Lovely bike - congratulation!! Handling can be sublime on these, but it takes a bit of set up. The eccentric on the rear rocker affects ride height and leverage on the spring. You also have the adjustable rose joints on the rear hoop to lift the back, and of course dropping the yokes down the forks a fair way (but not too far as the tyre can foul the front cylinder). Ducati spring rates can be a little "off" too Similar principles to the 916, just slightly different execution. For me, having the wheel set back in the swinging arm and running a 180/60 Supercorsa SP was excellent, but it fouled the rear hugger.
Does it still have the original crankcases? If yes, check these on cracks around the main bearings. The roller bearings destroy the crankcases when the engine runs regularly in high revs... Was a main issue of the SP5 engines.
This is something I do need to check, I don’t know yet if they are the original crankcases or not or if the bearing had been changed for Strada ones. Will be investing this. Your certainly not the only person I have heard mention the bearings on sp5 engines
Mostly they used the ST-cases for a rebuild in those days..... So it's important to check the enginenumber stamped on the crankcase, that tells everything
When it's a 888 SP5 crankcase, it should always start with ZDM888W4. Strada's have ZDM888W4B stamped as far as I know. You should/must also see the Elephant-logo on top of the case in front of the vertical cilinder. For example the 900-engines of the Supersports start with ZDM904xxx*xxxxxx*
Thank you, spot on that I know what to look for then, cases ending with a B for the Strada. Thats dead easy to look for
The Corse 888/926's greatly improved the handling by fitting 25mm offset yokes and longer swinging arms. The later the model the longer the arm with +25mm being the longest. I modified 3* ST4S swing arms to fit 851/888's this lengthened the arms by 20mm, but this mod' needs a shorter shock. Maxton modified a Corse Ohlins for me shortening it by 25mm, fitting an alloy outer body and internals to suit so that it had the same travel as the longer shock. *The other 2 were supplied to well known Ducati race teams. Steve R
Crankcase cracking was a major problem on all the 851/888SP's and Strada's that had been revved over 10,000rpm too often. The problem with the SP's and SPS was that they made their peek power at around 11,000+ rpm and the case weren't designed for those sort of revs being based on the air cooled F1 engines design. The later ST4 cases incorporated all of the lessons learned from the 851/888 and 926cc race programme, these involved strengthening ribs and bolts places changed to improve strength and reliability. I've used late NOS ST4 cases for my 851/955cc motor. Steve R
Which certainly equals to SPs and Stradas that were tracked, right? I mean, who, in their right minds, would frequently hit 11.000 rpm on road use with a D4?! I have never exceeded 10.000 rpm with my 916 SP3 on the road, and even then, I was being utterly « reckless », as the Americans would say…
Absolutely disgraceful I would say, it's a good point. And I am a bit mechanically sympathetic being an engineer. All potentially my SP5 would be missing is a wireless tuned to radio 4 !!
I think I have learnt more investigating stuff from these posts than all my 916 ownership in the past
