I need help with some man maths - thought you lot might be able to help I have a 959 Corse with underbelly Akra slip-ons. Now I've got it into my head that I want the matching titanium racing manifolds. Not cheap at round £1500, plus I'd need the dealer to fit, so I guess I'm looking at £1800. I thought I could have it done over winter to maybe wangle a discount. The upgrade will remove catalytic convertor, so that should be a nice weight saving in itself. I'd get the nice Ti manifold, and I'd be rid of the ugly plastic heatshield, replaced with the lovely carbon version - I do like a tarty bike. I also assume it will also be louder (still able to pass trackday drive-bys?), and unleash some more performance. What do we think? Is this a worthwhile upgrade on a 959, or would I just be throwing away money?
Its not what I would spend 2k on, guess the question is what are you trying to achieve and what gains do you want ? If you want a bike that breathes a bit better and is a little more blingy, then go for it, basically its 2k in baubles that you won't see back as its not something anyone I know would pay a premium for on a used bike.
The cat isn’t in the manifold pipes - on the stock bike it’s in the big ugly box that sits where your slip-ons are now. I have a vague feeling there might be two types of slip on - with and without CAT’s but I’m not 100% - in the stock 1299 for example it’s in the cans. Are the underbelly cans you have the racing version? In which case you already have the decat and should have to upmap installed So you would be getting the slightly lighter pipes and a carbon heatshield but very little overall benefit as the stock manifold pipes are also 60mm on the 959. I don’t think there would be any increase in noise. Unless you have a burning reason to spend money just buy a carbon heatshield from https://www.rsrmoto.com/ducati-panigale-899-959-1199-1299-v2-carbon-fibre/?sort=alphaasc&page=4. Lightweight wheels are the best possible upgrade for a 959. Do that before you do anything else - after that a rear shock and flat rate linkage.
Small gains considering the costs! When I enquired it was mentioned around 10 horsepower tops if your lucky! Plus obviously it will need remapping. Also some weight saving gains and possibly a little louder Are you feeling you need more? You will get more benefits from some lightweight wheels
Appreciate all the replies and clarification on the cats. I do have the Race map already. tbh, I was hoping for a little more encouragement on the man maths, but instead I got sensible good advice, nevermind
Check if your cans have an E mark - if they do then they are road legal and thus have a cat in them. If not then they are the race cans - and thus you already don’t have a cat - either way the manifold pipes have no bearing and most of the potential power gains have already been achieved. The wheels on the 959 are exceptionally heavy - especially the rear - check out the highlighted items below for the weight savings on OZ Gass - mag or carbon wheels are lighter but there’s a trade off in robustness. This is unsprung rotational weight - I can’t express the bang for your buck advantage enough! My thread has some pictures with individual wheel weights. https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/so-my-track-bike-is-just-about-finished.78844/
How’s this for man maths? You can buy these then sell them when you are ready to move the bike on and get 2 thirds of your money back..... You know it makes sense https://www.bikehps.com/acatalog/OZ-Gass-RS-A-Forged-Aluminium-Wheels-for-Ducati.html
If it was decayed you would know and the race map would be entirely different to a standard from the dealer - I’d go for the wheels for that money
The cat isn’t in the headers. It’s in the oem end can system. The Ti headers are lighter and have a slightly wider bore, but the upmap for just the endcans and the full system is the same.
