Zonko’s attack on the Shaolin-Ducati Monster S4RS

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Zonko’s attack on the Shaolin monster S4RS

The middle way

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In the Shaolin monastery in Otterberg, a master of the 35th generation has built a powerful and beautiful monster. Forty years after the TV series "Kung Fu", I now fired the Shaolin missile.

Of course I was very excited. Shi Heng Yi, a Shaolin master of the 35th generation, had heard in Otterberg in the Palatinate how we heard the roaring through the open SC-Project smoking pipe in the Swabian Alb R.onin-XJR by Dominik Klein (PS 07/2016) and got a clear idea: “Such machines are an inspiration for many people. I will make my Ducati, which I dismantled down to the last screw and rebuilt as part of my meditations, available for a PS attack. I want to share my joy. "

Zonko’s attack on the Shaolin monster S4RS

The middle way

"Just imagine it is winter and very cold."

So I drove with my trusty Mazda pick-up from Vienna to the Shaolin monastery behind Kaiserslautern and had a lot of time to think. I loved “Kung Fu” with David Carradine in the lead role. I can still remember the scene extremely well when some dishonored wild west townspeople locked Kwai Chang Caine together with a criminal in a very small corrugated iron hut in the scorching heat. The villain threatened to collapse after an hour, but the Shaolin master remained completely relaxed and said: "Just imagine it was winter and very cold."

You don’t forget a thought like that. It is true that I have never been able to benefit from it during my self-inflicted sauna stays (I don’t know which devil rode me, that I let myself be persuaded three times to sit in such an absurd sweat lodge) because I don’t think of anything else in this insane heat could than this crazy heat, but when the small townspeople opened the corrugated iron hut after 24 hours in anticipation of two deaths, the rattling villain dragged himself outside and Kwai Chang Caine went out quite normally . World class! What a cool guy! With his enormous mental strength, his inner calmness, his pronounced sense of justice, his understanding of the weaknesses of people and his extremely smooth and effective Kung Fu, which he of course only used when there was no other way (luckily that happened at least once in each episode), he inspired me. Kwai Chang Caine could attack them with flying death stars or crashing shotguns, and in the end he always left the site of the inevitable battle undefeated. We football. He didn’t have a Ducati.

The final stage of the original monster

No question, if Kwai Chang Caine hadn’t been a hitchhiker, but had crashed through the country with a sharp iron, I would most likely have loved the TV series even more, but on the other hand the clarity of the philosophical thrust would have suffered as a result. Because at first glance there is a quite remarkable disharmony in the facts: the head master of a Shaolin temple is building a murderous Duc for the race track. You don’t see that on stereotyped mainstream television. But in real life it does. Specifically: in Otterberg behind Kaiserslautern.

“Is it still far?” A thought knocked. Only 400 kilometers to go. Fits. Thinking ahead.

I was happy that the Shifu (translated: master, teacher) Shi Heng Yi had not dismantled any mangy claw down to the last screws and put it back together step by step, but an S4RS. In my eyes, this machine is the last and highest expansion stage of the original monster and timelessly fascinating. An inherently great storey. 1000 testastretta with standard 130 hp in the top and a wide, very powerful center, tubular steel frame, Ohlins chassis, single-sided swing arm, no electronic driving aids. And very important for me: the characteristically slim, high humped tank. You only invent such a perfect line once a century. The Monster series from the M900 to the S4RS will go down in history as a stroke of genius by the designer Miguel Galuzzi. Just perfect.

How does the master get to the monster?

In front of the gate of the Shaolin Temple in Otterberg I then took five deep puffs out of the pipe (alcohol and smoking are prohibited inside) and nodded to the virtuoso photographer Jacek: “You go in first. You are more robust than me. If a nimble stick hits you, you may not go straight to the ground. But beware of the Chinese swords! Unlike the knightly and Japanese, they don’t chop or cut anything, but they shred sinews with their whipping blades. Bad for your trigger finger. "

The speech wasn’t a good idea. Jacek insisted on letting me go first and let his foresighted wisdom run wild: “Put your helmet on. And don’t forget to fasten the chin strap! "What the heck. Shaolin Kung Fu is never used for attack anyway, and the fact that the master of the 35th generation, who has been practicing this martial art every day since he was four, completely loses control and accidentally hits us with a stick or sword, could actually be ruled out. So we entered – and were greeted very warmly.

