Son of Hyperstrada...

The final stage in the creation of the latest loudbike began last week with a nine and a half hour run up to Laconia, New Hampshire – home of BCM Motorsports.  And I think I’m getting truly weary of nine plus hour drives – this being my 5th one of the year.  It’s not like the Passat wagon is a crummy place to hang out for that amount of time (actually, it’s mighty fine), it’s the traffic.

Traffic is probably the biggest of the bad things I’ve been trying to get used to in my move down here from The Great White North.  And on the run up to BCM, there was really no getting clear of it until I got up into the “Live Free or Die” state.   A 5PM departure from beautiful downtown Bethesda kicked off the trip in fine bumper-to-bumper style and established a rhythm that would define most of the evening.  Ah, well – I put my faith a few hours of loud Zappa followed by a few more hours of equally loud Bela Fleck and the Flecktones before I had to load two back-to- back Zero7 cds just to calm down enough to start looking for a hotel.  I ended up in a sketchy area of Stanford, CT ; happy that my trailer was empty.

I rolled into BCM around noon on Thursday and started unloading 2 months worth of eBay parts acquisitions, bodywork fresh from Ottawa Valley Custom Paint and the S2R1000 exhaust that Gary’s Custom Cycle had buffed to a finish that looked more like chrome than any prior work I’d seen.  The Hypermotard is the second bike I’ve built from a Photoshop exercise and like the Hyperstrada, I did most of the work from the Ducati parts manual and patterns I’d made up during my brief visit to BCM in July.  So, it’s kind of like a mini-biker-build-off when I’m finally staring at my rain and road-grime soaked bike surrounded by eight boxes of tools and parts.  Miles had graciously offered to break the bike in for me and had done so during the tail end of a tropical storm that had hit the Northeast just prior to my visit, so before getting the bike on the lift, it got a detailed wash and blow-dry.  Between the visiting with Leslie Grossman, Kyle Thompson, Miles and the staff and getting my stuff out and organized, it took the better part of Thursday just to get the exhaust on – remarkably, the bracket I made back in Ottawa fit perfectly.   Sadly, that would be the last thing that went together without some sort of filing, grinding, drilling or light bashing.

Friday was spent mostly in the dyno room with Kyle – or alone with the bike in the dyno room; bolting more stuff on while the bike cooled off.  I must be getting mature in my old age, ‘cause normally I’d be slapping on the easy bling; you know – going for the easy hit.  But this time, I took a more methodical approach, and resisted bolting up the body panels and fairing until the fender mounting job was complete.  By the end of the day, Kyle had pulled an even 95HP out of the engine – but more importantly, he had the bike delivering over 70FTLBs of torque as low as 3,500 RPM.  Just the way I like it.

 

I had the tail, fender and exhaust installed by the end of the day.

BCM is an old-time shop with a steady stream of customers rolling through the showroom, parts area and even the shop throughout the day.  Some I’d recognize by voice as they came in (Robbie Nigle, Bruce Myers) and others by bike – most not at all.  But everyone made a point of stopping by my lift to comment favorably on the new bike – particularly with the bodywork coming together.

I was straightening my area up at the end of the day when Leslie stopped by to check in on me.  We chatted while he went over all the details and then he stopped at the right side fender mount; pointing out how the leading edge of the fork slider would whack part of the fender on full compression.  Always good to have another set of eyes on your work – always sucks to have to redo brackets from scratch.

I rolled into the once upon a time but no longer fairly decent Landmark Hotel a tired and somewhat demoralized man.

But Friday morning I discovered a way to modify the fender bracket and with the problem solved, I was able to rip though the balance of the bits without too much of a hassle.  By 4PM I was done enough to be done and the rain had stopped long enough for the roads to dry.  I suited-up and rode the bike over to the gas station, but even Laconia, NH has a Friday afternoon rush hour, so I returned to the shop to snap a few pics and bolt on the Pazzo levers.

It wasn’t ‘till Sunday, having unpacked the bike, bits and tools and installed the new bars and mirrors that I finally got to go out and put a few miles on the bike.  The first run showed the suspension to be way too harsh, but the motor and light weight to be intoxicating.  I zipped home and took out all the compression and ran back down to McArthur Road and although I still find the forks to be too harsh, the thing is an animal.  This is a motor that hits hard from 3,000 and keeps at it with a linear rush up to 7,500.  The handling is lively, but confidence inspiring.

I like it.  The Hot-blooded Mexican likes it.

I can tell that the forks are going to live up to their reputation (unfortunately), and I imagine it will drive me to re-valving.  I still need to mount some turn signals and paint the triples black, but for the most part – with the oil changed and the important bits lock-wired – we’re ready for VIR (next Monday).

What came from where:
• Tail Section – Desmo Challenge from Italy; likely to imported to N. America this winter by DesmoWorks
• Hugger – Ducati Performance (front mounting hole 10mm off)
• Chain Guards – ShifTech
• Billet wheel nuts and socket – eBay
• Rearsets – Desmo Challenge from Italy
• Powder Coating – wheels and sub-frame  –
• Paintwork – Ottawa Valley Custom Paint
• Anodizing (brackets, rear set plates and rear wheel spacer) -
• Exhaust buffing – Gary’s Custom Cycle
• S2R1000 exhaust – Arrow – BCM
• Spun aluminum velocity stacks and K&Ns – Salt Lake City Motorsports
• DP cams, ECU and racing seat  – BCM
• SpeedyMoto belt covers, billet clutch cover,  filler and drain plugs – Motowheels
• STM billet clutch cover – Eurocorsa
• Spider clutch stabilizer – eBay
• Pazzo levers – eBay
• Woods Low bend bars –
• BMW 650 X-Moto fairing – Battley’s Cycles
• 2008 Ducati Monster 696 fender - BCM

I can’t thank Leslie Grossman enough for opening his shop to me and making me feel at home.  Kyle Thompson has developed into a helluva mechanic/tuner/racer and continues to impress me with his talents.  Miles is of course, the best Ducati parts guy in the known universe.

There are a bunch of hi-rez pictures HERE. 

Worth the nine-hour drive each way?  Yup.  In fact I’m going to make the trek again in December to leave Kyle the F1 motor for a freshening-up.  While I’m there, we’ll dial-in an FIM chip for the new motor that’s going into the Gran Canyon.

Content: 2008 Ducati Hypermotard S, loudbike, Steve Munro, BCM Motorsports, Kyle Thompson, Ducati

Comments

[ryan mead]

hi there, pretty killer ride youve got the. i was very impressed by the tail section and would love to know how you got your hands on one of them. i have been searching but have had no luck. also i really love the headlight you used. very nice
ryan

[Rob Marshall]

Your new ride looks much better than the factory unit. Very nice. See you at Calabogie.