Hello Everyone,

I have been browsing through the forum and getting a lot of good information.  I finally bought a red 2012 Monster 1100 Evo a few weeks ago from Pro Italia and since then I have been riding her almost on a daily basis(sometimes 3X a day!)

I come from a sports car background(couple of Ferraris, and a lot of Porsches) and motorcycling is a whole new experience for me, even though I had a dirt bike in high school(Honda 125cc) which was some 30+ years ago.

My wife says this is a mid-life crisis kind of thing which I tend to agree with.  A lot of people get sports cars, etc, but since I already had them, I guess a motorcycle fits the bill!

I am just hoping to stay safe and enjoy the ride for a long time!

The following is my immediate plan for the bike:

1.  Lower the front and rear suspension slightly

2.  Make the clutch action softer

3.  Adjust suspension setting for my weight and also go a little softer for better ride

4.  Wind shield

5.  Bar risers(1.5")

I am having issues with the tip of my left index finger going a little numb even though I take care to not put weight on the bars.  Hopefully a slightly more upright sitting position will help.

Any and all feedbacks will be greatly appreciated!

J Lee

Welcome.

You might want to try a Rizoma bar with some sweep and a better wrist angle along with that riser. The bike will vibrate a lot less with more miles. You can try bar end weights if at 1,500 miles the numbness persists. Consider replacing the 15T front sprocket with a 14T. Low speeds will be easier to handle and the bike will otherwise be smoother at 5,000 RPM up.

As for the clutch, you can have your dealer switch out the servo for a more user-friendly one.

You want to quicken the steering?!  Have you dealer set up the sag front and rear. Right now it's sprung for 2-up ~ 250 - 275 lbs. How tall are you and what do you weigh?

The stock bikini fairing is actually pretty effective and quiet. I'd suggest getting a better helmet and fitted jacket before installing a windshied. If you still feel you need one after that, it's your bike and your call.

Stay Safe! Remember, they can look right at you and not see you!!!

Thanks!

I weigh around 175 pounds, with 5' 11" height.  Long torso and shorter limbs than usual.

I will look into the Rizoma bars.

The bar end weights reduce vibrations?

Same here but 5' 8". You need the preload adjusted bigtime! The other proportions are ideal.

Rizoma here:  I fitted a silver and it looks stock, only better finished. http://www.motovationusa.com/mvstore/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=562 and http://www.monsterparts.com/pc/MA005/Bars-Mirrors/MA005.html Get your dealer fit them with you on the bike and drill the holes for the switch gear, levers and mirrors accordingly.

With this bar I didn't need the weights to reduce vibration on my 796, but yes, weights can change the harmonics.

Rubber side down! 

As for the bar situation, I decided to just try out a bar riser (1.5") which I just purchased on ebay for $63.50 (free shipping).

As for the ride firmness, I will have to adjust the suspension settings as soon as possible.  I did not know that the factory setting is for two riders!

You should have enough cable for that no problem but might need to rotate some stuff or reroute slightly. It's the 38mm one, right? Make sure that you don't pull the throttle cable when you turn the bars!  That could be very exciting.

When you are done, I'd like to know how much distance you end up with between the top triple clamp and the bottom of the bar. I could use another 20mm rise and might consider that 38mm rcombined with an 1100 evo clamp on my 796.

Definitely have your dealer adjust that sag out back ASAP. You'll probably like the geometry a lot better, if not the ride.

As for the Rizoma, if your wrists are still bothering you, it's worth a try. Most like it a lot. Not a panacea of course.

Be safe!

Welcome 

I'd suggest not lowering the suspension, its really difficult to do so without screwing up the suspension action and, at best, you'll end up with an only slightly-worse handling bike with limited cornering clearance.  You are plenty tall for the machine and probably only need to get comfortable on the bike .  As for the hands going numb, taller bars may help, but time on the bike will  probably help more as you build your core muscles and learn how to move your body around properly.  Also, if you have much vibration in the bars that can cause numbness.  There are several options and vibranators work really well, "dumb" bar end weights sometimes help, sometimes hurt - they just shift the frequency at which the bars will buzz around.  Fancy bar ends (like vibranators) seem to quell vibrations over a much larger frequency range and to a greater extent.  We have them in my wife's monsters and its butter smooth at freeway speeds. The bars only move around at very low rpms when you grab a bunch of throttle, but they are renthal high bars so are a bit flexy (she has short arms and likes sitting somewhat upright - I liked the bike better with stock bars fwiw).

