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. 2005 Monster S2R Dark....................... |
. Romeo |
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I broke a personal rule that I have: NEVER ride a bike unless I plan to buy it. My impulse control is sort of poor when it comes to bikes. Chris and I went over to GP Motorcycles on my Monster so he could pick up a new S2R. He said I could ride it home. What a mistake that was... |
May 20, 2025 Romeo has
turned into quite the commuting beast of burden. A larger gas tank would help
extend the days between gas stops, so when Chris got his prototype Monster gas tank I offered to try it out.
I removed the necessary parts from Romeo and put them onto the new tank. The
tank swapping process wasn't completely without drama so when I fired Romeo up
and gas didn't start pouring out the bottom I was pretty pleased. There's still a bit of tweaking to do for the final version
of the tank, but it came
together fairly well for a first cut. It looks more like a Superbike tank, which
some people might not like, but if that doesn't bug you, you get an extra gallon
with this tank. The front is also tapered back more so the handbar can travel
further before hitting the steering locks.
 More pics: right side, left side, front, back. Thanks to Ed who sent me the motorcycle blind spot mirrors. It's what I originally wanted to buy instead of being forced to do this lame experiment of cutting a car-sized blind spot mirror in half. In case you don't know why it's there, the hose clamp is my yellow-trash version of a throttle rocker. The Nelson Rigg tail bag has been working out well. I changed the bungy cords to non-elastic straps and there's only a mild amount of shifting even with some pretty heavy loads. Before I got it all sorted out, I would get home and find the bag resting on the exhaust. That's one of the drawbacks of high mount pipes; greater cargo discipline is required. April 6, 2025 As you may already know, I bought an S2R1000 and that makes a much better track bike than the S2R so I don't need to invest any more money into Romeo to make him a decent track bike. Yeah, I know, I have the 749S, but I'm really just one of those Monster people. So now that I commute to work, I use Romeo as my beast of burden. He's actually better than Mo for commuting because he seems to work better in the 3k range when I'm lane splitting. The other day I noticed my rear blinker was dead. I pulled the bulb and the filament was fine so I took apart the tail light assembly and found that because the blinker had previously snapped off, the wire finally pulled out. That's one of my primary gripes about the S2R: both blinkers have snapped off from just being bumped into a few times. I haven't done anything to them except tie them back together with plastic string and try harder not to run into them like a drunk. May 12, 2025 Chris rode Romeo with Linda on the back in the canyons. He thinks my tires really suck so maybe that was my turn 8 problem. It would be great if my problems were solved by a new set of tires and wheel balancing. Sure beats investing in a new rear shock and forks. May 8, 2025  Romeo and Floyd
(and Matt's Monster) went to Willow Springs today. Chris's S2R is at a fabricator's shop so he rode Floyd
while I used Romeo. Romeo was a lot of fun to ride on the Big Track with one
notable caveat: a bad wobble in turn 8. The bike would start snaking back and
forth at around 100; I was willing to let the problem amplify up to 110, but
when I tried going much beyond that, a bounce was added to the
equation. It was perfectly fine when pinned on the front straight
so something about the lean upset the bike. I was ok with letting myself be limited in turn 8 by the wobble, but after I had a slide in turn 3, I decided the Pirellis that came with the bike were not up to the task of being pushed on the track. I came back into the pits and talked to my comrades about having to curb my enthusiasm when Chris told me to use Floyd instead. He was satisfied with the sessions he had done and the desert heat was getting to him so he wanted to end his day anyways. I took the 749S out and he was smooth everywhere, at any speed. The one  place where Romeo outdid
Floyd was in my ability to turn him, particularly in the downhill lefthander of
turn 5. I'm not sure why Floyd so readily turns when I'm street riding, but is
so much harder at the track; it must be because the corner entry speeds are so
much greater.I'd love to get Romeo dialed in for the track, but I'm not sure I should spend a whole lot of time, money or effort since I do have Floyd as a track bike. It's just that there was something extra fun about being the only naked bike in a sea of sportbikes. April 20, 2025 Check out my all-black Monster kissing an all-red Monster. Romeo isn't called Romeo for nothing... April 16, 2025 When I think of steering dampers, I think of the Japanese site with the best description I've ever read. So one day I was riding "fast and thick" and I suffered from a case of "waving" and decided that I needed to give myself "ease" from a recurrence. Specifically, I was leaned over in a curve on Palomar and I hit a rough patch which made the bars start swapping. It eventually settled down, but at that point I decided to get a damper. It could be that putting on the bar risers made the bike more predisposed to instability under certain circumstances. In the photo the bike is against the left steering lock; even with the rod fully protruding, it isn't near my leg. I preferred it in this direction instead of having it protrude out the front of the bike. Installing the Toby damper wasn't a straight bolt-on (at least in the orientation I wanted); Chris had to machine a spacer so the damper wouldn't hit the frame when the bars were on either steering lock. February 21, 2025  I decided that the lack of a right-hand mirror
