Should I bother trying to set up my Ducati Monster for touring?

I've never had lack of gasoline as a problem riding. If you're not going to the middle of nowhere, you'll always find a gasstation within the range of the tank.

I like were this is going! I love the fast rack idea!

Just so everyone is clear this is a older post I revived when looking for storage Idea.

Mileage really depends on the roads. 300 miles on the tight back roads and through small towns with a 45mph limits is = to 500 or even 600 miles cruising at 90+ on the highway. I have done both types and the travel times tend to be the same.

As for gas I get about 135 miles before my light comes on so I have never needed to carry gas. I just don't know about gas in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. I was just looking at a bottle I could fill up if it looks like it is going to be a long stretch. But that roto pax is cool if I had a bigger bike and was doing some real remote riding I would definitely get that.

Rotopax has a 1 gallon can as the small option. Don't think you could get much smaller than that without individual fuel bottles (another option- camp stove fuel bottles)

This is the V-twin I tour on. It's not cutting edge , cool or anything , but, it's comfy and hauls a bunch of stuff. The white jugs on the back of the giant boxes are 5 liter S-100 cleaning solution jugs. I used them for 13,500 miles to date as gas jugs, No problems.
I have a Monster as well . I just keep it for closer in duty , though I did ride it to Indy , 200 plus miles , for the Moto GP.
With a little work I'm sure you could hang enough luggage on your Monster to live on , but do you want to ?

P.S. I have done a 400+ mile day on my Monster. My bike came with a Corbin Gunfighter seat, big improvment over the stocker.

I use Rotopax on my GS for touring, and carry one gal fuel and one water...



under the blue drybag.
But I also carry a full kitchen on my GS



Touratech makes a 2 litre fuel can (and a 3 liter too)
http://www.touratech-usa.com/Store/PN-070-0520/2-Liter-Canister-with-spout-Black





That fits in wolfman tank panniers with LOTS of room to spare
http://www.wolfmanluggage.com/Tank/tank_panniers.html

Update

note I just want to restate that I revived this thread so if you read the first page then skipped to the end I'm just looking for rear storage options for a S2R.

So after looking at all kinds of options to build luggage frames, lefty bags, tail packs, even fabbing hard bags to work I think I came up with a simpler solution.

I was messing with my soft sport saddle bags and if I make a piece of foam that attaches to the back of the seat with a velco strap that is about 3 or 4 inches tall when the bags go on the bike they are high enough they don't sit on the pipe.

Anyone out there with experience think this will work. I'm going to really attach it all this weekend and see if it will get too hot.

So I just got back from a trip to Nova Scotia 3000 miles in 8 days on the S2R. My final storage solution was a pelican box strapped to my frame with soft saddle bags over that to keep them off the pipes. I just wanted to report back in case anyone else finds this thread and is looking for ideas.

I still think I might try and build a custom frame of some kind that attached to the back of the chopped frame and the grab bars, but I know this setup works.

Why not? You like the bike, right? Throw some luggage on the bitch and hit the road. It might take some fiddling to get everything exactly how you like it, but I don't see why not.

if this is a one time thing, just get some farkles

if you like going on longer rides, time to look into a sport touring bike

Buy a Kreiga R30 Backpack, a US30 and a US 20 Kreiga dry bag and GO RIDING!

Smaller bikes are far more fun to ride.

I'm also thinking about using my Monster for touring (I also have a cruiser which I've used for long trips). I feel like the best change you can make is replacing the stock seat. So for you Monster tourers, which seat are y'all using?

