Hi. I'm Ray Shpeley and I live in Camrose Alberta, about an hour southeast of Edmonton.
I started riding motocross for fun in '67 when I was 13 and got a Triumph Tiger when I was 17. I haven't ridden seriously since then except when I borrowed a bike for fun.
I don't have a bike at the moment, but that's the point of my post. I've been thinking of getting a '93 900 monster and building it into the bike I want. It doesn't have to be a '93, though likely still a 900. I may consider frame mods and an engine rebuild but I'm not looking for raw power. Reliability, rideability and engine balance are more important for me. I want a bike that can ride two up comfortably for the road, is mostly black and nude, preferably with a 2-1-2 pipe that stays out of way and has tone.
If anyone has leads on a 900 in my area of the country and favourite road mods I'd really appreciate hearing back. I'm currently reading the monsta rebuild thread.

Welcome - plenty of info that will help you on here. There's bee a number of builds over the years and plenty of hard core tinkers modders here too.

Consider a newer 900 engine though. As you might expect there were changes from the 90s to the 2000 engines. And you don't need a Monsters one, a Superspot 900 should be just the samey same 

Thanks Slide Panda. You got me lookin harder...

I've been pouring over the forums and am now considering a 2000 or so M900Sie. It looks to have a longer wheelbase, stiffer chassis than an M900, aluminium swingarm, adjustable suspension, and the FI of course.

This review http://duc-bz.github.com/DUC_Tests_M900Sie.htm seems pretty convincing to me.

I had been thinking of doing the Keihin FCR carb conversion on the M900, mainly for the responsiveness of a pumper carb, but it looks like this FI is pretty responsive as well. On the minus side the FI may be harder to mod/tune.

Any comments/suggestions about the M900Sie? Availability?

So the 2000 900S is a bit of a unique monster. I've got one so I can give you some scoop. Basically, 2000 was the last of the older 'hoop' framed Monsters. The 900 was the biggest displacement of the era and the S got some extra farkles. It's my theory that these items were put on part to entice, partly because Ducati had them and the would not fit the new frame config. They included:
- Al Swingarm
- Floating rear caliper mount
- Ohlins rear shock.
- 3-way adjustable forks, compression, rebound, preload

And as you've noticed they are FI. Being FI you can tune them pretty much in one, expensive shot. A power commander, and a trip to a Dyno tune shop and you're done. No fiddling with jets and screw turns... which can be done for free. So you have the costlier quicker route of FI or the (potentially) cheaper but more drawn out process of tuning carbs.

My 900 has about 34K miles on it and still fires up first time, every time. The *ONLY* time it left me stuck at all was due to an aftermarket item (side stand bypass) failing. I do keep on the maintenance, use good oil and give it a regular does of fuel system cleaner - and it runs like a champ.

Can't say it's running stock at all - I've got a power commander, polished heads, a full Ducati Performance 50mm '916 style' exhaust and more.

Sounds like you've got a great ride there Slide Panda! And thanks for the excellent info.

Hmm... so the 2001 frame is different than the 2000? Which means it must be the 2001 frame with the longer wheelbase. I thought the longer wheelbase might be better for touring, but may not be much of a difference.

I 'm also considering stripping the frame right down over winter and bracing the frame like on page 4 in monsta's thread:
  http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=42314.0,

plus better positioning of the passenger footpegs and other options. Basically I want to make sure the bike holds up well for 2 up riding. If my passenger and I work well together in the corners I'd like to have the option to safely push it a bit sometimes. A steering damper will be in the works.

The adjustable (better) suspension of the 2000 900s is going to be a plus for touring, so I'm a lot more settled on this bike. It's great to hear how reliable the 2000 900s is. I'm more partial to the FI dyno setup than fiddling with jets and plug readings. I may build up my own exhaust, hopefully without too much need of duped trips to the dyno.

Yes they are different - though the wheelbase may be the same. The real change came for the rear suspension. On the earlier version the shock was connected to the swinger via the afore mentioned 'hoop'. The hoop was mounted to one side of a rocker, the shock the other that was mounted to the frame. Later DSS monsters did away with the hoop and went for a more direct mounting for the rear shock.

Also, I think in 2001 (maybe 02) the dash went electric totally. On my 2000 the speedo is still mechanically driven from the front wheel. Later Monsters use a magnetic sensor on the rear wheel, reading the rotor nuts for speed. But I'm not really sure when the cut over happened.

On the DSS monsters the stock rearsets mount to the engine case in front so if you did mods like that you'd need to use some sort of aftermarket rearsets that mount to the frame. Just FYI.

The 900S does not have a remote preload for the shock - and with the stock adjustment you're not going to adjust it easily. But I fit a bearing and preload collar from Traxxion dynamics. With that set up, you can adjust easily any place. Other wise you're probably having the rear wheel off to get at the preload.
http://www.traxxion.com/shocks-2.aspx
Another option is the hyraulic preload from Ohlins. It can be retrofit to existing shocks, but a different,shorter spring would be required.