I bought my Monster new in 2000. I loved it at first ride and have loved it ever since. However, soon after I bought it my tastes started to change and wanted a sport touring bike (leaning heavier on the
sport side). In 2002 Ducati came out with a hard bag option for the Monster. BUT, at a cost of about $1100 for the set, I could not afford it. Givi offered a truck rack for FAR less and so that is what I got. I developed a love/hate relationship with the trunk. It is great for carrying cargo and all kinds of stuff, but it just looks
so hideous!! After years of searching with no luck, I had finally resigned myself to the thought that I would never get hard saddle bags on my duc.
This year, I finally had a chance to get a sport touring bike, but at the last minute the deal fell through.
Once again, out of depression, I started looking for hard bags once again. Only this time, I had some luck!!! I finally cam across the manufacturer who made the bags
for Ducati. I contacted them and they said they could set me up!
They said they had the bags and mounts for the ST2 and that, with some modification, it can be made to fit the Monster. I was Syched! The price was doable ($700). I placed my order.
Now, what he said was, "we have a kit for ducati ST2 and with slight modification, you can use with your bike."
What I heard was, "This is a pretty easy job."
It turns out that what he said and what I heard are NOT the same things. BUT, after 12 years of waiting, I have the bags in my possession and I am NOT going to let them go. He did send me the mounting instructions for the original Monster kit. After looking at the instructions and looking at what I was sent, it was clear to see that many parts were missing and mounting would be a pain. The three parts below were not there and, after many e-mails back a forth to and from Itally, were not available:
Here is my starting point:
The bracket itself was the bracket for the ST2, which has completely different mounting points than the Monster rack - including a bolt for the passenger peg which the Monster rack does not use. So, as the old sating goes, anything
CAN fit, if you have the right tools, knowledge and patience. As it turns out, it's a good thing I have the Givi truck rack on there as it will be critical to mounting the hard bags. The mounting points are in just about perfect places to connect the Pannier frame.
I held the ST2 bracket to the frame and figured out where it needed to be. I found that I could drill a small hole in the rearset next to the passenger peg to hold the ST2 bracket. To mount the upper part of the frame, I figured that I would need to fabricate a little extend-a-bracket. I decided that I would need to make a mock up first to make sure it would work. My chosen medium was PVC:
Shorted to the right length:
Held onto the frame with a clamp:
Frame held in place:
It keeps the same line as the pipes which is great:
That's where I am at for the moment. I plan to make one more bracket as well, but it will be, pretty much, a straight spacer between the Givi and ST2 frames.
Any thought, opinions, or warnings as I progress?
