My Monster 620ie Dark The In's And Out's

There are many villages where the roads are laid stone as in cobblestone and loose stone like this and if I do sell this house to downsize to a smaller house one thing that I will be looking for is a proper tarmac, concrete or metalled road for access to the property. I have never come off on gravel but did lose the bike and slid off due to the police ordering the council to cover an interchange (traffic lights T-Junction) in sand!!! to cover an oil spill from an accident/collision. Came out of the factory gates up to the light to turn right lights changed as I approached them to turned left as per normal only to have the bike slide out from under me. Bike was my 18 month old Triumph T140E Bonnieville the security man at the gate saw it all and claimed that I was getting back onto my feet whilst still sliding something he had never seen before... Instinct I guess get out of the middle of the road so cannot be run over.

Meanwhile am back form the farce of the "special" test they did acually put the bike onto a brake tester and they worried about the frame number funnily enough never looked at the engine number did not try the lights or even turn the ignition on so they never checked the mileage so they did not start it of course. "Special test" even after putting it onto the brake tester TWICE took 20 minutes and it cost 180 leva though I do not have receipt to prove this the translator charged 60 leva as he say he had to go to the testing place three times to arrange the test and with today being the third time. Also they are going to send the documents from Sofia to the translator and he will inform me when he gets them can only guess that as he lives in the city and not out in the sticks like me the courier will find him easier and of course he speaks Bulgarian which I do not hence having to use a translator :-







This is the testing place the guy in pale blue is George the translator notice how clean the place is it's almost like it's new and never used much! Oh yes without my braking practice outside on the common getting the rear brake operating properly the Monster would never have passed the test as it was the rear wheel locked up and jumped out of the rollers.

Plezier

 

OK Update:-

My 620 Monster is now on the road all legal it was re-registered last Thursday and it took them over 4 hours to get it done and I fitted the new plate myself at home ........ Shusssh! Yesterday(Staurday) morning took the front wheel down to Point S the local...ish tyre place and got the new Dunlop GPR300 tyre fitted and balanced and it's now scrubbed in just got back from a little Sunday Morning ride of about 35 miles (done 200 now) went to the old part of the city took a few snaps of the huge fortress there:-










This is in the valley below the ancient fortress. Veliko Tarnovo (VT) was the capital of Bulgaria in the medieval period and is built on the sides of the gorge of the river Yantra the road I came down to here is a winding one with some quite nasty bends and curves I used lots of engine braking coming down with rear brake trailing to help a little and front on a couple of the steeper tighter curves still not fully comfortable on these curves yet but it's getting better. In the meantime have discovered that the new helmet hurts my ears let's just hope that with use it will ease up on that.

Plezier

 

Thank you though the hard work is not done by a long chalk still have the rust inside the tank to deal with the Por-15 kit arrived along with teh new submersible fuel hose. Would you beleive no one here seemed to have heard of it had to order from the UK !!!! So can do that now but want to get some miles in before pulling it off the road for another week while the tank interior is dealt with plus once that is done I know will want to get the tank repainted and repaired.

Aprt from avoiding the rain the weather here is good for riding into December unless we have a harsh winter Christmas 2017 for example we were sititng on the patio in just shirt sleeves on the 23rd is was about 23 degrees two week previously we had 4" of snow so just pick the good days and keep riding.

Plezier

 

Little update a couple of small issues have popped up firstly lost the Right Hand side trim it just vanished while on a spirited ride. Secondly there is an oil weep at the rear of the verticle (rear) cyclinder trying decide to see where it's comong from went to the local jet wash and carefully washed her off however some water/moisture has gotten into the electrics somewhere as the neutra/ and oil light glow slighly not enough to see in dylight bu noticable in the dark. The neutral light came on and stayed on for a while the the amount of moisture must have decreased because it's only visable at night now.

Meanwhile to othe day the mileometer turned over 9000 miles it only read 7677 miles when i I got her.

Plezier

 

Thank you for the kind comments.

Am still not really sure about the Ducati. Yes I enjoy riding again but the vibration levels I eally wonder if this is right or not perhaps it's rose tinted spec syndrome but I do not recall my T140E Bonnie vibrating like this and if am truthful I still hanker after another Bonnie T140. Then again always fancied a Harley and an 883 Sportster would have possibly squeezed into the budget.

