I'm happy to entertain! Well... I have a 1299s engine sitting in the garage, so version two will be a similar thing based on the panigale series and it'll be a bit more mental. For now though I'm just going to enjoy this puppy
Another update.. Fitted a quick throttle recently which has made the bike alot better, still waiting to get it on the track to really see the benefits. making a custom cable was a bit tricky, after a few attempts I found it easier to tig weld the end and let it ball up then shape it with a file. Also found this... Broken spider spring, managed to find a fairly cheap corse clutch to put in. So far so good... apart from my wallet! This bit did make me laugh... Remember back at the start when I sold my spare set of wheels? Loads of people told me not too, and yup.. they were all right. Managed to find another set in Italy at a good price with a fantastic surprise!!! Very good condition forged front! I was over the moon when it arrived! Quite excited to see if I can feel a difference. A friend of mine did a masters degree project on steering torque and the front wheel gyroscopic force had a large effect so hoping this should help, with Micheal Neeves on the university panigale he was using 160nm of torque through crainers at donnington to pull the bike from right to left bank angle, really really impressive. And of course.... Titanium drilled bolts with Akrapovic thread lock, is it any good?.....not really, but it's purple and looks good in a picture!
Another issue I'm still battling is the steering damper, has an awful lot of stiction. What's it's moving in the stroke it's fine but it makes the bike horrible to ride, replaced both spherical bearings with the correct SKF units (GE6C) if anyone is interested. I'm away to the Manx on Sunday for a week and I'm looking at either getting a rebuild kit for it or just sending it away to get rebuilt. It's getting frustrating now, bike feels amazing without it and is stable enough not to kill me... But I do like having it just incase, it's saved me before.
It's been a while! It's strange when the bike actually works and I'm out in the world using it rather than complaining on the internet aha
You ought to learn the art of soldering cables. Those loose strands of wire at the nipple will give you grief sooner or later. Nice job your doing otherwise though.
I tried....alot, didn't stick to the stainless wire. Even with blow torches and many a YouTube tutorial! Am I missing something?
No, just TIG weld em like you said. That’s what we do at work with the cables we use, (a lot thicker diameter but same principle). Cracking project BTW
I didn't realise that you were using stainless wire, although there are specialist solders that will work with stainless. If TIG works that's fine. It's just that loose strands tend to unwind and jam the cable.
So, I'm at th Manx with the uni team and there's a k-tech guy in the paddock so I thought I'd let him have a look with the steering damper. Figured it out really quickly, it's not supposed to have that grubscrew. It's clamping on the piston tube and creating a dimple on the inside which is making a tight spot in the stroke. It can be honed back and repaired apparently so it's not a total loss. My bike has always felt really weird midcorner and I've finally found out why! It's a bit frustrating as I'd really like a damper for riding around the TT course during free time. But I'm looking at getting a nonlinear damper anyway, don't like being able to feel the damper but really like the protection when you hit bumps or land a wheelie funny. Just got a tax rebate so we'll see..
Wowzer, lovin your work fella, fabulous quality build, looking forward to the pani/cafe racer with interest
I have the standard Ducati, non Ohlins damper and I’m amazed at how well it works. It seems to work on air pressure, so a small or slow movement results in little or no damping and you can’t feel it. It’s only when you assemble the washer and o ring in the wrong order and get no damping at all that you realise how efficient and effective it is and how often the front wheel has little contact with the tarmac.
The Ducati survived the mountain and the rider in the team is second fastest newcomer so I'm happy! Race tomorrow and there's a chance he could win.
Nothing has really changed to much on the bike in a while, Fitting a cordona PQ8 Quickshifter over the winter and a new steering damper. Oooh! and I got the seat recovered. Uni has taken the priority at the moment (and crap weather). So I'm doing a bit on analysis on the trellis frames. Ideally leading up to designing the frame for the 'mark 2' version, which will be "how to turn a 1299s in to a sport classic" which will be a much longer project!
