Mutant Monster S4.......almost Finished

Nice, BUT, there's a few problems with using those bikes as examples:

1. Two of them are new shape Monsters, which are better looking than the old ones. As I said earlier, they are better looking because the tail is higher, the tank is smaller and the headlight is more discreet.

2. All three of them retain the Monster tank, which, as I've said a few times in this thread, I think is a bulbous and bloated monstrosity and it had to go.

3. The first one, the only old shape Monster of the 3, is a single seater, whereas mine retains pillion capability. And before you ask, yes we have tried it and no, the seat doesn't slope too much. Mrs Zhed says it is not as comfy as the standard Monster, but nowhere near as precarious as the pillion perch on the 848.


So, apart from that, you're spot on! I think Exige is right.

 

I actually have an entire OE 899 subframe and seat unit. The problem was that the mods required to make it fit were much more extensive and there was a risk that after all that, it might not have worked with the shape of the tank. It needed much more work and more work = mo money. As the Pani seat unit I have is red, it also would have either meant respraying either the tank or the seat (yet more expense). Then I would have needed to source and fit all sorts of little fiddly bits in order to make it pillionable, such as pillion pegs, a pillion pad and a key for the seat lock (or a new lock). I had nicked the seat pad for my 900ss special, so that would have needed to be replaced too (more money). It would have also meant losing the standard S4 pegs, which I'm not a fan of tbh, but they would have needed to be replaced with something, probably rearsets, which would have entailed yet more outlay.

Maybe one day, but for now I will stick with this.

In the end it came down to a question of bringing the project home at a proportionate cost. FYI, the bike and mods (including new headlight, exhaust, front mudguard, tank and the fabrication work) together owe me about £3,500, and I'll be able to sell the S4 tank, the headlight, hugger, seat cowl and other bits for about £700 altogether, so when that all balances out I reckon it will have cost me about £3k or just a bit under including the price of the bike. I wanted a Ducati engined streetfighter with two-up capability, and so it was either buy a SF for around 2.5 times the price this cost me or make one myself, which is unique, is powered by what I think is a more characterful engine AND I get to keep the spare 4 grand in my pocket. It was also a lot of fun to build and a learning experience into the bargain.

But just a reminder while I'm here for people who keep saying the tail is too high - PLEASE READ THE THREAD IN FULL, AS I AGREE WITH YOU AND AND I DISCUSS HOW I AM GOING TO SORT THAT OUT. :angry:


PS and FYI: the seat unit is exactly the same height and angle as a 916. Maybe Tamburini had to put up with these sort of comments when he unveiled his design too! ?! :tearsofjoy:

 

No. I think you're the first to mention it.....:tongueout:

 

I was going to make a reasoned response to this and your other post, but then I realised you're actually just a negative, nasty, bitter old [expletive deleted] and I also don't give a toss what you think, so I won't bother.

 

I've changed my mind.....

@Mr.R

You've clearly got a chip on your shoulder about what you think I represent, as you've referred to my profession in a disparaging fashion at least once, mentioned drug abuse twice (I still have no idea why) and made comments about "trendy bike customisers" and "owners with too much cash to spend". Let me put you straight.

Firstly, the reason why I customised this bike is that I wanted a Ducati engined streetfighter style bike, but I didn't like the looks of the Monster. I know that seems to offend you for some reason, but that's just tough.

The reason I wanted a streetfighter style bike is that after years of boxing, my hands could no longer tolerate the pressure put on them when riding a bike with clip ons for long periods of time, which, as an all weather, year round almost every day of the week biker, I was doing. That's why regrettably my 848, which I had bought at a cheap price, had to go.

However, unfortunately because criminal barristers don't make anywhere near as much money as most tabloid educated people think (less than a train driver on average), I couldn't afford the only suitable bike in the Ducati range, the SF, which even secondhand are £7k+. That was simply out of my reach. Therefore the reason I customised the Monster was precisely because I DIDN'T have "too much cash to spend". Just the opposite in fact. Hence, being unable to buy the bike I wanted, I decided to build something similar at less than half the price.

