April 7, 2025
Every motorcyclist who does the first maintenance on a new bike knows exactly how a parent at the birth of a child feels.
A parent hopes nervously that the baby coming out will be devoid of
manufacturer defects. A bike owner hopes nervously that the oil coming out
will be devoid of metal chunks, and thus, manufacturer defects. I'd never
really though about how babies and motor oil were so much alike until I gave
Mo his first oil change at a much-delayed 2,500 miles. I was nervous,
expectant. As the plug fell away and oil flowed out I was relieved to see
nothing out of the ordinary. Cigars all around!
Matt was doing a valve adjustment on his S2R1000 while I was doing Mo's oil change. I would stop and check on his progress to see how hard it was
in case I wanted to try. Any plans I had to try a valve adjustment was dubious
to begin with, but when he announced "This is
not fun anymore," that sealed the deal. I'm just going to sign my paycheck
over to GP Motorcycles to spare myself the grief.
April 2, 2025
 Took Mo to the big track at Willow Springs and he did great. After the first session I took him to the suspension guys and they sorted out the front. There wasn't anything they could do for the rear
so maybe I'll get a fully adjustable rear shock. Unlike Romeo, who moved way too
much at 100 in turn 8, Mo was fine at 120. I'm going to move the frame sliders
from Romeo to Mo so I have a false sense of security the next time I'm at the
track.
November 8, 2025
I saw the Remus pipes in person and they looked pretty good so I decided to keep
them. Chris told me what had to be done and I did it. Friends, I think I'm a
broken record on this matter, but don't begrudge a mechanic his or her pay
because that work just sucks. The first task was to ream out the
exhaust hole so the pipe would go in, and
of course the air tool barely fit in that space (don't know if the mis-size is
Ducati's or Remus's fault). Then I got the brackets in place and the puzzle
pieces put together and the various screws screwed. When we fired up the system
there was a horrifyingly loud air leak...I didn't get two pipes seated properly
and Chris said we might have to undo the system to seat it. Aaaakakakapoo!! I
started wrestling the
pipes with all my might, desperate to avoid disconnecting the hangers and the
springs and the bolts and whatever the hell else. Bababababa!! With a couple of
screws backed out, there was just barely enough wiggle room to slide the pipes
together (which had complicated dependencies on the other end). With an
additional tap of a mallet everything was connected and the leak was gone. What
a relief. If I had to redo it all I would've had to hurt someone first because
blood is the only salve for the infuriated. I'd make a shitty fulltime mechanic.
There would be blood all over my shop.
I also removed two clutch springs to lighten the clutch pull. I've read of
others having done this without creating problems. If the clutch starts
slipping, I'll deal with it then. For now I just want to not have a borderline
cramping hand everytime I ride.
I rode the bike home and it sounds awesome: not too loud, not too quiet. The 02
sensor disconnect continues to be the solution to the surging. The clutch pull
is totally fine now. Mo is finally coming together.
November 5, 2025
After riding Mo for a while, I couldn't figure out what was "not quite right"
about him. He felt jittery, or bumpy, or something weird. Then I started hearing
about a surging problem with the bike and it turns out Mo is afflicted — read
about it on a
Monster DML
thread. I disconnected the 02 sensor and the battery. When I reconnected the
battery and went for a ride, the bike was significantly smoother. I was thinking
about taking it into the local dealer to have it checked out under warranty, but
I'm not sure I want to go through the hassle since it's working better now.
 In other news, Mo got an incredibly
handsome steering damper. It's a Matris damper that Chris plans to sell through
his shop. I don't totally dislike the giant Toby damper
I have on Romeo; there's some comfort in knowing that if I get stranded on a
lonely highway I can remove it and have it ready in hand in case I need to beat
back an attempted molester. I don't think the Matris offers that type of
personal security.
Finally, Mo will be getting Remus exhausts, possibly
this one temporarily strapped on it. I had
ordered a different model but they sent that one so I'm going to see tomorrow if
I like it more in person. It's going to require grinding of an exhaust hole to
make it fit so I want to be happy with it if we bother to do that.
October 15, 2025
Mo got the same Emgo mirrors that Romeo has. I actually do like the stock mirrors
and would've like to have kept them, but they're at a height that seems to attract truck and sport utility mirrors
when lane splitting. Lane splitting is challenging enough without having to pay
extra attention to car mirrors.
September 27, 2025
Mo has the heaviest clutch I've ever felt on a bike so the first thing he got was a Yoyodyne clutch slave cylinder. It helps a bit, but the pull is still very heavy.
I better hope arthritis doesn't set in in the next few years or I'm screwed. I
put the excellent "cheese-grater" Nichols footpegs for increased grip.
September 26, 2025
Mo came from Beverly Hills Ducati. The owners
(John and Christine Sullivan) are fine people and I'll be damned if their
storefront on busy La Cienega isn't the cutest of
all Ducati dealerships. I hope they read this and like me enough to give me the
banner of Troy when they're done with it.
They need to get that old thing out of there to improve Feng Shui! All the good
sales juju is going to get stuck on that big blank Marlboro-debranded white
stripe on Troy's back.
|
