Ohlins "Mechatronic" SCU

Agreed , significant upgrade and priced right .

 

Interesting comments - would appreciate more details.

The one thing I dislike about my MTS is how much it dives on the brakes and runs wide if you touch them in a corner.
I've been doing a lot of step by step adjustments to the suspension to get the bike right, but I'd still like to improve it further.

I've managed to pretty much dial out the tendency for the back to wallow slightly when riding long bends enthusiastically, and I'd love to get the front sorted as well. Can a "relatively" cheap addition like this really make a big difference??

 

I fitted one on mine a couple of days ago and suddenly i have had the check engine kight come on and it reads des front and rear compression rebound fault any idea anyone? but before this came up it was handling sweet with it fitted.

 

Please tell. What have you ended up with and how much do you weigh?

Reckon there's lots here that would like to hear about your settings.

 

I fited my new Mechatronic chip last week, 10 mins to fit, 20 mins and a really sore thumb to change all of the compression and rebound settings to 1.
The suspension is much better IMHO especially on hard acceleration, the bike is far more planted.
The big question is where do I put the stickers?

 

Briggers,

Here's what I've done with my settings (and I weigh just under 12 stone with just a base layer on).

To start with I set the static sag;
In Touring mode with stock preload (6) I measured the sag with just me on the bike at 64mm.
I thought this was too much, and set about trying to get to about 50 mm front and back.
Preload of 12 on the Rear and 2 turns on the front got me to 55mm rear sag and 50mm front.
I reckoned this was a decent starting point, but the bike still felt a little soft.

After much trial and error I have set the following (in Touring mode, rider only);
Front compression 13 (stock is 21)
Front rebound unchanged at 11
Rear compression 14 (stock 16)
Rear rebound unchanged at 21

I think the front is still a little too prone to dive, hence my interest in the SCU.
I'm reluctant to add much more front re-load at this would likely reduce front static sag and create a bigger difference between front and back.

Arguably I could add even more rear preload to balance the bike up again but experimenting with this has shown that the bike can become too stiff (for my weight) on anything other than super smooth surfaces. A rear preload of 16 is great on well surfaced tarmac, but throw in a few bumps and it gets uncomfortable.

BTW, I set the same preload values as above on sport mode recently, and have had a short play with riding it on these settings. I found it really good for smooth roads but too stiff for even slightly bumpy stuff.
So the next step might be to try something about 1/2 way between the factory defaults for Touring and Sport.

Alternatively I might just throw £250 at the problem and see if I end up with the perfect solution....

 

Yes fitted mine couple of weeks ago. Was off all last week all over riding about and bike is just so planted. Sport is amazing reduced dive and squat, and touring now glides over bumps. Def one of best things I've fitted, super sharp and front feels really connected.

 

On the back of your transit together with the Nürburgring sticker :biggrin:

 

Ibgarrow,
New high flow air filter, wedge open the exhaust valve or better still dump the cat and exhaust valve.
Followed by a BIG GRIN:biggrin:

 

Thanks SPL - really useful and interesting.
I can see some play time coming my way shortly....

 

Ordered my new SCU yesterday, arrived today, fitted during my lunch break

Took less than 10 mins to fit the new SCU and about 4 times as long to put the clock back to the right time and get the speedo back in MPH! :tongue:

Set rider only to SCU controlled in Touring and Sport, then programmed the equivalent to my old custom setup (taking into account the changes to the scale on Front forks) in to Rider and Luggage as a comparison.

Will get out and try the various setups over the same stretch of road tomorrow and see if I can feel the difference :biggrin:

 

You will.

 

Just fitted mine, Out for a spin now.

 

So, quick update from the weekend.

Went out and rode my favourite route (A272) and started off on my own settings.
To be honest I was thinking I'd maybe wasted my money on the SCU, because the bike felt almost perfect after my last small tweaks

So I was bombing along thinking "shall I keep the SCU so I don't have to invest a load of time figuring the settings for luggage, pillion, etc or shall I just sell it on".

Then I switched over to letting the SCU do its thing as a comparison (bearing in mind that I reckoned my settings were pretty much spot on). Wow - what a surprise; the bike was somehow more planted, better steering, and yet at the same time a more compliant ride.

So it handled even better than my settings and at the same time would float over the bumps - how did they manage that!
I could also brake right up to bends (and even through them) without the front diving too much or having the bike run wide in the corners.
I kept pushing this to see how good it was, since front end dive was always my problem on this bike after being used to a GS, and you have to do something really stupid to upset things.
Squat under hooligan acceleration was also gone (again, I'd almost dialed that out myself but couldn't go any stiffer without making the ride uncomfortable on bumpy roads).

In summary:
My bike, which I'd spent a long time getting sorted, was better in all conditions when the SCU is in control (with a rider only preload of 12).
For anyone who has not tweaked their stock setting I should think the difference would be even more noticeable (night and day even?).
Best £250 I've ever spent on a bike, and made me glad that I got an S when I actually wanted a base model.
I only wish it had been like this from the day I bought it, as any concerns I had about reliability of the DES are far outweighed by the performance benefits of the upgraded system.

If this is poor man's Skyhook then I can't imagine how great the complete system would be. :wink:

P.S. I know one or two people on other forums have said they couldn't see what the fuss was about. I can only imagine that they either have a duff SCU or they didn't read the instructions properly (If you don't set your compression and rebound values to 1 then the SCU controller behaves the same way as the original while you are in that particular riding mode, which is how I was able to do a back-to-back comparison during my tests).

 

I think I was the earliest adopter.
Warning note here, mine has just shown "rear rebound ***" and the engine warning light.
Turning it ON and OFF has cleared it.
Currently it has gone away, but I'm sure it will be back.

 

Good dealer Hyside

Ive had the upgraded SCU fitted for a few weeks now, not done to much testing cause of work commitment's and holidays, but early impression is good. Much less dive in sport mode, and feels more compliant over the bumps in Touring mode.

Some good info here:
Ohlins Suspension Control Unit (SCU) coming - Ducati.ms - The Ultimate Ducati Forum

 

The error is back.
Errors
DES
Rear
Rebound

It's going to be expensive....