The idea is to reverse engineer why they made it the way they did, once I find out it's stiffness I can design the Pani one out of anything as long as I compensate for thickness. I've also recently learned that it's probably better to make it out of aluminium. As the frame is literally a giant spring, which has natural damping, making it out of aluminium tends to have better damping characteristics for the frequencies that a bike tends to operate in, reducing nasty things like chatter. Which is why most sportsbikes have aluminium beam frames...along with the new V4's!
I seem to remember a long time back (70's?) They made frames stiffer and stiffer till the bikes were unrideable until they learnt to build in flex.
You're correct sir! From what I understand it's been up and down. Problem is there isn't a standardized way to measure stiffness, every manafacturer does it in a different so it's a bit of an awkward thing to measure
"You can design the best bike in the world, but always remember a sack of potatoes will be the one riding it" .... That's my argument for making it look cool
Another update on something that has nothing to do with the bike, unfortunately it runs great so theirs not much to talk about! Starting to think about the "how to turn a 1299 into a sport classic'" project now.. As I've said before, I'm weary to touch the frame and structural areas of the bike without knowing pretty well what I want to do. I can deal with the fairing flying off, but the frame snapping... Well, I reckon it might ruin my day. I've started looking into why the 999 feels the way it does by the way it deflects in the different degrees of freedom, with an end goal of a direct comparison with a 1199s in a jig I hope to make in the coming months. Interestingly a lovely gent on the 749/999 Facebook page let me borrow his frame which was heavily damaged after an accident, the FEA actually showed the frame to deform almost exactly the way the real frame did after the collision (not the pictures above, that's a lateral deformation only). The image above is quite interesting, the coloured area is all the matierial that actually 'flex's' when load is applied laterally on the tyre for example at high lean angle going over a bump, longitudinal deflection (braking force) shows a larger area of deformation and proves that the 999's did need the reinforcement bar of the corse bikes, and why the 1098's had a thick upper rail. It pretty much shows why Ducati went the way they did with the monocoque design of the pani and reduced frame design of the monsters, no point adding matierial if it's literally doing nothing. Various sources have spoke to me about the design brief for the panigale series, and where the flex characteristics came from, interesting... And helps me design my frame.
I should also add that those pictures above are from an early stage of the model, Not realistic.... Just pretty colours!
Nowhere near.. I doubt I'd start making it for at least two years til uni is out the way unfortunately. The more i learn the more alloy makes sense, but as above... sillicon bronze! I can't get the classic team Suzuki xr69's from the manx out my head!
Managed to get out to Oulton park in February, it was soaking for the first three sessions then started to dry. I went out on standard rims and a new Michelin Power 5 tyre, I like the older RS for the road but it was just too soft on the edge for the track. I Really like it! I didn't get a proper hot lap on it, mostly trying to not die in the damp. Had a proper proper moment and lost the front at Druids, the front understeered for about a foot... I calmed down after that. Then it started to dry out so I switched to the forged front and Supercorsa's. It's quite a nice subtle difference with turn in with the forged front, I was forcing myself to be honest and see if I could actually feel a difference, I did! Plus... the bike looks pretty cool with her black and red shoes! Quite a difference in the attitude of the bike going from part worn RS to Power 5! Noticeably more tippy. (only changed as the RS had a puncture)
Another little update to the bike. The seat is starting to become an issue! After a two day trip to Snetterton I noticed I can only get my knee down when the bike is almost on the edge of the tyre, I can't get my arse enough off the seat to hang off properly. The imola style seat is probably about half the width of the standard 999 seat, and compared to Jack millers bike... yeah, its tiny. Thankfully I've stayed off the pies so my arse can fit on the thing! So I've ordered the 'Diopa B0330', the seat I actually originally wanted for the bike but at near enough €500 it was a bit daft. So i managed to get an unfinished one for less. Ideally I'd like to make my own from a fibreglass, but I'd rather have one I can quickly order again if(when) i crash the bike. A nice bit wider but still keeping the bike looking nice, which is obviously the most important thing.. if you can't go fast.. look cool! That rear cushion also comes off so I should have nice access to the battery to charge it You can see how funny/awkward my body position is and how funny my knee slider wears! I have Knockhill booked on the 14th of August so it should be sorted by then for a test.
Seats starting to take shape! I based it around the 2020 GSXR1000R height, forward angle, width and length. Plasticine stuff from easy composites makes it super easy to make moulds, wish I knew about it literally years ago. Also the seat now has a latch from a KTM with a pull cord, the old seat started getting a bit worn on the bolt holes where it used to mount. I'll put up some pictures once it's all finished. I'm not getting the foam covered professionally or the seat painted til I've done a few trackdays and road miles, I really need to make sure I'm happy with it. Everyone always asks where the ECU and battery goes, really would like a lithium battery that one it's pretty heavy. I can see me cutting out that aluminium plate and replacing it with a sheet of carbon, the bike already has a funny weight distribution so id like to lighten the rear.