I've never seen a bike setup or sprung for two up from the factory, but I've never messed with the suspension on your exact model and curmudgeon knows his stuff.  Regardless, it certainly didn't come set from the factory for your specific weight and riding style.  Setting sag is about as mandatory on a bike as putting air in the tires, its just something that must be done for the bike to work correctly.  Set the sag front and rear and set the compression clickers to whatever the manual says for your weight etc.  If it doesn't have any specs, start off with everything in the middle and about 30mm of sag and then maybe soften up the compression if its a bit stiff.

Note that you should weight the pegs quite heavily when riding in a sporting manner, especially if it is bumpy and that the suspension is supposed to be fairly stiff.

I think the clutch actuation on the 1100 is hydro, in which case a larger diameter slave cylinder is the easiest way to make the clutch pull easier.

I'd recomend against a bigger windsheild for a few reasons.  First, they tend to cause a bunch of noise and turbulence - no fun.  Second, they are ugly.  Third, the wind pressure is part of the egronic setup of the monster.  Get rid of it and you'll next be trying to move the pegs forward and fit ape hangers 

Overall beyond setting up the suspension for your weight, I'd suggest leaving the bike alone for a while.  Its quite good as standard and (no offense) you probably aren't experienced enough to make it better just yet.  The biggest improvements will come with improving the rider - a track day school and advanced riding course would be very good ideas (and tons of fun) 

Quote from: bikepilot on October 27, 2011, 12:31:11 PM

I've never seen a bike setup or sprung for two up from the factory, but I've never messed with the suspension on your exact model and curmudgeon knows his stuff.  Regardless, it certainly didn't come set from the factory for your specific weight and riding style.  Setting sag is about as mandatory on a bike as putting air in the tires, its just something that must be done for the bike to work correctly.  Set the sag front and rear and set the compression clickers to whatever the manual says for your weight etc.  If it doesn't have any specs, start off with everything in the middle and about 30mm of sag and then maybe soften up the compression if its a bit stiff.

A tip of the hat to you as well, bikepilot!  Mainly I know what I know, and sometimes can add a bit of "historical perspective". 

When I hopped on a 796 for the first time, I noticed that the back end was essentially rigid. When I asked the salesman what was back there, I basically got a blank stare. 

When I asked Donnie Unger, he said what you read above. Afterwards I rode a 696 and it was "slightly" more compliant but oversprung and the Sachs compression damping was WAAAY high. The back end still more or less behaved; the rear suspension just wasn't doing much other than to prevent bucking on square-edged bumps. I ordered a cheap Ohlins from Ohlins, NC sprung and damped for my weight solo and had it fitted before delivery. Donnie (certified Ohlins tech) set it up for himself (he's 10 lbs heavier than me) and said that it made a huge difference. I had Donnie recheck the sag at 900 miles with me and full gear aboard and he measured a difference of only 2mm which he said wasn't worth correcting.

I gather the new Monsters have a fairly sorted chassis as they aren't parts bin specials like the old bikes. I can't find any fundamental bad manners with mine. Interestingly, my setup works OK for my son who is 85 lbs. heavier and who thought mine must be too stiff for me. It's firm, but totally settled and compliant. Ducati should do this from scratch as it might cost $200 - $300 more. Not complaining though as the 2011 pricing gave me ABS for free vs 2010.

You or any decent rider with a sound body would have a hoot on this thing. Works OK for me with a bum shoulder and too many miles. 

Regards!

Thanks guys for all the good advice!

I am going to take it slow, just do the bar risers and suspension adjustments for my weight.  I know I am way too inexperienced to know what is good or bad behavior on a bike.  However, it definitely felt over sprung/too stiff even though I did not know what it was supposed to be like

I test rode a friend's Multistrada(pikes peak edition) set to the Urban setting and that bike was so smooth riding and felt like it turned incredibly well with just minimal input.  I am tempted to add the Multi to my stable but I have to remind myself to not get carried away too fast.

Sounds a sober mindset. IMO you have more bike than you need right now, but with a careful approach you'll grow into it. I noted you car background.

The MTS is supposed to be that way. You will learn cycle dynamics quicker on the bike you have, once you have the suspension balanced. If you want even better suspension, you can make yours 10% better if you want to throw a fortune at it. You'll never recover that investment though. Your current lower center of gravity on the evo is your friend.

Just ride defensively. If you can find some experienced riders your own age who'll go easy on you and just cruise, you'll learn a ton from following them and watching what they do and why. Bikes are different than cars. One plus. As a performance driver, at least you won't panic when confronted with disaster. You'll also not let your mind wander or fail to look very far ahead, or get boxed into something ugly.

Stay safe and get some miles under you!

Thanks, and hopefully this will be a beginning of a long, safe, and rewarding journey!