The Ducati Monstrosity

For motor enthusiasts, the United Arab Emirates have become famous for abandoned prestige cars, models with a high value but for various tax reasons are deliberately abandoned, it seems that happened to this Ducati Monster, that after a small accident it has been abandoned.
His fortune was that of being found by Marc Roissetter, who for his third project was looking for a suitable, solid base even if neglected.
Here begins his story

I bought the bike in 2017 from a local wrecked bike dealer here in the United Arab Emirates as I was looking for a V-Twin for my next project and could not find any Viragos or other interesting bikes on the market. The bike was in less than poor conditions having been crashed at some point and then left outside for over a year (from what I can understand). 

When the bike arrived to me, I knew I had a lot of work to do, though was lucky the base elements I needed were there and the bike had compression and turned over ok… Unfortunately, never saw it running due to all the damage to the gauge cluster etc. (more on this later)

After getting the bike home, it was time to look at the basics of the bike and work from the ground up with the idea. I had completed some paint artwork before starting on the project and decided on my path to head forward on. I knew I wanted a café style bike with a modern take as per the year of the bike (2012). I also knew it will go to the race track for some fun so wanted to make it function at the same time. I prefer my projects to be more go than show, but this time, I think I got a good mix of both worlds.

A complete strip down of the bike was next on the cards to see what would be required, all harnesses out, ABS unit junked to the side (no one wants ABS!) and harness all stripped out. From here it was a mockup of rear sub frame types and looking at how the 996 Ducati tank would be fitted. I decided to go with the monster pump and just cut out the bottom of the 996 tank and made a new plate to fit it. 

Using the tail piece of one of my other bikes the mock up was completed and it was time to start the major part of the fab work the sub frame and tail light mount.

Once completed it was time to look at the front end and stance of the bike. I wanted superbike style stance so a nice set of clip-ons were added and a new top triple clamp fabbed up through a contact of mine to clean up that front look. I also went into CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) and came up with the very slim line small front head light mounts as I wanted everything tucked up as much as possible to reduce the bulge of the front end. 

Once completed it was time to break it down into just the parts and send everything off for soda blasting and coating. I did the frame, swing arm, engine cases, wheels and new top triple. Whilst everything was off for coating it was time for electrical fun. In total I spent about 40 hours re-building the wiring harness and removing all un-necessary sensors and wires for the loom. The bike is as basic as possible with only the required elements left to make her run and road legal. 

The tank and tail were then sent for paint so reassembly could be fairly smooth. After getting the bike back together there were a few teething issues such as a ceased fuel pump from its time out in the weather, busted fork seals and some other small issues. Once all completed it was time for first fire up. Once she fired for the first time I noticed a bad noise from the front cylinder, a very serious knock. So the bike was back down into pieces and engine cases cracked to find the issue. 

Turns out the shop that sold me the bike had found a valve through a piston at some point and decided the best way to repair was to replace the valve and weld the hole in the piston shut…. So a full re-build was done to make sure I didn’t run into any other unexpected surprises! Once completed the bike was back together in no time and onto the dyno for run in and tuning of the PCV. 

Shortly after, it was time for first track day and initial setup of the bike. The bike runs well with buckets of torque. A few small changes will be made with exhaust being cut and brought a bit higher due to ground clearance issues on track and an upgraded shock from a 959 will be dropped in for some better adjustment as the Sachs rear has no feel at all. 

Bike Specs: 

Ducati Monster 1100 EVO 2012 base unit

Full engine re-build

Custom rear sub frame

Custom tail unit

Full custom wiring loom

Custom front top triple clamp

Custom head light mounts

Custom bar end indicators

Custom gauge cluster mount 

Ducati 996 fuel tank 

K&N filters for intake and oil breather 

Power Commander 5 

Billet clip ons 

After market rear sets 

Full powder coating of parts

Ducati multistrada brake and clutch upgrade

Rizoma brake and clutch reservoirs

SC Projects muffler

KTM 125 SX throttle tube and cable 

Black fibre exhaust wrapping

Builder: 

Marc Roissetter @marc.roissetter

Photos:

Craig Kidwell @ckdesigns_sa

Greg Falski @Gregfalski