Plezier

 

Well had to top the oil up again it's using a little the real issue is that is has the 2001-2002 Monster oil leak at the base of the rear(verticle) cyclinder! I actually found a length of the sealent on to of the crankcase Thursday morning while topping the oil up have done 1648 miles since getting it and this is the second top up since I changed the oil and filter and the leak appears to be getting worse she only has 9325 mils on the clock.

Have checked the engine mounting bolts once and did wonder if the rear cyclinder leak might be helped with a little torque down? Didn't realise that would need to check everything though and to be frank it's making me wonder if I did the right thing buying the Ducati !!!

There is still the petrol tank to be fixed, dents removed and damage aound filler neck fixed then re-painted, fork oil to be changed, cam belts and valves to be checked it's making me miss theT140E Bonnie all the more and if I am honest despite British parallel twin reputation for vibrating my 79 T140E virated less than this 2002 620ie and I did not have to keep checking tightness of fastenings to make sure somethin is not dropping off. Am thinking that it mght be best if I sell it next spring after sorting tank out etc. Need to look into what fixing this oil leak entails and get some belts as we have no idea as to when they were changed and gt the valvs checked and done if needed not sure my fingers can cope with those tiny shims.

Plezier

 

Well I knew this had issues to be fixed mainly the petrol tank and the rust in it which I have resolved. The dent in the tank from the left hand switch gear hitting the tank when it was dropped have filled the scrapeson the front muguard and coloured it with areosol paint that will be re-painted along with the tank and rear fender/mudguard. Fitted new clutch lever and handle bars cannot do much about the scrapes on the silencer.



Not much I can do about those except change the silencer really
As for the vibrations having grown up on British bikes my 250cc at 17 was a Norton Jubilee and have had BSA B31 (350cc single) BSA C15 (250cc single) after my 750 Bonnie was stolen. Triumph 21 (350 cc twin) so should be sort of used to vibrations oddly I found the vibes from a Honda CB550 to be more troubling making my fingers go numb.

Plezier

Plezier

 

Already checked them when I got the bike no markings and belts look pristine. The chap I bought it from said he changed them when he got it but that was back in something like 2007 and he only did a few wthousand miles on it. Am going to message the local bike place and get them to quote for the fork service and valve check and adjust if required will have to do the belts myself when I first got it contacted the only Ducati place in the country to enquire about service prices the check and ajust valves the quoted 800-1200 lev they quoted round 400 just for an oil change!!!! and yes I know oil especially bike oil is not cheap but really. The valve job would require me to hire a van or spend a couple of days in the capital which is about 4 hrs drive it would be cheaper to scrap it and buy a different bike and no I am not joking here.

So far have replaced the following:-

In tank pump
In tank fuel lines
Inline filter
Spark plugs
Oil = Filter
Handle bars
Hydraulic lines front brake and clutch
Clutch lever
Tyres
Bar end plugs
Brake pads front and rear

Still to do:-

Replace side panel trims (Right one flew off whist riding the left side one is cracked by front mounting hole)
Get fuel tank repaired
New handle bar grips
Fix oil leak
New cam belts
Fork service
Valve service
Head stock bearings check/service
Get fuse box cover (it's mising)

It's not like I thrash it the highest RPM that I have seen is just over 7000 during an over take move she spends most time at 3000-4000 rpmwhich is why normally we get over 60mpg. The fuel light did come on going down the long hill into VT yesterday but went out on the slope out of the valley into the city so I went and filled up she took 12.659 litres so it was pretty low but it did answer my question as to if the fuel light was still working.

Plezier

 

I am afraid we have to cope with the "greed" factor here. As I mentioned there is only ONE Ducati place and am not even sure if they are official or not as when I checked they were not listed on the Ducati sites list of dealers and when I did eventually speak to them their system only goes back to 2003 and mine is 2002 registered but built Sept 2001 according the the frames label. It's a US model so an import into Europe and somehow this system bit seems a bit suspect to me as why would they not have the sytem that cover all the Monster years? but only some of them!

Will be looking up the price of belts again and will ask the local bike place how much they want to do the valves and fit the belts as you say if they have to remove them why would there be another charge for fitting new one instead of putting the lod ones back on?

Plezier.

 

You make a very valid point and one that I will making with the place that gets the work,

Plezier

 

Thank you I did watch a couple of videos on this and the valve service and when I saw how small some of the valve shims/cotters were decided that my fingers were no longer nimble enough for that job.

My bike is a Sept 2001 build 2002 registered 620IE Dark with single disc and 5 speed transmission so not the same as the one in the video although it should not make a difference.

Plezier