These are the original grips the monster came with which makes them 5 years old. Weathered and faded, they must go.

Nice texture on the Magura bars.

Rizoma billeted aluminum bar ends and OEM Ducati grips and throttle tube. Everyone and their momma upgrades to Rizoma grips and I even considered it myself, in fact, I still may one day, but I have always been fond of black rubber grips.

Removing original throttle tube.

Now that is black.

I was surprised by how light the Rizoma bar ends were, too light in fact. The whole point of bar ends,, besides the cosmetic advantages, are to decrease bar vibration. I think these may not be heavy enough. I’ll now after tomorrow morning after I take the monster to work. If there is any noticeable increase in vibration I’ll return them and get OEM Ducati bar ends.

One of the things that has been bothering me about the Monster is that the black parts just aren’t black enough. The master cylinder for both the front brake and clutch are faded from the sun and etched from the corrosive fluid. Luckily, I found some anodized billeted aluminum coffin covers from http://carbon-trader.com/

This post, chronologically, should have come before the last. Blacking out the timing belt covers. Once again, Ducati should had made these black right out of the factory. The zombie grey doesn’t belong on a Ducati.

I toyed with the idea of running with open belts and I still may one day, but not until I can find a cheap alternative to the SpeedyMoto sprocket covers.

I does look tough.

Blacked out.

My T-Rex single-sided-swingarm stand came in yesterday.

The offending article… beer tray as it’s known on the monster forums.

Remove Seat

Unbolt fender.

Remove tail light.

Flip over beer tray.

Remove turn signals.

Remove license plate light.

Remove beer tray.

Clean dirt and dust off of sub-frame.

Prep sub-frame for cutting. Tape areas of frame with packaging tape to prevent paint chipping from accidental blade skips.

Clean cut with a hacksaw.

Paint exposed metal with rust preventing primer.

Anodized billeted aluminum frame plugs.

Competition werkes fender eliminator kit.

Sticker for my toolbox.

Black it out.

Signal brackets.

Goodbye.