Hello From Cheltenham

Hi folks,

My name is Oli and I'm from Devon, although I now live in Cheltenham where I work with an existing member on here, NickJ, who pointed me in the direction of this forum.

I've had bikes since I was 14, starting with a Yamaha DT 125 MX, air cooled and as old as the hills, even back then in 1994, but I loved it. I had a Yamaha YZ 250 motocross screamer after that for a while, then had a period of some years without a bike until doing my direct access at 25 and buying a 1 year old Yamaha R6 with just 600 miles on it.

After nearly 2 years of fantastic riding and 14k miles I was unfortunately involved in a very nasty, no fault accident which due to my injuries, ongoing surgery spanning almost 4 years and then a lengthy recovery meant I was unable to ride for a long time.

So after another long break from biking, I decided to ease back into it slowly and purchased a 2003 CCM R30 Supermoto, 644cc single thumper. This was used mainly for my commute to work but was also nice to throw around at the weekends!

After about 8 months of owning and enjoying the CCM, I happened to came accross a very nice, genuine, standard example of a Monster 620ie in Ducati Corse guise, which was for sale at a car show I was at, 9500 miles, FSH. Now I'm not afraid to say I knew nothing about Ducatis prior to this. I'd always liked the Monster and quite fancied the idea of some shiny Italian metal in my garage. So after firing a few questions at NickJ about them, digging through info on the internet and a test ride I was hooked and I ended up buying it on a bit of a whim, but I have to say I do love it (I wasn't even looking for another bike, ooops!!).

I've been lurking a bit on here until now, but I've already found lots of useful information and links to helpful sites, how to's etc. On day 2 of ownership, I noticed the clutch was slipping, which I hadn't noticed on the test ride Turns out the owner had used fully synth in an oil change, which thanks to info here I learned this is a bad thing. So it was a simple fix after removing the clutch, cleaning the plates, reassembling and new semi synth oil and filter

Next thing I did was remove the OE cans for some lovely looking and sounding carbon ones with removable baffles from SP Engineering. I can't recommend these guys highly enough, the quality is superb, as is their customer service and a fraction of the cost of Akrapovic or Termignoni

Next was the addition of a colour matched belly pan to tidy up and enhance the looks. Then I swapped the 60 profile front tyre for a 70 since I hate the lack of confidence I get with a 60. The bike feels much better for it IMO.

Next job is to re-paint the casings and it will look mint.

Apologies, this has somehow turned into a bit of an essay! Anyway if your still reading, thanks. Here are a few pictures.

Cheers,

Oli.

As I bought it:



New cans and belly pan:

Corse:



The CCM:



Garage buddies:

[utopia]

Welcome along, Oli.
Sorry to hear about your injuries, but glad that you're back on the road now.
The 620 looks quite spesh, what with the white wheels an' all, doesn't it ?
And a pretty nice stable which should cover most things. I run a similar mix of Honda Dominator and M750. Nice and simple, nice and torquey. Do you have the enduro wheels for the CCM too ?
I'm sure Nick will put you right on most things, which is why I'm not mentioning a belt change. (or am I ?).
And I don't think you need to worry too much about posts turning into essays. I seem to get away with it on a fairly regular basis.
So do carry on telling us how your monster experience unfolds over the summer.

Welcome to the Shire

Originally Posted by utopia

Welcome along, Oli.
Sorry to hear about your injuries, but glad that you're back on the road now.
The 620 looks quite spesh, what with the white wheels an' all, doesn't it ?
And a pretty nice stable which should cover most things. I run a similar mix of Honda Dominator and M750. Nice and simple, nice and torquey. Do you have the enduro wheels for the CCM too ?
I'm sure Nick will put you right on most things, which is why I'm not mentioning a belt change. (or am I ?).
And I don't think you need to worry too much about posts turning into essays. I seem to get away with it on a fairly regular basis.
So do carry on telling us how your monster experience unfolds over the summer.

Thanks, yeah I think it looks pleasing to the eye. The white Brembo wheels set it off nicely with the Ducati Corse white stripe. The belts were changed recently (according to previous owner, I have a service receipt and book stamped) and on quick inspection look in good order, but I might just change them anyway for peace of mind so I know they are good. Then I will be checking the valve clearances.

I don't have the enduro wheels for the CCM, think they were only supplied from new with the "Dual Sport" model. I wouldn't want them anyway since the R30 is a bit too soft for off road really.

Will no doubt have a few more stories at some point

Originally Posted by PDS

Welcome to the Shire

Thanks

[Nickj]

The pipes do sound nice and look/feel like a good solid piece of kit.

Originally Posted by Nickj

The pipes do sound nice and look/feel like a good solid piece of kit.

They are a little on the louder side, but nice.

Welcome to another Cheltenham member, about time we had other monster owners from 'Nam on here!

Z.

[J.P]

Welcome to the club.
Shame we didn't see you in Wroxton last weekend at some point for the UKMOC Weekender, your bike would have got a lot of attention.

Originally Posted by Zak

Welcome to another Cheltenham member, about time we had other monster owners from 'Nam on here!

Z.

Cheers Zak, maybe see you about.

Originally Posted by J.P

Welcome to the club.
Shame we didn't see you in Wroxton last weekend at some point for the UKMOC Weekender, your bike would have got a lot of attention.

Hi thanks. Yeah I saw the event advertised, but was working lates all weekend. Out of curiosity, why would it get a lot of attention?

[J.P]

Because it looks very nice Oli.
And everyone likes to tell owners with white wheels that they'll regret it one day.

Originally Posted by J.P

Because it looks very nice Oli.
And everyone likes to tell owners with white wheels that they'll regret it one day.

Thanks But white wheels aren't a pain if you clean them often

Plus I'm quite OCD about my cleaning, you should see the cleaning and detailing gear I have for my car in the background on the pics. I daren't add up the cost of it! If I do a full clean and detail on the car (usually once a month with an intermediate clean every week), it takes me a whole weekend to complete, sometimes longer! So yeah, a couple of white wheels is nothing to me