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The Shaolin principle: consistent training, continuity and patience in the things you do.

The monster was a feast for the eyes! S4RS in Tricolore, handlebars, Fresco 45-degree complete system, many parts made of fine carbon. Wow, really beautiful! I would have loved to touch it right away and drive it through the Palatinate, but there were still many burning Questions to be clarified. For example: "Why does a Shaolin master of the 35th generation build such a bad monster?"

The Shifu poured white tea and briefly talked about his parents’ flight to Germany during the Vietnam War. He has been practicing Shaolin Kung Fu since the age of four, completed his full academic training on the side, he has lived in the monastery for six years, and today he is 33. “Nothing comes from anything,” said Shi Heng Yi, “And if it turns out to be good should, then it doesn’t happen overnight goal requires consistent training. You have to take care of it. Aligning your life according to Shaolin philosophy also means being in the here and now as often as possible. With the thought of being where life is. Concentrated and attentive to the things that can be directly experienced in life. We not only implement this principle in martial arts, but also transfer it to all other areas of life. Whether it’s screwing, driving, reading or drinking tea. Another principle of the Shaolin philosophy is the daily practice of integrating harmony and balance into life. Charge the battery, discharge the battery. Work for the monastery, work on me. Sometimes stress, sometimes relaxation. And so it happened that I often used the times of silence in the garage to think about how such a kind of philosophy of life would actually be reflected in a motorcycle that is built from the smallest screw. So over the last four years the little monster has emerged step by step, which I trust, as it can certainly do more than I could ask of it. "

The dull thud of the Testastretta

The monster patiently waiting in forehead of the wooden gate with the golden dragon heads for the attack hit me inside. Thanks to the stub shafts, the flat Motogadget fittings and the small mirrors mounted on the handlebars, the Duc looked like a cat ready to jump.

I smiled. Little did I know that meditation could lead to this. Venerable Shifu, what’s in there? “As many screws as possible are made of titanium from the IM manufacture,” explained the foreman, “and there is carbon from the windshield to the rear wheel cover. The rear is shortened, the footrests are MR-Evo 5 Titanium. MWR HE open air filter, complete Fresco system, Rexxer mapping, Jogo’s wiring harness plus M-Unit V2, Ohlins FG338 fork with SBK springs 9.0, Ohlins DU 333 shock absorber with 90 spring, Brembo RCS19 cylinder, Brembo monoblocks M4, 320 mm Braketech BTD, triple clamps and handlebar stubs from PerformanceParts. "

I pressed the start button. The dull thud of the Testastretta immediately aroused greed. What came out of the slim double pipe was not exaggeratedly loud, but unmistakably the sound of a Ducati L2 standing very well in the lining. Short bursts of gas to warm up. A dream! What a rich sound! Well, now there was no stopping it. I pressed the A down, released the clutch and carefully maneuvered the monster over the gravel of the cloister courtyard onto the Palatinate, grippy asphalt.

Full pipe, fully relaxed

What then happened was just wonderful and euphoric. On the one hand, because the Testastretta has this potent center and presses exuberantly from the corners, and on the other hand, because it depends so unmistakably on the gas that every movement of the wrist produces an immediate but not an abrupt reaction. Heavens, if an engine works so well, who needs different driving modes ?! I definitely don’t. Okay, the L2 with the open air filter, the Rexxer mapping and the Fresco buffer delivers "only" 133 hp and 104 Nm on the rear wheel, but on the country road that is a considerable motorization – even in times when it is 200 PS on the clutch as standard. Yes, and I never missed traction control for a second. Because the chassis was so good that the machine with the Racetec RR K3 built up excellent mechanical grip.

