New Owner 97 M900

[Darkness]

Originally Posted by CarloL

Was pointed out to me I have an elephant symbol on the Petrol cap and timing belt cover , Cagiva?

Anybody know the history behind this? Cannot find anything online other than last minute , Ducati pulled the Cagiva branding and put it under Ducati

In '93 when the m900 went on sale, Ducati was owned by Cagiva, who liked to put their elefant logo in as many places as possible.

Keep a lookout and you'll probably find a few more: check the twist grip body and the air box for starters.

Cagiva sold Ducati later in the 90's and the number of Elefants slowly reduced as parts were respecified.

Another noticeable change from the change of ownership was the change in Ducati tank logo. Cagiva still own the copyright for the earlier letter style apparently.

[Albie]

Every where inc
Rubber cable ties
inside alloy clutch case
Heads
Barrels
Crankcases
Throttle case
Switchgear case
Wheels
Belt covers
Airbox
Foot rests

[CarloL]

Thanks for the History Lesson!

New CNC Racing Parts arrived! Was busy again this evening

[CarloL]

Cleaned the Monster

[Mr Gazza]

You really should ride it more often. That's the worst case of mould I have ever seen!
Was it Alternaria, Cladosporium, Penicillium or just efflorescence?

No matter you seem to have got it all off.. I recommend the use of a fungicide.

Originally Posted by CarloL

Was pointed out to me I have an elephant symbol on the Petrol cap and timing belt cover , Cagiva?

Anybody know the history behind this? Cannot find anything online other than last minute , Ducati pulled the Cagiva branding and put it under Ducati

I've got the elephant on my fuel cap along with the old style logo on the tank

Following on from Albie's comments I'll be looking out for the logo on other parts of the bike - probably the parts I'll be removing and upgrading!

Like your upgrades to suspension - I've gone with a remote reservoir Maxton shock and revalved / rebuilt 916 forks again by Maxton

[Jez900ie]

Originally Posted by Nottsbiker

Like your upgrades to suspension - I've gone with a remote reservoir Maxton shock and revalved / rebuilt 916 forks again by Maxton

Hi Nottsbiker,
I am curious - why did you choose to change your forks to 916? Are they much better? I have adjustable Showa and will upgrade them at some point this year. I plan to have Maxton revamp the internals but should I be thinking of different forks? I dont want to get the work done only to find that I should have changed the forks first!

Any advice you -or anyone else- can give is most appreciated!

[Darren69]

The 916/748 has a very sweet front end even with standard Showa forks, it feels like it is on rails (some of that sweetness comes from the overall chassis package however and general balance of the bike as a whole and overall not without compromise to comfort) but I have yet to find a better handling bike, the monster one on the other hand is not so sweet. Some of that I think is down to the rear bias of the standard monster setup and can be dialed out but eventually the difference between the 851/888 dericed chassis of the monster has to take second place to the much improved 916/748 design. Whether changing just the forks would be an improvement or not I don't know.

In addition to the forks I've got the hoop extenders to go in and fatbar converters which raise the bars high enough to allow the 916 forks to be moved up / down to adjust the weight bias of the bike. I anticipate this will take some time to get right and may benefit from some professional input.

PM hopefully answers your other fork Q's

[Darren69]

Yea, hoop extenders will ptobably sort much of the bad geometry/wayward handling issues especially with clip ons fitted. Dunno about the forks, but the standard ones are crap imh and better springs don't help neither.

Back to te drawing board or Maxton on that whole crappy forks issue. That's the plan anyway once funds allow anyway.

Splitting from your ex and ending up with a few grand 'spare' from the remortgage I ended up buying her out with has helped my M900 no end!

Just need paint n powder now + lots of assembly.

Tripped over a 900cc engine that someone had left on the kitchen door mat this morning....

[CarloL]

Carbs all cleaned, idle and main jets















New Rebuild kit , not too bad at 30 euro

[CarloL]

POR15 treatment for the monster tank, I did not do the Sealer just degrease and phosphate zinc coating

Before



After



Put in an LED headlamp on the Monster, dont know if I prefer the OE one







Replaced tbe perished Rubber mount on the Monster peg bracket, replaced all the rusted bolts ; makes a nice visual difference ; heads have stepped one size up in Allen key size from what was on there

[CarloL]

New Choke Cable , new starter Solenoid fitted ( for 30 euro, worth doing as it is 22 years old)

The new Left Fork seal decided to leak, just serviced the forks , While getting re-done , will get the belts done as they are due







Monster got new chain and sprockets, new fork oil and seals

[CarloL]

Replaced the Stater Soenoid plug with a Superseal connector