Sounds good that mate, although personally I'd probably be more inclined to spend money/change the year shocks than the forks...
Something like this then ? .... Developed this from a new base as a pure road bike with a little two-up riding in mind (Mrs loves a spin in the summer months). Rapid Bike module is a very worthy investment. Maxton stuff built for me is an immediate improvement and the wheels DO make a noticible difference, particularly on the front. I could have bought an R for the money I've invested but I'd probably still want to do most of these mods to that bike too to make it ride like I want...Love the creamy torque of the 1299 with the exhaust and rapidbike and all the bits can come off and be sold if I ever decide to move it on or P/X
@Advikaz thanks for that, are the forks not too bad then?, was just going by what first MCT then Maxton say about them & not personal experience. MCT really slated them! So do the rear shock 1st you reckon? I want to ride it standard to see/feel the improvement for myself first. @steeley that really is great looking!, I'll be adding some tasteful decals to but won't be making it an R look-a-like! How do you find the maxton shock? IMO for the road Maxton kit is really as good as you're going to get, on track the top end Ohlins or K-Tech stuff maybe edges it out. Was going to ask Richard to do a black spring for me if it was possible.
I have always found the front end pretty good, it's more the rear shock that people tend to complain about on the panigales buddy.
Suspension is a really subjective thing and there are people out there that are genuinely happy with the standard set-up and that great but for road riding I found both the back and front too harsh (and I'm no lightweight) and when you try to soften them up with the preload, the damping adjustment and limited range just doesn't give me the changes I wanted. I.E. the front fork has very little rebound adjustment from full in to full out. Richard explained this as almost a safety feature as well as cost saving by the manufacturers on O.E. forks as they don't want people with little experience of suspension set-up getting it wrong and pinging themselves into the nearest hedge ! I'm no expert, but it's easy to feel the difference in setting changes with proper damping circuits like on the hand built Maxton stuff, I think their TT experience rewards their road set-ups. As far as quality goes, this stuff is top end..... end of story..... and machining quality is actually better than all but Moto GP/WSB quality Ohlins stuff. K-Tech is of equal sex status on my CNC-ometer. I'm quite happy to fly the purple spring flag for Ron, Richard and Mary and all the boys at Maxton. This kind of Company is what I would like to be involved in myself in another life
Also, I've never spoke to anybody who's criticized the Marzocchi fork chassis. The uppers and lowers are of very high quality and lighter than the equivalent Ohlins !
Exactly! Hence my opinion on them being the best you'll get on the road..... they've huge experience. I used to help a top road racer out over here & that's how I met Richard, he was on the grid in person to support his products, top notch knowledge & support. Loads of big teams were turning up with Ohlins this n that & weren't even as good as the Maxton stuff & it wasn't that the rider was piss poor! One team had a set of £25k forks in & even that didn't help beat a bike with a £1k Maxton cartridge kit in em. Bike looking even more awesome every time I see it!
I hope this works from a mobile phone, I'll try to post a pic up. I know I said maxton a few posts ago but this stuff came up for sale locally. Done 2000 miles & the shock was serviced within the last 500-1000miles
Hi chap, a bit fiddly to fit but if you take your time it's not particularly difficult. Trickiest part is getting the Rapidbike wiring loom between the front cylinder and rear of the radiator left to right. Use a squashed kitchen roll cardboard tube to protect the radiator fins and slide the loom through it then carefully tear the tube off the loom. These things always take me longer than some people cos I think it through to try and make a neat job. As far as the engines performance goes with the Rapidbike fitted, make no mistake, this is a near 1300cc twin so it's never going to feel like a Fireblade, but it made an immediate improvement to fueling both off the bottom and in the mid-range. It initially felt like a night and day improvement and like the bike should have left the factory BUT like I said, we're talking degrees of improvement here. For me, it was def' worth the money as one more mod' that rounded the bike out for better road manners while giving it an even bigger bulge in its underpants :tearsofjoy:
here's my base.. BST'S TTX manual rear shock ( Having K Tech front internals done this month ) Full Gilles Controls Hilltop Remap Ceramic Coated Exhaust R Akras Sprint Filter Carbon
