899 It Won't Turn Anymore!

You could try tasing the bike a little, if the rear is adjustable and you can lift the front

 

Strange, I put the same tyres on my 1198 and there great.

 

I would mess about with the pressures and suspension. Quite often what the manufacturers recommend won’t be suited to your specific bike and riding style.

It may be a case of getting used to them. When I recently swapped to some more touring specific tyres I could feel the bike needed a little more effort to dip into the turn. I quickly adapted and they’re performing very well, with the added bonus I don’t have to change my rear every 2k!

Failing that, get some Metzeler Roadtec’s. I was only getting a few thousand miles from the M7 RR so I swapped for Roadtec. They last much longer and performed great on the road.

 

Tyre threads....totally personal. Whats good for one isnt for someone else...case in point...m7rr universally loved by all magazines and reviewers....for me: damn near dangerous - the only set of tyres ive taken off a bike for fear of life threatening consequences...so, you either just ride steadily to get the use out of them or, take em off stick em on ebay and let someone else "enjoy" them...

 

the only 'fact' I can add to this is that I also went away from Pirelli to Dunlop Sportsmart 2's on my 899 because I was fed up with the weird wear pattern on the Pirelli. The P's have a much more 'V' profile, which makes them fall on their side a bit quicker, the Dunlop by comparison is much more 'C' shaped and that is probably where the heavy feeling comes from. Personally while it did feel heavier to steer, it gained in stability and gave me more confidence.

Personally I wouldn't raise the rear ride height on the 899/959. Everyone I spoke to told me that Ducati's already put lots of weight on the front tyre and the tyre also runs pretty close to the exhaust in stock config unless you are able to run the wheel a little further back in the swingarm.

Talking of which... do you have the chain blocks quite far back? heavily worn chain, there is something like 1 inch of adjustment which will make a huge difference on this bike.

 

If your happy with how the suspension is working then you could try changing the geometry to help it turn. Its important that the suspension is how you like it before changing geometry.

Start by lifting the forks up thru the yokes by 5 mm, or check front SAG and increase SAG by 5mm (e.g from 35 mm to 40 mm) that will drop the front as well, helping turn in.

TB

 

Personally I would seriously avoid this on a 899/959 bike, look at the threads where peoples tyres have rubbed the fairing, it's just so tight there.

 

Google Dan Kyle USA

Bit advocate for lifting both of new equally. If you lift the rear or drip the front, sure it makes a difference but weight bias changes quite a bit. Also, drop front and there is a risk (depending on how hard you brake, how far you drop it, if you have rad guard) that your wheel may foul.

Any flatter profile tyre (C rather than V) will feel slower: it’s a trade off for wear IME

 

Umm, unless the bike is sliding down the road, surely it's U rather than V, not C.

 

Are they actually the right way around for each wheel?

 

I was using the terminology above my post. But it is often described as a V: SC are pretty sharp at the front profile

 

As others have said, Ducati have already sculpted the radiator surround due to how snug it is with the front tyre under heavy braking. Many track bikes run that on standard fork height, so I’d avoid dropping the forks.

I don’t know the tyres you are talking of, but from trying a few others, the profiles (curve across the tyre) are definitely tuned for the type of tyre it is. It might just be this has less of a center peak and that is why it is harder to turn. I would say if you were happy with the handling before and have only changed the tyre, this is the most likely cause. You are not going to do a lot to change that characteristic, and could actually make things worse.

 

The other thing, if you have the standard shock, get it off to MCT for it to be re-valved, the standard one doesn't flow oil well and makes the bike feel REALLY disconnected at the rear, it won't be helping your confidence in general. I did it and loved the change, and my mate did it on his 959 and agreed it was hugely better

 

If just changing the tyres has caused this, I'd double check pressures and sizes first... especially the rear. Should be 180/60. Seen a few fit/have fitted a 55 profile in error and that'd slow things down a bit.
Tyres do effect handling, but I'd check the simple things first before looking for a solution with suspension changes.

 

Granny, eggs, suck etc...
Have you checked the pressures? What pressures are you running?

 

I put some Pirello Diablo Rossos on the Pani when in Europe and hated them as well. I can see why people would want something that lasted better but road tyres do horrible things to a Panigale.

 

2.5 bar? Sounds about high? What’s that in old money...