room to strip the monster down come next winter!

[Yorkie]

It took me from 16 years of fettling to get my Monster to this stage:



It now looks like this:



Yours would look great with a white frame.

Yorkie

Hi Andy,

That's a nice job ! I would'nt mind getting an older monster to fettle myself, it's on the bucket list but there is the small matter of a gs1000 to finish first !

You are not too far from me , I am Gayton/Parkgate so next time you are over for an ice cream give me a shout and we can talk monsters !!........ I have recently swapped the 696 for an 821 ,still to be run in but weather today is pants so it's a Peroni day !

[Andy B]

Originally Posted by Yorkie

It took me from 16 years of fettling to get my Monster to this stage:




Yours would look great with a white frame.

Yorkie

16 years?? wowzers! I dont think i'd be allowed out the dog house if i took that long to finish her bike...

Hopefully it wont take me too long to do it... few months over winter - (since its her bike i dont think there'll be too much issue with me spending a few evenings a night on it whilst she keeps warm on the sofa ) - at least it should be a quick strip, clean, paint/powder coat and reassemble job (fingers crossed...)

her last bandit took me 7 months of so of constant swearing (such a horribly unreliable bike... but it looked good...and in the end owed me 800 quid... couldnt get it up for sale quick enough once it was MOT'd... never got it quite right..)

that started out as:


but finished as:


If i can get the monster to the same level of work looks wise i'll be happy..

colour scheme-wise - powder coat the frame red, wheels white and bodywork grey... thats the plan so far.. not a fan of red vehicles too much (yet somehow Ive got a red car and so does annabel hah)

Originally Posted by Moco1961

Hi Andy,

That's a nice job ! I would'nt mind getting an older monster to fettle myself, it's on the bucket list but there is the small matter of a gs1000 to finish first !

You are not too far from me , I am Gayton/Parkgate so next time you are over for an ice cream give me a shout and we can talk monsters !!........ I have recently swapped the 696 for an 821 ,still to be run in but weather today is pants so it's a Peroni day !

Know how you feel - plenty of bikes on my bucket list for fettling with... slowly getting through them one at a time well - two at a time at the moment...

you are quite local yeah - i work as a mechanic in the garage by the boathouse pub, so know the ice creams well if you're ever out for a spin let me know (although i'm stuck following annabel riding the monster on my little 125 commuter whilst the Guzzi's still in bits )

Ah, know it well, pass it every time I go to the boathouse,which I suppose is my "local" although I favour the ship to be honest !

I live at the top end of Boathouse lane, I will give you a shout when the sun comes out !!( no rhyme intended !)

[Dirty]

Nice one Andy. Another Monster saved. Don't you wish you had one as well?

[Andy B]

Originally Posted by Dirty

Nice one Andy. Another Monster saved. Don't you wish you had one as well?

I was torn between a Monster and a Guzzi i must admit... but this way I get to ride both if i can ever convince annabel to swap for a ride out

[Mr Gazza]

That's a proper nice job on the Monster...just right.

Any pic's of the Guzzi?

Originally Posted by Andy B

I was torn between a Monster and a Guzzi i must admit... but this way I get to ride both if i can ever convince annabel to swap for a ride out

Lucky enough to have both.....

[Dirty]

I hate to say it but I love that Guzzi, would make a great tracker

[Mr Gazza]

Nice one Andy..Blimey it is small, but the Guzzi's are low..Assuming it is a 500?

I swapped rides with a mate, for a Mk1 Lemon when I had my Morini 3 1/2 Sport.
For all that the bikes were so different in every way apart from being red and Italian, they felt quite simillar in many ways...Light, flickable and torquey...I am sure you will love your Guzzi.

Yes Dirty I know what you are thinking..I saw a honda CX500 the other day that looked very simillar to the stripped out Guzzi...Not often I have a double take at a Honda!

Always wanted to get hold of a nice cheap California and lighten it up..!!..

Got a V50 mk3 Monza and it's tiny....

[Andy B]

yeah, its a little v50 mk3.. no special monza version mind.. looking forward to getting stuck into it again.. although a break from the nightmare wiring probably did the progress side good...

original idea was make a scrambler type of thing out of it... but we'll see what i end up with... i just want to ride the thing at the moment get the guzzi done all finished and top notch, then get back into the duc and tear that down and give it a similar treatment come winter

[Andy B]

well, i've got a week to go until Annabel's birthday, and since the bike was her early birthday present, i thought i'd better get some proper exhausts for it for the actual day

and so far i've managed to keep it a total secret from her! (something i've yet to pull off)

Actually had the exhausts a while now, but getting round to fitting them wasnt a rush, and doing it without her knowledge also slowed things down...

Got it into work for a trial fit...



and they were a tad on the long side



Nothing a hacksaw wouldn't fix!



second trial fix and looks a whole lot better



No hanging brackets came with them so had to throw together a couple of pieces of ali... think they've turned out ok... my curiosity will have to wait until next weekend though



The only downside to the cans, is they're marked not for road use.... Now, the original cans i have are Remus too, and the ends measure up (as best i can without butchering them) pretty well, so im hoping to get the ends off the standard cans and fit them to the carbon cans so they're nice and legal (as possible)... we will be riding into N.Wales a fair bit and the last thing i want to do is give the Heddlu a reason to stop us...

Last thing (until winter now at least) was to make a case saver...i'm a cheap so having the expense of a new engine if the chain ever does give doesn't appeal, so bit of stainless of ebay and half a dozen cutting discs (stainless doesn't half eat through em!) and my mind is at rest!



She's getting there bless her