The first real modification was removing a few stickers from the bike. I started by removing just the most obnoxious ones, but eventually took off everything with the exception of the one on the frame near the steering head.  Can you believe there were more than a dozen stickers on the bike? It looks better without them.

I noticed after a few weeks that the gas tank was getting some wear marks in the paint, as if my pants zipper were rubbing it or something. I couldn't figure out why it would wear there, since I only wear cotton jeans while riding and rarely touch the tank there, even though the stock Monster seat tends to push you into the tank.  I had seen a few other Monsters with vinyl pieces or even clear plastic in that area, so I figured it was likely a standard modification.  The clear plastic looks a bit too tacky, so the next time I was visiting a Ducati dealer I noticed some self adhesive padded vinyl pieces and bought one that seemed about right.  I could always peel it off later and wax the tank so that nobody would know it was there.  This was the beginning of my slide down the long and slippery slope of Ducati customization.

The next obviously needed fix was to modify that side stand to remove the automatic retraction capability.  My local dealer (BTF) modifies the bikes he sells (I didn't get mine from him, sorry) by taking a hack saw to the protrusion that the spring clip bumps into when you put the side stand down.  However, I have something against any modification that is irreversable and I had never seen a cutting job on one of those bolts that looked clean enough for me.  I considered fabricating a new steel clip as others have done, shaped like a "C" to fit around the bolt, but that didn't seem right either.  Finally I asked the Sunnyvale dealer (Honda Peninsula) if they had a replacement bolt and came up with the clean looking stainless steel part I've used on my bike.  It was expensive ($23), but nothing compared to the carbon fiber parts to come later.

After two reasonably inexpensive and barely visible changes, it was time to do something with the rear fender.  I looked at probably a dozen different options and wasn't completely happy with any of them. I didn't want to cut off any frame tubes, so the little license plate bracked fender eliminator was out.  At first I liked some of the carbon fiber pieces that fit over the frame tubes and have integrated turn signals, but after staring at them for a couple of months, I decided that I didn't really like the look enough.  One of the links on the Fast By Ferracci site showed a steel or aluminum fender replacement that retained the top piece and I eventually decided that was what I wanted.  However, they weren't offering the part for sale by itself, I would have to buy a whole bunch of stuff as a package to get it.  So, I got ambitious and decided to make one myself.

To begin with, I measured everything and drew a prototype onto some posterboard.  I then bent it and after about three revisions had something close to what I wanted.  Next, I scrounged up an old aluminum cookie sheet from my back yard that had been previously used to catch whatever drops through a rabbit cage.  Since we no longer had a rabbit and were unlikely to want to use it for cooking purposes, it was a good source of aluminum sheet metal for the next, more serious prototype.  I scratched the outline into the aluminum, cut it with a portable jigsaw, drilled it with a hand drill, and bent it using pliers and a vice.  I actually installed the result on my bike to make sure it fit properly. As expected, it was way to flimsy (not to mention the poor workmanship) to remain on the bike.

I began looking for a proper sheet of aluminum and a place with the right tools to do a decent job.  It turned out that one floor down in the building I was working in at the time, was a sheetmetel shop and I was able to talk them into letting me use their machines during lunch. In asking around about where I could buy a proper sheet of aluminum, they scrounged through the scrap bin and found an excellent piece of 1/16" aluminum that just had to have some glue removed.  I drew up a more accurate template using a simple computer drawing program, traced that onto the aluminum and was ready.  Less than an hour with the jigsaw, belt sander, drill press, and sheet metal bending press resulted in the final fender eliminator.  I spray painted it semigloss black when I got it home, then installed it as soon as the paint was dry.  A few zipties to hold the wires in place and a few license plate bolts completed the installation.  I now had a Monster that was "a little bit custom" and had only spent about $30 so far.  The rear looked way better and I hadn't done anything irreversable yet.

I've never been sure whether I like the looks of the "bikini fairing" that was added to the Monster in 1997, so I decided to take mine off for a while and see what a difference it would make.  This required purchasing four new shorter bolts for the upper triple clamps that hold the forks in place.  The dealer didn't have them in stock, so it took a few weeks.  Removing the fairing was easy with an allen wrench.  I noticed a bit more air pressure on my chest with it off, but actually a tiny bit less wind noise at my helmet.  It stayed off until the next time it got cold.  I still can't make up my mind whether to leave it off or on, so it changes every few months.  I think the bike looks better with it off.

The next thing to get replaced was the rear sprocket.  Most of the time the M900 felt geared too high.  At legal freeway speeds it felt better in 5th gear than 6th, and really didn't seem "happy" at low speeds.  I had read of others switching from the stock 39-tooth rear sprocket to a 41-tooth sprocket, and decided to try it on my bike as well.  This was a more serious mechanical change, since I had to take off the mufflers and the rear wheel to swap sprockets.  I was also concerned about having enough chain to cover the larger sprocket.

The swap was actually easier than I had imagined, once I figured out how to get the back end of the bike off the ground.  I didn't have a rear stand at the time and the Monster doesn't come with a centerstand. Some bricks and old boards did the job for me.  The new sprocket was easy to put on, and the chain only changed the rear tire by half a link, so there was plenty of room for everything.  It all went back together smoothly and I was soon able to go test ride it.

The larger sprocket made a bigger difference than the 5% gearing difference would indicate.  It was much easier pulling away from a dead stop and 6th gear now seemed just right on the freeway.  I'm not sure how much easier wheelies were, but first gear wheelies are definitely easy at any engine speed after this change.  Second gear wheelies have been impossible for me and I'm not about to abuse the clutch attempting to do them.

