There she is, with suspension at full droop in a poser shot with the MX seat. After spending several evenings in the garage messing with different swingarms, links and frames, I determined the Hypermotard frame was much better suited for my purposes.
This kind of makes me sad because now the only Monster parts on the Monster Moto are the wheels and rear brake caliper and master. It’s not really a monster moto anymore. It’s a Hypermotard with a fork swap, swingarm swap and custom subframe.
What’s worse is that it’s basically just a Hypermotard SP. Ducati made version of the Hyper for racing that had more travel —195 mm front/156 rear. I’m sitting at 200 mm on both ends, so marginally better, but at this point I’ve basically built a bike I could have bought. Dang it. The SPs are pretty hard to find though.
I was going to sell the Hyper frame since I have a clear title for it and that makes it worth lots more than the salvaged ones, but now I’m going to use it. I still have the Monster frame (also a clean title) but I’ve welded on and removed enough parts it’s not really useful to anyone besides me.
So it’s time for a new plan.
Everything is coming together nicely on the Hyper. If I’m diligent I can probably being riding by summer, since will use many more factory parts and less crazy custom fab. It should do a phenomenal job of scratching my itch for a SuMo.
What to do with the Monster? I was relying heavily on modified Hyper parts when it was still a Monster. Now I have another set of Hyper triple clamps which I can bore to fit KTM WP forks. I’ve already done it once. That means I could use dirt bike KTM forks and go full 300 mm travel and swap in a PDS swingarm and shock to match. I can use one of the three 600cc motors have laying around and build something like an overweight, air cooled Aprilia XSV 550. Should be great, right?
And it won’t matter how many years it takes to complete since I already have my Husaberg if I actually want to ride.
