I collected my brand new 959 and nearly fell off pulling out of dealership as the steering damper was turned to max setting, so even 'leave as factory' shouldn't mean 'assume factory [or your dealership] set them up as such'.
Exactly. The proper procedure is to determine what weight the bike is set up for from the factory, then adjust your bodyweight accordingly.
Good thinking! It’ll save on the purchase of a socket set too. It’s going to be quite some regime to get this load of fat bastards down to 15kg, everything is possible though. Pass me that chocolate will you.
Outside of the front preload and rear preload setup. Does anyone change the compression via the softest to hardest settings for the different riding modes? I'm gonna go for a blast this weekend and at the moment, I've got everything at factory. But might toy around with it. Curious what others have set.
My stupid brain had forgot I'd already set the compression... Sport is harder, touring is medium and urban is softer. I don't care for a super stiff bike as I'm more a casual rider these days. What I did change though was the front preload, I previously had it set to 5 turns out, it's now 6.25 turns out (this is going from 0 lock counter clockwise with the arrows lining up). Maybe that will help with the nose dive a bit headed into corners. And when really leaning, the bike tried to push out slightly. We'll see, going for a long ride tomorrow to test it out. Again, I'm 93.6kg at 6'2".
You wind turns in not out IIRC. So wind all out, apply the ratio of true to 15kg in. Then I backed off half a turn and worked fine for me.
So many differing opinions on this and confusion. Am I correct with the below statement: Winding IN is turning the nut clockwise Winding OUT is turning the nut counter-clockwise Meaning, you start from fully wound OUT and count your turns winding in. In my case, 6.25 turns clockwise from fully wound out.
Slowly but surely the improvements to this bike continue. In fact I’ve quite enjoyed bringing it round to my liking. Last weekend I finally found time to put the second hand set of light weight Marchesini wheels on. Once again I went with my favourite Metzeler M9RR tyres front and back. A brand new set so I could swap the standard wheels easily if I choose too. The thought being, if I do a two up tour with the Mrs and all the luggage the standard wheels may deal with any potholes better, given the weight they are supporting. I also decided it would be far easier to have dedicated discs on each front wheel, to save swapping them each time. So I bought a set of Brembo Serie Oro discs and new uprated pads to go with them of course. Having had a relatively short ride today I can only report initial findings. Normally when I change things I can tell/feel it within the first 100 yards. Today’s ride wasn’t like that. For those that have tinkered with different wheels they will no doubt not be surprised. In a straight line I couldn’t feel any difference at all. Where I could feel it was in the bends. Even with brand new tyres I felt more confidence with the grip going around roundabouts. To be more accurate though the real gain seemed to be the ability to flick the bike one side to the other. I could feel the improved agility and weight loss dropping it into bends but most of all in total charges of direction. Left right left for example. Comments/feedback please. Last weekend I was ably assisted by Uncle Barry aka Bazzer of this forum, we were amazed at the difference in weight between the standard and Marchesini forged wheels when handling them. On the bike it’s a definite improvement although I would say not massive. In comparison, if I was to choose between the Akrapovic full system and the Marchesini’s, without hesitation I’d say the Akrapovic was by far the bigger gain. I need to ride the bike more to really get the feel but in comparison the Brembo Serie Oro discs with uprated Brembo pads are unbefuckingleavable! Even with a little bit of bedding in I found myself with massive anchorage only using two fingers. The fork dipping stopping power was a real eye opener. Result. It made me resolve two things; 1. Put the replacement rear Serie Oro disc and new pads on the rear to improve the hopeless rear brake. I’ve got them but not had the time. 2. This bike might last longer than I thought because if and when I do sell it I’m going to want on the next bike, Serie Oro’s, a full Akrapovic system and maybe forged OZ wheels. The OZ’s look so good! Not that I’m displeased with the Marchesini’s but that little lot is a chunk of money on top of a new/newer bike. On that point the new Pikes Peak Multistrada might be of interest, especially if they’ve lowered it. Then again