It’s been difficult to complete the tale of rebuilding Gordon, my budget Ducati Monster, for reasons which will become apparent at the end of the tale. But progress on the bike itself had been progressing pretty well.
Having got the dented and unloved Monster Dark into a cosmetically good Gloss Black state, I now just had to bolt him together and get him running. The shopping list included new breather and drain pipes for the petrol tank, new cambelts, iridium plugs and an oil filter. New parts fitted, and battery charged, I was ready for the glorious sound of a Desmo with ‘proper’ pipes bursting into life.
What I actually got was a deafening silence. No click or anything when I hit the starter. So I hit the red wine and ice cream for some consolation.
But it’s hard to ignore a motorcycle parked in your kitchen, so the next day my knackered old eyes were perusing the microscopic wiring diagram in the owners handbook. Hang on – the cable from the starter button had come off the solenoid… My kitchen was soon filled with the sound of a booming Ducati (Good job my only neighbour is a bit deaf!)
Now it was time for tidying up the last bits and bobs. With a bit of help from my brother Rob, the bike was precariously balanced on several stands whilst I performed a temporary mono-fork conversion by whipping off the left fork leg. Another Rob, Rob Haggarty gets big thanks for drilling out the snapped-off mudguard bolt. And friend Graham Musguin helped to re-install the fork after finding me asleep on the sofa when he arrived at 10am the next day.
Final tasks were a fresh MOT, cambelts and old/filter change. Foolishly I decided to change the oil myself, which was a bit of a mistake having already listed Gordon on eBay where he’d acquired about 120 watchers and 1000+ page views already. The auction-site famous Monster revealed an over-tightened oil filter and the correct filter socket spinning around uselessly. And I followed it up with an amateur mistake. I tried to tap the filter round with a screwdriver, broken the filter casing, got angry and hammered the screwdriver straight through the oil filter. And still couldn’t get it off.
Embarrassingly new owner Alistair had to watch as my mate Darren Genz is not only a bodybuilder but very useful with a set of pipe grips. Luckily Alistair wasn’t bothered at all by the final bit of work before Gordon left for his new home.
Many Thanks to all at Hyside Motorcycles,my brother Rob,Graham ,Rob Haggarty,Darren Genz and of course Gary Mudd for making Gordon mint with his spraying skills.
Sadly Gary lost his battle with Cancer on Thursday 22nd May and died peacefully at home. RIP Gary mate, I’ll miss you. And goodbye Gordon, as they say, it’s been emotional.
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