Good day Ducati lovers. Some time ago I went on this forum to find knowledge and when possible share knowledge on my Sportclassic, Paso 906 and 851 strada monoposto. In recent time my life has taken a turn from living in the densely pulated Netherlands to rural central Italy. In Italy life is good and with curvy roads like this it is clear why italy has produced so many good riders performing in the top level of moto GP. However in Umbria were I currently live there are many gravel roads, called strada bianca, and in our case even the last 3km's to our house on the countryside is gravel. The 851 and Paso are not performing great there. So I was looking for a versatile bike able to negatiate the twisties with aplomb, both on smooth and broken tarmac but also to be able to take on a gravel road with confidence. I have decided after sampling a few that i'm no big single guy. But I like the low weight and manouvrebility of a single. In any case the bike has to be reasonably light, simple, carbs perferred, as I do most maintenance myself and has to be user friendly. I do not really like the recent Scrambler line-up of Ducati very much. Too fashionable to my taste (says a former Sportclassic owner;-). But I like the 1st generation Monsters. My question after this elaborate introduction is this: Can a Monster be turned into a scrambler kind of bike by just swapping parts from other models? For a Scrambler I need more complient suspension and more travel. A slightly raised ride hight and some Scrambler tires like the Pirelli MT60. The looks of the monster are perfect to me so will remain as is. I hope somebody has traveled this (gravel)path before and might offer some advice. Cheers, William
Can’t see why not. Depending on how far you want to go, you can raise the rear with spacers on the hoop (if it’s early model) easy enough. Not sure how high tho…. Tyres are same kind of size as many utility bikes (160 to 180 rear) so tyres rather than wheels are easy. Although if budget allows go spikes, they loook so much better! Forks - iirc the 900ssie (and similar) are longer so you can raise the front with those or any longer than fit. Give you a chance to get fully adjustable too as many early monsters don’t have much (any) adjustment bars are already ok, but plenty of riders out there to lift the position a little. May be worth investing in some kind of bash plate… Will be heavy tho. All monsters are fairly heavy really and have steel tanks. IME they don’t weigh much different to plastic tanks that later monsters have. Cans - you’ll need high rise ones. Note they don’t all fit across the range (headers) so check what you are fitting or have some made. Reckon be a fairly simple change that could be done on most budgets.
The tip on the slightly longer 900SSei forks is great for getting some more ground clearance however suspension travel will not be increased (stilll 120mm). Is there an aloy bash plate available which fit the M900? (might go for a 750 or even a 600 as they are both cheaper and lighter while bing more than fast enough for these very winding B roads)
That’s right, you can just lift up the yokes to match the rear of you add spacers there. Otherwise be more chipper than scrambler lol
How about a 696? Fitting a 120/70 front tyre will raise it 12mm and the damper clevis from a 1100 raises the rear. Linear spring at the back and linear springs from an 848 in the forks will make it more supple. Exhausts are already high. It's light too at 160kg. No extra suspension travel though.
Multistrada 1000 / 1100's can make good gravel bikes. OK a little bit lardy, but they're often quite cheap to buy!
Rich at lougi Moto built a monster with a higher ride height by jacking the back up and using mk1 multistrada forks if I recall correctly
OK, so the front will not present any problems. Multi or ST2 forks will add more travel. Rear can be raised by modifying the linkage but that will not increase suspension travel. However it will allow more travel. Any plug&play shocks which will do do the trick? Maybe a longer shock will work?
Depends which monster. I fitted a 916 ohlins into my 620 and a ST ohlins with remote reservoir on my old 600 (hoop model). More likely the non hoop model could have a longer shock than the hoop one imho. If you can get hold of one, maybe a 916 type that has adjustment in its length and give it a go? I know people who have installed the shock upside to make fit then raced ok with it so could be an option if space is tight
There is (or was) a US based bike shop that was making what they called a 'Terra Mostro', basically a Monster converted to an off-road machine. Maybe a bit more off road than you are looking for? but shows what can be done. More info here; https://www.bikeexif.com/ducati-terra-mostro
@Dukedesmo: This is a great example but, like you said a bit to much MX machine. I think I will go for the ST forks and a lenght adjustable 916 damper. (stock lenght of the Monster and 916 damper is the same?) Together with some gravel tires and maybe some slimmer exhaust dampers for some more gnd clearance. Still not sure if it will be a M600, M750 or M900. Weight difference is 10kg in favour of the M600 and our B-roads are so twisty you will never get 4th gear anyway. Handling is more important than power. I can get a nice M600 with 33.000 Km's for 1800€ and a M900Dark i.e with a mere 3400KM (!) for 3900€.
916 and (original) Monster have completely different rear suspension setups, the Monster uses a hoop on the swingarm (like 851, 888) and so doesn't have an adjustable rod like the 916. You can raise the rear with extenders on the hoop or an adjustable rocker but it won't go very high due to the design. The Terra Mostro appears to have a totally different rear suspension setup to the donor Monster so, anything can be done depending on how far you are prepared to go. As for which model obviously I favour the 900 but if I was going smaller I'd go for the 750 which will be pretty much the same weight as the 600 but with more power.
The M600 i've seen for sale in my neighbourhood has unfamiliar brake calipers. Does anyone recognises them? Expensive billet calipers or cheap Chinese junk?