really bugged me. It was less about needing to know who was in the lane to the
right and more about wanting to see if something CHP-shaped was entering
the freeway behind me. Chris found a bracket that I could use to mount the
mirror so I had to shift the master cylinder and ignition switch to the left to
make room. The problem with the ignition switch is that it has a nub that fits
into a hole in the bar so you either have to cut off the nub or drill another
hole in the bar. I opted for using a dremel to grind off the nub. It's nice to
get that mirror back on again. February 1, 2025  Romeo has new front brakes and bar risers. The stopping power with the stock brakes wasn't as strong
as I liked so he now has Brembo cast iron full-floating rotors (as sold OEM on
900SS/SP). The calipers are Brembo Goldline single pin calipers with 40mm mounts
(as found on Ducatis from 1991 until 1997); they're mounted using a Brembo
40-to-65mm adaptor plate. If you've never had full-floating rotors and do get
them some day, do not be alarmed by the various jingling and scraping sounds.
 The master cylinder is a Brembo OE radial pump with integrated reservoir (as sold on the Ducati 749 and 999). The only problem with this new arrangement is that the master cylinder precludes me from having a right-hand mirror.  The 1.5" bar risers make a huge difference in how much stress I have on my back. I wasn't really uncomfortable without them, but now I feel like I could do Iron Butts on my bike. There is zero back or shoulder strain during or after a ride. This is something that we of the Short Torso Club suffer from far more than the statistically average-sized male (let alone a lot of you Rochester Big and Tall types).  October 31, 2025 "Avast Ye, Pri-matey!" The Monkey Pirate sticker is on and it looks good. I am now a true stealth bike and unless one is familiar with motorcycles, one will not know what I am riding. The sticker also serves the purpose of possibly making my bike less attractive to steal since it's not branded and it's also very identifiable. October 10, 2025 Romeo got his Arrows. I decided that after my last mountain ride during which I hit the rev limiter a couple of times, I needed more auditory feedback. He also finally got the matching right-side mirror. The threads for each mirror go in opposite directions so Chris had to pilfer a piece off an older monster so I could put the right mirror on. I've designed a Pirate Monkey sticker for Romeo and as soon as I get a die cut sticker made, I'll put it on the tank. I can't help it; I like monkeys. Who doesn't like monkeys except mean people or those who have been savagely attacked by one? September 24, 2025 Finally got back from all my traveling and had a chance to put in a long ride on Romeo. It's going to beat out the 749 as my canyon machine. It's not as quick to turn, but I love the kind of riding where I'm using a lot of body english to move the bike. Last night I took off all the stickers and branding. I did leave the dots; they look interesting. Now why would I remove the Ducati name? The best answer is, why not? Let people guess what I ride. If someone asks me what it is, I'm going to tell them it's an Austrian motorcycle, a Schmidtberger ZP-1, and that only five were ever  imported into the United States. I'll explain that the tank is
made out of the same material as the B2 Stealth Bomber so it can't be
picked up by radar. I'm still contemplating the Arrows. They look and sound better than the stock exhaust, but I haven't decided yet if it's worth a grand to me. I'll test ride Chris's bike which has the pipes and decide how much I like them. August 19, 2025 Riding in the light of a full moon into the desert is something special. The boulders in the mountains shine and the landscape is ethereal. I took the S2R to the desert and while enjoying the infrared-esque expanse, it dawned on me how much I love those moments and how I especially loved my bike for taking me there. During the ride it came to me: My bike is my love, so Romeo he shall be. What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet... August 18, 2025 Yesterday I rode one, today I own one. Aprilia Ducati of Oceanside had a 2005 S2R Dark demo bike with barely any miles on it and a grand off the usual price. When a motorcyclist chooses not to have kids, the little two-wheeled darlings become the immediate family. At least that's how I justify my new purchase, fresh off the heels of another purchase. Angelina Jolie adopts kids; I buy bikes. What's the difference? They both need homes and love, don't they? I should probably sell Pogo so he can continue to get the attention he deserves. -- Mods
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