On the subject of money - you're clearly harbouring some sort of resentment towards me (you do seem disproportionately angry about me modding a bike) - you lump me in with "people who have too much cash to spend", you've mentioned my profession when it has no relevance whatsoever and in your latest post you mention my education etc. Unfortunately, you're massively wide of the mark though. I'm not some born with a silver spoon public school toff. I was born and brought up in a pretty rough neighbourhood in the industrial North west, just outside Liverpool. My dad worked in a chemical factory, one of my grandads was a welder, while the other was a lorry driver. I went to a comprehensive school and when I turned 18, my parents couldn't afford for me to go to university, so I went out to work, firstly as a a window cleaner, but then in a factory in Liverpool and then in another factory making medicine down south. I then gave that up to play in bands and write music. I worked in a metal fabrication shop (hence why I can weld) and also helped out in a mechanic's garage to make ends meet, but eventually I ended up part owning a recording studio and so concentrated on that. When my studio went under, I worked in an office for 8 years to pay my way through my law degree and Bar exams. During the early years I stayed on a mates living room floor, was homeless for a few months and lived on a council estate in Tottenham. So you can take your ill thought out class based digs about my supposed wealth and education and shove them up your Termigionis.

Your little dig about my profession is also unwarranted. What on earth does what I do for a living or the people I sometimes represent have to do with me modding a bike? It was a very odd comment to make. But btw, I don't only defend criminals and like most barristers I also prosecute (or at least I used to before I moved chambers). But even when I do defend, the people I end up representing can often turn out to be decent hard working people who just happen to have found themselves accused of being on the wrong side of the law. People just like you and others on this forum. And far from being money grabbing (which seemed to be the undertone of your comment) in the short time I've been a member here I've helped quite a few forum folk out with their legal problems without expecting or asking for payment or favours in return. And will continue to do so. My PM door is always open.

As for bikes - I'm not some Johnny come lately rich urban biker following a fad. I've ridden since I was 17 when I bought a DT125 with a bent frame and a dangerously loose seat for £30, which I used to ride to my window cleaning job until I binned it on a wet manhole cover. I've had umpteen types of bikes from dirt bikes to superbikes and all sorts of crap in between. Can anyone beat a £500 Q plate Bandit for keepin it real?. During that time I've ridden, modded, repaired, trackdayed, wheelied, got my knee down on and crashed all manner of machines. I have the scars, x rays, skinned knuckles and ingrained oil on my fingers to prove it.

Does all that qualify me as a "real" biker/man?

As for the Bikeshed type of people you had a pop at.......I understand the older generation can find new subcultures and their adherents baffling and irritating - they're young, slim, good looking, energetic, creative and fashion conscious - all the things which older folk are not and which they are probably a bit envious of and threatened by. I think people probably found the original rockers of the 50s and 60s just as annoying, for very similar reasons. They are simply forming a bike based culture which speaks to them - in the same way as do the chubby wild eyed middle aged Fox Eye Fireblade riding blokes in the battered Akito leathers bragging about destroying kneesliders at the Cat and Fiddle, or the trackday addicts with the latest superbike and slick tyres, or the Outlaw MCs, or the guys who are into shiny custom bikes or the lovers of tricked up Goldwings.....But it's funny you should mention the Bikeshed because they've just opened up a restaurant/bar/hangout/shop thing in London. Me and Mrs Zhed popped in there at the weekend and we got chatting to the owner who has been riding since they were 8 years old and clearly loves bikes as much as anyone on this forum. SHE was also young, good looking and trendy. You'd hate her.

Anyways - relax and take it down a notch or two, eh? You really shouldn't be getting so annoyed about what I or other people do with our own motorbikes in our own time and with our own money.