Went home for a little while back in August and went for a blast around knockhill with the new seat. So so so much better! First time there and doing low 50's which I was impressed with, and i got a cool 120Mph wheelie photo. When this thing works its such a great bike to ride. but... I had an absolute nightmare with it. Trackday started out ok, after two sesssions I was bottoming out hard at the hair pin so I maxed out preload (I definetly need stiffer springs, I've been putting it off for ages) and it still bottomed out, so I went pretty far on compression damping and that eventually stopped it, but the bike was so stiff everywhere else and I could feel the vibration. A while after my reg/rec bracket snapped, so I cabled tied that on, Then my gear shift lever snapped (literally in half!) so I was ready to pack up and go home. Someone suggested I try the Ducati fella at the circuit and he was able to weld it for me so I went back out again, and honestly had a great time. Second time out with the SBS RS pads and I could one finger brake for most of the time, its so nice to have great brakes on it. I need more upper body strength though, I can't keep myself upright under hard breaking and my arms kill me! As I pulled into the pits after the last session and pulled up to the van, my brakes went really really soft but I didn't think much of it. I got a call from some mates asking if I wanted to go for a good blast the next day, the seat was sort of thrown together just to test it at Knockhill so I was a bit skeptical but of course.. I agreed. I threw the road wheels on and as I took the calipers off the brake pad lining fell off, literally fell apart from the backing plate. That was the softness I felt when pulling upto the van, but I use different pads on the road anyway so threw them in and forgot about it. It was about a half an hour drive to meet up with the guys and on the way there I noticed how stiff the bike was from the setup at knockhill, The dash was vibrating so much i could barely see the speed. I started to think it was a bad idea to keep going.... We met up at a petrol station and as I arrived and let the bike idle, the oil pressure light came one, naturally... you kinda s**t yourself when that happens so I hit the kill switch. I glanced down and it was weeping past the oil pressure sender, I guess the diaphram burst. great. I knew there was oil in it and above 1400RPM it went out so I forgot about it and continued on with the ride. About half an hour later, my right hand fairing bracket broke and the fairing was flapping about, I managed to find an AA van and nicked a few cable ties. I assumed the vibration from the super stiff suspension was starting to mess with things now, and the ride was honestly unbearable. I tend to run quite a soft setup for road use to absorb all the crappy road surface, and I could hear the front wheel chirping going round corners. I was at the f**k this I'm going home stage. I glanced at my mates Z1000 and it had the same size allen key compression adjusters so I nicked his keys and went looking for the underseat tool box, I found it and backed off the compression, another mates bike had the right size spanner for the preload too, so I was back to having a bike that could actually handle! ....and then. I couldn't tell if it was me or the bike but it seemed to randomly cut out, but very very briefly. I hit a bit of a pothole, and all the power died. After lifting up the seat, the battery crimped connection had came out (the one that was put in with a 10 ton proper crimper, F********K!!). We managed to use another underseat toolbox screwdriver to wedge the wires under the battery bolt and nut, it didn't like starting very much but it was secure enough, at this point i was about 3 hours away from home and the rest of the ride wasn't really that much further....so on I went. The look of hmmm.. will i get home? (roughly 3 hours away at this point). Ironically that guy in the middle used to be my college lecturer when I did my bike maintenance course. Another hour went past and we were starting to head back, the dash vibration had come back though despite the softer suspension. When we pulled over for the final fuel stop i noticed the entire front subframe was cracked, mostly likely due to the hard suspension and scottish roads. The rest of the drive back was spent with my right hand on the throttle and the left hand holding up the fairing and supporting the weight so it wouldn't get any worse. Normally I blame myself for poor craftmanship and crap welds.... but I didn't make the front subframe, it came with the bike! I managed to nurse it home but it's very wounded, the oil leak from the burst pressure switch was close to going into the open clutch cover, the fairing was cable tied on, subframe snapped, reg/rec still cable tied on, the battery barely connected and the snapped gear lever! Bottomline, it was pretty stupid to go for that run after the trackday. The bike just wasn't ready for road use with the seat not being properly done, the rest of it would of broken at some point anyway but still.. feel pretty deflated with it.
I ended up contacting SBS, not in a 'your product nearly killed me' way but more of a genuine.. some thing went wrong here and I like those pads, and I'd like to know if i've done something wrong? You can see the right pad where the braking matierial has decided to jump ship. I got back what has to be the best customer service I've ever had. As a student engineer I appreciate the technicallity of that, he of course apologised about the failing but also identified what may have gone wrong. I believe I was over heating the pad, which is unusual as i didn't feel any loss in performance. But at least now I know not to use that pad for trackdays, a mate of mine (the one with the Z1000) raced in the scottish championship with those pads and never had any problems, its actually why I got them in the first place. But it was on a pre-injection 600 with standard calipers and master cylinder, so although bizzare.. I under stand how my brakes could generate more heat. He also sent me every 'race' pad that they sell so I can try them out and see which works best for me, which is cool.. its not very often you get to do a back to back test which I'm looking forward too. I'd rather not have to spend the extra money on proper race pads, as the jump is quite high, but I imagine the feeling will be worth it. They also sent me stickers, and nothing says 'sorry you almost lost your brakes and died' like free stickers and a free cap right? The 999 is currently under the cover of shame whilst she thinks about how she treated me, rather than actually fix any of the (many) problems I thought i'd buy this: It came up for sale really cheap, I was skeptical of these for ages and thought they were a bit crap and gimmicky but I recently set one up on a brand new Suzuki Katana at work, and it worked really really well, I was impressed. You can dial it in well with the app. Plus, im sure a quickshifter will fix all those other problems.. I've ordered a new slightly smoked screen, the one thats on there is so crap and marks easily. Its on back order just now from zero gravity, once it arrives I'll take the whole bike apart and fix it all. I have no drive to fix anything with covid just now, I don't even want to go out and ride tbh. I tried to make it a bit lighter originally with aluminium brackets, I've since learned about a little thing called cyclic fatigue which has obviously caused me no end of problems, I think I'll replace alot of them with stainless steel.
