Well.....Bye.

[lancruza]

Hopefully you didnt buy it to save money. LOL!

I prefer the colorway/model than lancruza posted up. I keep thinking about getting an older Monster 695 with the black bodywork/red frame.

Either one is like sex on a stick. Those are gorgeous bikes.

I know a guy, lol...really... that's had about 40 different bikes. All kinds from cruisers to dual sports to a turbo Hayabusa. I asked him one day, "What's the most fun bike you've ever had?". Without hesitation he said, "A Monster 900". I've always wanted a Monster, but specifically a 900, because of his immediate reaction. That's another one that's on the list. I'm just not sure I could get used to that dry clutch.

[Cooter]

TBH, I had a 98-99? Monster 750 with high mount CF Termi's about 5 years back. I still think about it. I can only imagine the 900 was about 150 better? lol. I don't think they all were dry clutches? The 750 wasn't. Maybe thats an add on? I can't remem-beer I like them better than the new ones, just because of the vintage look. It fits the café style better than the modern ones IMO.

Seriously crazy good handling fun bike, and was very maintenance and repair free while I had it. They go for pretty cheap, I'd do it again but then I would have to admit I really have a problem and I'm doing so well living right in the middle of da' Nile!

[lancruza]

Hey Cooter, where's that ride report???????????

2dlf1q.jpg

[Cooter]

Well since Vladimere is asking, I'll tell you everything I know!
I handed the seller cash to hold and test rode the bike very well, but I had to keep in mind that it was essentially 'new' with 900 miles on the engine and a tach that goes to 17,000 rpm and on 'new' tires with chicken strips wider than my hand. I'm positive the farthest it had ever leaned over before was on the kickstand
It ran fantastically well, throttle-by-wire and ride modes I haden't played with yet. Brakes are phenomenal and I even got to engage ABS on the front wheel through a dirty intersection and was very impressed! But she was wallowing badly in turns when ridden hard and the steering is very much lighter than even the Buell! High speed on a long bumpy highway ride gave a very unsettling wandering feeling. Apparently that's one of the Brutalé-izms I didn't know about. The seat is very very hard, but surprisingly comfy?

I let the seller keep the cash and rode her home. It was late so I barely found room in the garage for her, then left in the morning to PHX for work.

[Cooter]

After a string of 12 hour days, I got back to La very late friday night and couldn't wait to suit up at 6am to ride her in anger all the way to the top of the Angeles Crest Hwy
Remember I still know nothing about the bike, I haven't had a chance to even read (or find) the manual, so I don't know if "R" ride mode means 'Rain' or 'Race', and much less throw a tool her way...

This will bite me later

[Cooter]

It was a typical short 170-ish mile Saturday ride of endless corners to Newcombs Ranch and back, so I did get a real sense of how the girl likes to be shoved around.
The SeX likes a LOT of body english to stay stable in a corner, even though the steering is very light (So light I had to replace the damper with an Öhlins unit that almost completely maxed out). Still, If I get lazy and just put my butt off the seat and don't get my shoulders over to 'kiss the mirror' as they say, she can be quite the bitch to keep layed over. If my body position is right, simply push on the inside handlebar and she'll confidently shoot around the apex not really bothered by speed changes or bumps.

The Brutalé is the absolute polar opposite.
800cc, 13.3:1 compression (within a tenth of the SX), 125hp, 60lb/ft, 368 dry weight
.34 Power to weight ratio The SX is .44 with what Erik Buell called a "Full race spec engine"
Redline is just north of 12,000 rpm which takes some getting used for me, as she will keep pulling while shrieking those sweet, sweet, triple noises well past what a reasonable person would hold the throttle pinned. I also noticed a totally unreasonable amount of torque for a tiny 800cc engine. Like sub 2000 rpm effortless take offs with no clutch slip. Very surprising but I get the familiar smile when I remember my Speed Triple doing that too The clutch is super light and very progressive, all that SX left hand workout must have paid off!
The forks are 43mm Marzocchi at the front, Sachs shock at the rear. Brembo monobloc radial calipers on massive disks. They say it's not a race bike (ya right) but all this stuff was right off their F3, uh, race bike.

Lots of similar specs but wow. The Brutalé didn't really care if I was sitting on top of the hard seat or comfortably hanging off the side with my leg locked in the perfect shelf of tank side (You do fill it in the top but that part of the tank is really just an airbox cover like the EBR. The fuel sits mostly under the seat). She did however, like to be a bit man handled at the bars. The steering is super, super light, but you need to push down on the inside bar and pull up on the outside bar to feel secure while on the side of the tire.

I figured all that out on Saturday morning and then went to the garage for a man-date with the lady to attack her with a spanner set (Thats Italian for wrenches, now that I'm all hoity toity), and the first thing I checked was tire pressure.

17lbs. Ouch. Near death face and a mental reminder to not be lazy about maintenance ever again.

[Cooter]

I used to be proud of burning off half the letters on some dry 4 year old tires, but the pressure gauge shocked me into reality:

(Cooter is stupid, not brave. Don't be like Cooter.)


FYI 32 Psi is the MV Agusta recommended starting point. A lot more than that ^^^

Taking off the seat and side/tail panels was really easy, even the huge weird shaped tank came off very easy. More 'race-bike' signatures Not to mention the missing bolts



So the PO mentioned he bought it about a year ago from his collector buddys family after he passed (not on a bike) and had it serviced (to the tune of about $2500!) at a very well known shop here, rode it about 65 miles, and then sold it to me. All that checks out so far and I'm waiting for a copy of the service receipt from them.

Ya, I expected the suspension not to be set up for my weight, the question is how the hell do both tires get that low sitting for a few months, why are the gas tank mounting bolts missing? It does need to removed to do a service. I hate to blame them without knowing, but like I said the receipt is on the way.

Got the bike checked out, suspension adjusted to 205 Badass American-style pounds, made a couple bicycle runs to the hardware store for metric (GASP!) stainless hardware and got her together in time for the sunset!

[Cooter]

[34nineteen]

Wowza. Hey sexy....

[Cooter]

I did a bit of reading that night. This self described analog-guy wanted to figure out settings for ABS, traction control, oh and "R" means Rain, haha. "N"normal, "S"port, "R"ain, and "C"ustom. All easily switchable on the fly, are you listening Mr. Buell? But honestly I'm no Marc Marquez, so Normal and Sport will probably be fine for me. I'll mess with it though, you guys know I love to push buttons

I went and did the same exact route the next day and dayyyymmm what a difference. All the wallowing in the corners went away completely, the front forks stopped mostly bottoming out (I went from 5 turns pre-load to 12 and I'll probably max them out at 15 and go shopping for springs).
Still needs a square solid triangle of pressure on the bars, but the un-nerving highway wandering is much better.

The rear is still too hard and will hop in the air over the big reflector divots on the double yellow IF one was to pass sightseeing gawking Priuses that are doing 10 under the limit (allegedly). This makes the traction control freak out and take way too long to give you the power back. I'm sure there's a setting for that

I'm at 35mm sag front and rear and will tighten the front with the pre-load and lower the rear to help the fork rake/trail which should help the highway handling even more.

Is that detailed enough for ya lancruza?

I thought she'd be finicky, slow (800cc!), and small. Happily, she's smoooooth, very(!) fast, and effortless to run hard. I'll look down and be doing 70mph. Look up, look down, and be going 95

The SeX is faster to be sure, and still the most animalistic punch-yo-mama power, but this little Italian lady is much easier to keep at go-directly-to-jail speeds all day. On the SeX I get home and fall to the couch after a ride. On the Brutalé, I just want to go out again!