the Aprillia Tuono is an absolute scream to ride but possibly not for the Mrs and this is after all ’her bike’. So many bikes…..so little time! It ain’t going to happen any time yet though. Other recent tweaks have been a carbon fibre Pikes Peak screen which makes the bike ‘feel’ smaller compared to the MRA screen. But… on a tour with the Mrs I’d definitely use the MRA. Lastly, I dropped over to see Bro 6 the other weekend. He pulled out his Tuono and we turned into happy two year olds, grinning all over the place. I firmly believe boys need toys, I guess you lot do too. He sat on the Multi and immediately said the bars need rolling forward. Within seconds he had his Allen key set out, he marked the original position of the bars with a pencil, which was a smart logical idea and rolled the bars forward just a little bit. Huh, he had a point, I lean forward a little more and my whole sitting position feels more open. My arms feel better positioned. Maybe I can find enough room to change the bars to a straighter bar without hitting the fairings, we’ll see. I need to grind the pips off the mirror brackets so I can rotate them on the bars just that little bit more. Next up, an Afam chain, and maybe 2 more teeth on the rear. I say maybe because with the Akrapovic it does 30mph comfortably whereas it wouldn’t before. If I get the JT sprocket carrier I can try the 42 teeth and easily revert to 40 teeth if I prefer the original gearing. Simples. It’s a scream to ride with it’s up n down quickshifter, it’s light, good suspension, the Yoshimura is epic, a fraction of the price of a Ducati but… this is last year or so’s model. Bro 6 and I both think they've blown the styling with this years model. It’s just not as nice to look at. What’s going on with bike design? They’re getting heavier and uglier.
Great to hear about your continued refinements Sam To go to 42 teeth on the rear with a carrier you may need to convert to a 525 setup rather than the original 530. If you know of a source for a 530 42T carrier rear sprocket please do tell as I couldn't find one. Have a 530 14/40 with JT carrier waiting for me to find the time to fit it. The original C&S is needing regular adjustment, practically after each ride these days so I reckon is close to shot at 15,000 miles.
Welcome and I was waiting with for this What is the weight difference with the wheels ? I changed my wheels on my R9t huge difference about 6.6 kg imho this should have a bigger change than the Akra I also stuck a rapidbike fueling system on my R9t great effect the bars are all about individual position but like me i think. U prefer a sports bike feel to the front ie 17 inch front weight of front This means hard suspension on front weight riding position. Over front
I see you’re in The States Meng, what gives? I need to check the weight of the stock wheels. All this and I didn’t have any scales available last weekend. I think it’s going to work out to be a similar figure to your R9t weight savings. When we picked up the rear wheels one after another we were shocked at the difference. The Marchesini with the tyre on was incredibly light, whereas the stock wheel felt incredibly heavy. I may well be totally wrong but the stock wheel felt like twice the weight of the Marchesini with the same tyres on both. The Serie Oro’s make an unbelievable difference, not weight wise but braking. I’ve probably only done 30 miles but if I wanted I could leave the braking far later and effortless too. I’ll see if there’s any scales here today. I’ve just checked the mileage, I’ve done 40 miles so far so I could really do with some more twisties to evaluate it properly. I reckon it’s approximately 7kg weight saving with the wheels and about 7.5 kg with the Akra but it’s the performance that’s the difference with the Akrapovic. Far better rideability if there is such a word.
I’m glad you like the Serie Oro’s Sam. I’ve been extremely impressed with them on mine, and very lucky I didn’t have to pay for them!
For some reason it shows me being in us I haven’t changed anything & can’t find where to change this back If Akra also saved 7/8 kg that is a lot about from body weight - it probably helps fuelling at low mid range FYI finding the seat u made up a bit too hard
Re Rear sprocket upgrade. I found the 42T sprocket a bit too much and have chosen a 41T sprocket instead. Better compromise, much better at low speeds under 30mph. This is what have now on my Multi 1200 2013. I think 1200 and DVT have the same sprockets. RENTHAL Rear Sprocket - SKU: 462-530_renthal-41 Teeth (530 Chain) HARD ANODISED and a JTA760B Aluminium Alloy Ducati Rear Racing Motorcycle Sprocket Carrier / Adapter (JTA 760B). They fit together nicely.