These "can you tour on an X?" threads make me wonder how we motorcyclists ever made it out of our zip codes without a dedicated touring bike

I was reminded of this thread when I read this yesterday...saw it first on the Ducati FB page:

http://www.ducati.com/news/a_monster_796_on_the_himalayas/2012/08/31/2651/index.do

Ducati summary from the article below:
In July 2012, Sumit Pannalall, a 32 years old Ducatista from Bangalore, India, traveled a self funded personal trip with his wife on a Monster 796 through the region of Ladakh, Himalaya.
He contacted Ducati on Twitter, being pretty sure that his bike was the First Ducati Monster 796 in the world that has reached the road/pass which is considered one of the Highest "motor-able" road in the world, Khardung La, 5569 m (18,380 ft.).
Being this a world record or not, we would like to share his incredible journey and his passion with all of you, through his travel diary. Enjoy!

It's seems to me that the financial hit from a new bike could buy you weeks or months of freedom on the road. The thrill of a new bike passes surprisingly soon, the memories & experiences from a serious road adventure last a lifetime. Bikes, (even Italian bikes!) are just a means to an end. The journey is the point of the exercise. The cash saved by using your current ride will buy you more time on the journey. The smaller tank means you stop more often....that's a good thing! I've bought some brand new, very exciting bikes in 40+ years of riding. The memories from the 8 months I spent riding around Europe on a 15 year old ,175cc Heinkel single have warmed & comforted me more than any piece of machinery I've ever bought .

The OP is long gone on his trip or not, but I'd say go for it.

I've got a '93 Monster M900 (first year, bought new) that is my daily driver, and I've done a fair bit of traveling and touring on it. Lke most things, YMMV, but I've found it to tour fine for one person. Two-up, not so much. I happen to be the size that Italian engineers think everyone should be (5' 6", 150 lbs, with long arms and short legs), so the Monster fits me fine as delivered.

When my original seat wore out, I got a Corbin, but I never liked it much, so when I wore that out I just got a new cover put on my stock seat and put that back on. I've almost worn that out now, and might try a Sargent or a Saddleman or something. Or might just refurbish that one again. The handlebar is as delivered. Last year I upgraded from the stock pegs to Cycle Cat rearsets, and switched to GP-pattern shift. Both changes were improvements. I do not run any type of fairing or screen; I prefer the wind.

I've found that about 300 miles per day on backroads, or 500 to 600 miles per day highway, is pretty easy, and I can do that for days. More than that takes intention. The most I've done so far is a 900-mile day, on the first day of a 2700-miles-in-four-days cross-country bomb from San Diego to Cleveland in 2010 for a job project. My last big trip was San Diego to New Hampshire, via NOLA and the Barber Raceway, in Oct 2011.

My usual touring rig is a large magnetic tankbag, which holds almost everything, a bedroll bungeed to the pillion, and a backpack with the light stuff like t-shirts and delicates, which I adjust so it rests on the bedroll and thus doesn't weight my back and shoulders much. I just recently happened to find a guy who had a rare set of hardbags designed for the Monster; they are being shipped to me as we speak.

It's a good solid bike. It's been very durable and reliable, and not terribly expensive to maintain, over the last 19 years. I plan to keep riding it for as long as it can be ridden.

PhilB

I remember seeing pics of your monster on ducatimonsterforum. I think it must be the highest mileage monster I've every heard of. Whenever I think my 100,000 km's is big mileage all I have to do is think about your poor old monster.

I'd love to see a pic of your Monster all packed up and ready for a long trip. I'm still trying to figure out how to set up my '11 Monster 796.

corbin is a brick and sucks horribly for the monster. I put 20,000 km's on mine and hated every second.

The sargent is a massive improvement and sits you up a little higher. It's much softer on the butt and gives you a little more leg room.

I've heard good things about the dp gel, touring seat, but never tried one.

On top of my sargent seat I add a home made butt pad that is similar to the air hawk pad idea. I picked up an automobile, gel seat pad, trimmed it down to fit the bike and sewed in the cover to make it smaller. On top of the gel pad I added a layer of really heavy duty bubble wrap. The whole thing cost me $15 and it's super comfortable. I can do 10-12 hour days with a happy butt, although I can't take the wind blasting like I used to.

I may have to find a cheap, ugly wind screen I can throw on for trips.