BST Carbon Fiber Wheels - Ride Report

 This past weekend I finished putting the Monster back together after
its second [1] winter makeover.  Custom painted CF quarter fairing,
passenger seat cowl, tail section and sidecovers, along with
beautifully clearcoated CF headlight bucket and headlight brackets
took a couple more pounds off the bike.  MV Agusta Brutale bars [2]
and taller bar risers give the bike a more upright, HyperMotard-like
seating position.  Brembo billet race radial clutch and brake master
cylinders add a nice bit of visual bling to the handlebars.  Rizoma
alloy bar-end mirrors completed the styling mods.

But the big change was the replacement of the already light oem
Marchesini aluminum wheels with a pair of BST carbon fiber 5-spoke
wheels.

Holy-moley!   This thing turns with the speed of thought.   The bike
responds to steering inputs like a bicycle.  The bike positively leaps
forward under throttle - no additional pwer, but the lack of
rotational mass makes the first 10-15 feet of acceleration in each
gear vividly more noticeable.  Second gear, half-throttle roll-ons
bring the front end up smoothly and contollably from about 5,500 rpm
on up.   I haven't tried full throttle roll-ons yet.  Not sure when I
will!

410 pounds, full of gas.  Definitely the single most fun to ride
motorcycle I've ever owned.

Tim

[1] First winter makeover in 2006/07 consisted of full Termi exhaust
system + ECU + modified airbox, custom painted CF front fender,
replacement of the stock seat with a one-inch lower Monster 695
saddle, Ducati Performance painted tail section, CF rear fender, and
painting the CF sidecovers red.

[2] The taller bars and risers required custom longer brake and clutch
hydraulic lines (Spiegler, highly recommended!) and throttle cable
(Barnett, ditto) but luckily all the switchgear wiring had enough
slack to reach without modification.

 We need pictures!

 
http://tinyurl.com/685zjg

 tomorrow@erols.com wrote:

How do you do it? If I had all that bling, I'd actually have to wash my
bike more than once or twice a year!

 
I have a Harley to ride when it rains, when I'm travelling long
distances, when I want to commute to work, etc.

The Monster is no more than a fair weather short-hop toy for me.

Puts a big grin on my face, to!

(And still it was pretty dirty before I took it apart this past
winter...)