Anyone fitted carbon wheels to their road bike and how much real-world difference have they made? Contemplating a pair of BSTs for my 1098 SF. Just spent a few quid on a suspension upgrade. Its lovely. Handles a treat. Steering feels so much sharper and lighter. And then I changed the tyres on my KTM SMT and had a suspension set-up on that as well... Bloody hell! That steers like the front wheel is a gimbal running in mercury. Suddenly the Duc feels heavy again. I'm not complaining. It handles impeccably now. It doesn't wallow, pitch or understeer like it used to when pushed. It miles better but the agility of the KTM is spoiling me. The wheels on the SF aren't the heaviest to start with so how much improvement would carbons make to steering, acceleration, braking etc? Are they worth it?
@Drinky @arthurbikemad Do a search. Never heard a bad word from anyone that uses them. Only from those who don't
Yeah at least a lightweight front wheel. Dunno if it fits but if you're serious about it get an adjustable neck tube insert and adjustable yoke/triple clamp set up. If you're getting a lightweight wheel may as well get a lightweight spindles/axle too.
wouldnt have thought you'd need triples clamps on a sf would you?? not unless you had a longer swing arm as well?? think you'd be ok with just the bst wheels.
I dunno what the SF offset is but if it's anything like every other Ducati it'll have shed loads of offset hence the boat-like heavy/slow steering feel...
Ducati increased the rake and and trail for the 1098SF over the 1098SBK is was based on. I had assumed it was done by altering the angle headstock in the frame. Presumably the thinking was that without an aerodynamic fairing it would be desirable to slow the steering head angle to keep the bike stable and prevent twitchiness. Yet - and someone correct me if I'm wrong - the steering angle on the 848 SF is steeper, like the SBK, which is one of the reasons some people prefer it as a road bike. If this steering angle alteration been done with off-set yokes, that opens up a whole new set of possibilities (such as fitting 1098 SBK yokes?). You can only do so much to shorten rake and trail by altering the ride height front and back before you run into ergonomic problems. My forks have been lifted 10 mm through the yokes and the rear ride height adjuster has been raised 5 mm on top of the slight lift which the Ohlins TTX shock has given the rear anyway. I can get another 5 mm on the forks before they're fouled by the handlebars but the the angle between seat and bars is already as far as I want to take it or the bike will become uncomfortable. I think Ducati could have kept the geometry from the SBK for the SF and it wouldn't have been unstable. If I can restore some sharpness to the steering head angle with off-set yokes I'd be interested if someone can point me in the right direction. Still fancy the BST wheels though. And what about the lightweight spindle? Titanium? Are they available or do you have to get them machined?
Frame is the same (??) so is it just a question of punching out the sf sleeve and putting a sbk one in there?
I'm sure I read that BST wheels are only guaranteed for 5 years as with most carbon wheels. I may be wrong but for £2.5k I'd want to be buried with them.
Mags can't be repaired either can they? My rear wheel has a pretty big stone dink in it already. There is a small dent you can feel with your finger. (I thought it might have been the tyre fitter but its wasn't, its riding on country roads). I thought that limited repairs were possible to carbons.
Reading the internet blurb on carbon, it is less likely to break as it flexes more and comes back. Metal flexes less so dents and cracks
Yeah I'd still buy them. I can't say I've ever worried about my wheels failing. If they're still going round in circles, then in my world that's good!.
titanium axle seems a waste of money to me! plus i dont think race bikes are allowed to use them as the metal is quite soft. but i could be wrong on that part but i wouldnt want that sheering off on the front end.