I roared into the helmet with joy! The shock absorber let me feel the 180 as crystal clear and kept in contact with the asphalt even on the wavy sections without giving the impression of excessive hardness. And the front was a revelation anyway. Due to the deep handlebars, I firstly had the feeling of having the axle of the front wheel perfectly in my hands, and secondly, the fork with SBK piston kit (rebound stage 13, compression stage 9) worked at a very high level. I was deeply impressed. The S4RS has always been very good for me, but the Shaolin missile with the handlebars was a new dimension. In everyday life, a high handlebar is more practical, but when attacking the country road, stubs are clearly in the lead. Great, how you could let it rip with this naked Duc without having to leave the health-oriented comfort zone. The anchor was also great. The Brembo monoblocks bit their way into the 320 Braketech discs in a perfectly dosed manner. SECTION? Yes, but not electronically, but in the two fingers on the lever.

Why did it have to be a Ducati??

Of course I then asked the Shifu for a small demonstration of his martial arts. He took a Chinese sword, concentrated briefly, bowed and then spun over the training ground with such force and dynamism that Jacek and I were speechless. We glanced at each other as the air filled with the metallic sharp sound of the lashing blade and sipped the white tea. Madness, what body control!

Afterwards we talked about the Shaolin philosophy, which was of great interest to me. It was about "perseverance and patience in the things you do", about "developing human, but also physical abilities for the benefit of the environment", about "perfection comes through repetition – and mastery through continuity paired with discipline", about "If you can’t do something slowly, you can’t do it quickly ”,“ The principle of exploiting the potential through standardization, synchronization and harmonization ”and of course the question:“ Why did it have to be a Ducati? ”

Shi Heng Yi used to work as a bicycle courier in his youth. And there he saw at the ice cream parlor how a Monster M750 was started. Optics and sound fascinated him deeply. And a little later he saw the idea of ​​an M900 with turbo in the PS. Ducati Monster – nothing else was out of the question.

Finally, I really wanted to know what was the most important thing in life in his eyes. Shifu: "To live a life in which I can say on most days: I’m actually fine. And the days when it is not like that, they try to change so that it becomes so."

Conclusion

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From nothing, comes nothing. Zonko has now understood this sentence.

When I think about the Shaolin-S4RS, I feel very clearly again that you don’t need electronic driving aids to ride a motorcycle. When an engine hangs so wonderfully on the gas and is so easy to dose like the Testastretta, I happily do without different driving modes. And when the chassis works as well and is as transparent as the Ohlins components in the Shifu Monster, I don’t want traction control. No question about it, the achievements of modern technology are great, but at the Pass of Good Hope you are still fully involved with a Monster S4RS. I was also deeply impressed by Shi Heng Yi, the chief master of the Shaolin Temple in Otterberg. The preferred way of the middle on this side of extremes and the appreciation of the here and now are attitudes that follow me. And that you can build such a fantastically functioning machine in the course of the meditations is simply world class. Not to mention the incredibly impressive Kung Fu. From nothing, comes nothing. I’ve heard this sentence many times, but only now understood it.

Technical data Shaolin monster

Drive: Two-cylinder 90 degree V-engine, four valves / cylinder, 97 kW (133 PS) at 9500 rpm on the rear wheel, 104 Nm at 7500 rpm on the rear wheel, 998 cm³, bore / stroke: 100 / 63.5 mm, Injection, 50mm throttle, dry clutch, six-speed gearbox, chain

frame & Brakes: Steel tubular frame, wheelbase: 1440 mm, Ohlins FG338 fork, Ø 43 mm, Ohlins DU 333 shock absorber, rims: Marchesini 10Y, front tires: 120 / 70-17, rear: 180 / 55-17, tires: Metzeler Racetec RR K3, 320 mm double disc brake with Brembo monoblocks M4 at the front, 245 mm disc brake with two-piston fixed calliper at the rear

Dimensions & Weight: Seat height: 805 mm, tank capacity: 13.5 liters, weight: 170 kg dry

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