One of the two bolts holding on one of the two carbon fiber heat shields right behind the foot pegs fell out, so I removed the other three bolts and took them off.  I was never quite sure what purpose they served, so they went to my growing pile of parts I might someday want to put back on.

I had been looking at seat options for quite a while, mainly from Sargent or Corbin, before finally deciding to invest in a Corbin saddle.  This was the first modification where I had to convince my wife it was a "necessary expense" to keeping up the bike.  I wanted one just like the picture on their web site, but with leather on the main section.  It cost just a bit over $300 and required that I remove the seat latch from the old seat before I could use it (I ordered a replacement from the dealer so that I could use either seat instantly).  I love the way the seat looks, especially from the left side, but it only feels just a little bit better than the stock seat to me.

If I had it to do over again, I would drive down to Hollister and have them fit one to me exactly.  Mine would be higher than what they normally do from about six inches back and onward.  I think they've made the seat a little too flat, going too far in fixing the forward lean of the original Ducati seat.  I would also have them put little Italian flags on both sides rather than just on the left.  I might still take it back to Hollister and have them refit it, but that costs nearly half as much as a new seat.

After about a year and a half of looking at the plastic piece under the tail light, I decided that it looked a little too cheap and ordered a carbon fiber replacement for about $60.  That improved the look of the back end even more.

At about this point in ownership, I received a recall notice that the handlbar might break, so I had the dealer send me a replacement bar and installed it myself.  The new bar has a little more metal in it, but is drilled out on the ends so that the iron bar end weights don't fit anymore.  The bar just used a rounded plastic piece in the end, which is what all of the newer Monsters have as well.  I tried fitting the bar end weights in anyway, since I didn't want to change things, but after one fell out "somewhere", I took the other one out and put the plastic pieces back in.  I didn't really notice any handling differences or more vibration, so I'm happy leaving the bar that way. I am now one bar end and one screw (from the heat shield) short of having all of the original parts from the bike.

In reading one of the Ducati mailing lists, I learned that the front amber reflectors could be removed from the bottom of the forks legs to reveal a nice cast Ducati logo.  After a couple of days of thinking about it, I pulled them both off.  It looked like at least one of them would have fallen off by itself during the next year anyway, so it was probably a good thing.  I had removed the red reflectors from the side of the license plate when I removed the rear plastic fender, leaving only the reflector that shows from behind which is needed in case the tail light burns out.

After nearly two years of ownership, I finally gave in and ordered a tachometer for the bike.  I had tried and tried to convince myself that I didn't need a tach on the bike, but it is a better machine with one. I don't really nead it for redline, since there's no point in going beyond 8000 rpms and redline is 9000.  However, the tach makes it easy to drop the idle from 3000 to 2000 when using the choke, and is helpful in keeping the engine from running at too low a speed.  In anything other than first and second gear, you really don't want to be running below about 3000 rpms or it kind of chugs and bucks.

There are lots of tach choices and many that look good, but I finally settled on the analog dial from Ducati Performance.  It uses the same brand of instrument as the speedometer, so it is a perfect match, and has a carbon fiber face, matching the few other carbon pieces on the bike.  Installation required about an hour and a half and looks very clean.  The one I received was different from the one in the parts book and I happen to like it better.  The only drawback is that the idiot lights are hard to see in direct sunlight, unlike the originals.

Since it took many months for the tach to come in, I figured I could order a new set of pipes and have a few months to convince my wife that they were a required purchase.  I looked at dozens of different pipes before making up my mind which were the right ones.  When I first saw the high pipes in a picture, I really wanted them, but after looking at a few dozen pictures of bikes with them, I decided that they didn't look quite right.  I also decided that looks and sound were more important to me than performance, so I settled on carbon fiber silencers.  The only real remaining decision was whether to get round or oval cans and I settled for oval.  The round ones would have been easier to install since being off by a few degrees wouldn't be so obvious.

I ordered a set of GiaCaMoto pipes from Ducati Performance, hoping that they would take a few months to come in.  I was informed by my dealer that the tach was in just a few days after the pipe order and the new pipes showed up less than a week after that.  I am fortunate to have an understanding wife who lets me spend around a thousand bucks in one week on optional motorcycle parts.  I guess it helps that she had spent about that much on Beanie Babies and Beanie Buddies in the past year.

The pipes took about 45 minutes to install, five minutes to take the old ones off and 40 minutes to put the new ones on.  I managed to drop a ball bearing from the rear foot rest (which I shouldn't have pulled off) during the installation and was lucky to find it a few hours later.  The pipes are beautiful, but seem quite loud from the rider's position. They sound great from a distance, though.  Oh well, I usually wear ear plugs when I ride anyway and the added noise actually helps me ride slower on city streets and in residential areas.

The "final change" was the addition of a clear windshield for long rides and cold weather riding.  Chaparral Motorsports has a wide selection and the SpitFire shield looks pretty good on a Monster.  I had seen one on another bike and it fit well with the lines.  Besides, I can remove it in less than half a minute when I need the pure "naked bike" look.  It takes a little longer to reinstall.

I'm not sure if new tires count, since you have to put those on when the old ones wear out anyway.  I followed the recommendation of the dealer and switched to the Michelin Macadam 90x sport touring tire for a bit more mileage.  The first Dunlop 204 rear was gone in 3500 miles. I would have gotten at least 5000 miles out of the Michelin rear, but I managed to get two flat tires within a week and just replaced it rather than repairing the second puncture.  The second one also took a chunk out of the plastic rear mudguard when whatever I ran over went around with the tire.  I had to replace that part with a used one from another Monster owner, so I don't consider that a real addition.

So here is what it looked like after all of the changes, right before I replaced the rear mudguard.