2006 Monster 1000 Suspension Questions

[ducpainter]

All Showa forks, adjustable or not, can be disassembled, re-sprung, and re-valved. Once that's done there is little need for the adjustable ones, unless you ride the track, and minor tweaks are required for different tracks.

Marzocchi forks are pretty much not modifiable.

[S21FOLGORE]

If the forks are serviceable, I would say, install a set of linear (straight rate) springs (w/ correct spring rate)
and get them re-valved.

Either way, you will need to find a local guy who can set up your suspension.

For example,

<SNIP>

The rear suspension (which IS adjustable on my model) has been set up now to my weight, and with more rebound control, works fine.

<SNIP>

You said your rear shock is "set up to your weight", does that mean (at very least) you installed the new spring?

If, for example, you just increased the rebound damping and preload, it is just a band aid fix.
That is a temporary solution to a problem that does not address or resolve the underlying cause of the problem.

In fact, heavy rider + soft rear shock spring + too much rebound damping + not enough rear ride height (not enough swing arm droop angle) can make things worse.

If it's too difficult to post a picture, take a short video clip and upload on youtube, then post it here.

You need to shoot the video from the side, not to high (so that it can show how balanced your front / rear ends are, how much rear end is squatting with you on board, etc.)

[lasse28]

Nice picture!
My bike has almost the same stance as yours - but unfortunately, the art of inserting pictures hasnt been learned.
Remember, I have double rearforks.
The rear spring is changed to a stiffer one, and rebound set to 12 clicks - ride height, with me onboard, I would consider as "normal" now.
As already mentioned, I will have the  bike "reflashed" in week 37 - and at the same time, have the suspension looked at by a Ducati expert (Promotor Ducati Tech center)
I guess that at lest I will have installed another cartridge and spring.
I will report here.

[lasse28]

Too long time has gone, without me responding - sorry!
But now, a lot of things has happened.
The bike has spent some time with a renowned Ducati experts workshop, where the suspension has been attended to, and, importantly, the behaviour of the motor has been changed to, a lot better
The front standard non adjustable SHOWA has been pulled apart, and a lot of sticking "dirt" has been removed, the oil has been changed to 5w, and to the correct level.
This done has improved the compliance and damping a lot, and even if the workshop told me, that new highteck cartridges could be inserted, it would be expensive, and would not be satisfactry enough to my kind of driving, compared to the would be expenses.
To "normal" road driving, I am most happy now, and because I not plan to do extreme driving, I can easily live with the suspension as it is now.
Back to the motor:
It had a very slow idle, sometimes shutting down when very hot, and generally the motor seemed to be 10 to 15% under its factory power, not letting the bike pass 170 Kmh.
At the same time, the exhausts smelled very much of unburned gasolene?
The master mechanic detected low compression, and a messy computer, tampered with by the former owner.
He then went over the fuel system, the computer, and used quite some time to resetting it all to the correct values, - then he went to the valves, which he found ill adjusted, with too great distances to the seats to obtain full compression!
By adjusting the valves, he found some play in the valeguides, actually, as he said, "a lot of play" probably too much…
Anyway, because the bill already had run quite high, I said I would wait to get new valve  guides installed, - as it would cost me in the region of 2000 US Dollars.

After I got the motorcycle back, it was as transformed, with a LOT more power, and a steady idle at 1100 revs + the bad smell has gone!
Now I ask all you experts if you know if I can run the bike with those worn valve guides (1000M 2 valves per cylinder) - next season, for approx. 5000 kilomters, before repair?
Also, HOW those guides are lubricated - because many people says that the guides in reality ar un-lubricated, because of the rubber manchets on the top of the guides?

[ducpainter]

It used to be that the guides were lubricated by the lead in the fuel. I don't know if the chemists ever came up with a suitable eco-friendly replacement.

Ducati's are somewhat known for poor valve guide material. Chances are you can run the bike for 5000K, but if your price didn't include seat work, and perhaps new valves, you may need them also after running it further.

[Howie]

I don't remember the range of years, but my bike (04) was one.  Faulty guides.  Most of those bikes were probably fixed under either warranty or good will because it happened at such low mileage.  My old 750, which has probably about 11K miles on it still has the original guides, new seals though.

Removing lead from gasoline was really an issue with valve seats.  The fix was Stellite or other similarly hard valve seat issues.