Hi All, First post virgin here. After staring at a 996 poster throughout my teens I finally took the plunge 7 years ago and got myself a bike license, along with a lovely 749, which I've owned ever since. Now, as much as I love my bike, I hate it in equal measure and its time I resolved them. The only problem is, I have no idea where to start and reading will only get me so far with my limited knowledge, so I'm beginning here in the hope someone will take pity on me. 1. I wish to improve the bikes temperament at low speeds and as I'm in the market for a new chain and sprockets I thought I’d get a set up that helps alleviate this somewhat. Could anyone advise the best front and rear sprocket size set up and brands to consider purchasing please? 2. Probably the biggest bug bear I have is the clutch feel, or lack of it, it’s either on or off. I’ve read master cylinders will resolve this? If it doesn’t I’ve wasted my time reading many a forum thread to come up with; Brembo RCS Radial Clutch Master Cylinder 19x18 (as it has more ‘feel’ than the 19x20)? Brembo RCS Radial Brake Master Cylinder 19x16. Am I close? Is there anything else required? Do I use standard reservoirs? Sorry to ask so much on my first post, normally I would speak to my local trusted mechanic (Rich@LouigiMoto) but the poor bloke is snowed under so I feel bad taking any of his free time. Thanks in advance of your pity. C
Hi and welcome! I run a 14/38 combo on my 916(996)SPS. Clutch feel - I live with the standard set up which I find most acceptable, even with tiny hands!
Yep 2/3 teeth larger rear sprocket(best) or smaller 14T front will make it easier in town. I would leave the master cylinder std but put a larger bore slave cylinder(oberon maybe) on clutch for a bit more feel and lighter action but more importantly strip the clutch plates out and give them a dust off and inspection and check you've got a dished 1.5mm plain in the pack and maybe do the quiet clutch mod and hopefully that will improve your ride.
Standard gearings 14x38 on a 749 (39 on an S) if you want a really noticeable difference you need to be looking at a 41 or larger rear. Shazaam recommends a 43 I'd look at getting you're current master cylinder/slave/clutch pack bled & setup correctly before splashing out on replacements as you should definitely have some feel
Thank you all for the comments. I'll start researching the forum for more information on sprockets based upon the advice provided and ask Rich when my bike goes in soon if he could bleed and setup the master cylinder/ clutch as a starting point. She's due a major service next month + cambelt, tyres, sprockets, chain, brake pads, MOT and TAX so I don't wish to spend unnecessarily but everything was pointing towards the standard masters not being great. I've owned the bike since 4,000 miles and the clutch has always been either on or off. I used to think something was wrong with me until I jumped on my friends bikes and realised just how horrible mine is. Will a clean and setup alone make a big difference? If so, I can't believe I wasted all this time cursing my bike on incline pull away starts and traffic lights! Slightly embarrassed to say the least.
Your clutch plate has 6 springs, some people remove 2 opposite each other and run on 4 springs. So when you pull the clutch in you only compress 4 springs, not 6, so it makes the clutch lighter. Some others have found though that this leads to clutch slip. I was wondering if having 4 springs, therefore decreasing spring pressure, would lead to a slightly less on/off clutch due to it engaging slower. Clever people will be along shortly to pat me on the back or shoot me down in flames, i'm still learning too!
Ahh, that makes sense. I'd be cautious to have this done though, especially if it leads to clutch slip. Do you know, if this is this a common Ducati 749 issue or simply a set-up issue between a handful of bikes from factory? I'm intrigued to know why it was like this from new if it were the case.
All dry clutches left the factory with 6 springs, some people run 4 with no issues. Some, had slip and reverted back to 6. I expect it's to do with stack height and spring strength. If it slips, just put 2 back in, its a 5 minute job.
Removing 2 of the springs will require less effort on the lever to disengage the clutch but won't add any 'feel'. You've had it 7 years and it had 4000 on it then, it's due a major service so what mileage has it done now? all on the same clutch pack without any tinkering? they definitely need a bit of TLC it's not difficult you just need to be methodical & thorough there's plenty of experience on here to help you out. I suspect it's all a bit worn & loose which is preventing the dished plate (you can add more for more feel) of gently easing engagement. Time to get it's knickers off
Clutch on-off-ness can be affected by the presence (or otherwise) of the dished plain steel plates in the clutch pack. Most of the plain steel plates are flat, but two of them (usually - I only have experience of the 748 and 1098 clutches, not any of the xx9 ones) are not flat but are slightly cone-shaped. As you release the clutch lever and the springs on the pressure plate compress the clutch pack, these two cone shaped plates are squashed flat. Squashing these plates should aid the smooth transition from slipping to gripping. You need to open the clutch and verify whether or not you have the dished plates and whether or not they are still dished.
Just removing the clutch pack and giving everything a good clean out is likely to help. If you want a really smooth clutch, you could try the Lithium grease mod. This is where you smear white lithium grease on all the friction surfaces, wipe off the excess and then heat in the oven (200C iirc) till the smoke stops. This should give a smooth, buttery clutch that might slip a little to start with but that soon stops.
Cool, thank you! 5 minutes with my luck will now doubt take hours, maybe even days but I'll give it a go after more research of what I'm actual to do first. It's had a lot of work since I've had her, engine rebuild (long story I won't bore you with) among many other things but I've always kept her in very good condition thanks to Rich. He mentioned last service that the clutch would need replacing next service, but that said, it's always been all or nothing. I've only managed to put the mileage up to around 14,000 miles. No mechanical 'modifications' have been done, all items are factory stock. It's had Termi's fitted and been mapped professionally because of this. If anything was tinkered with it was done so by the former owner who had it from new. Oh and its a 2005, black swing-arm model. Ok, will do, thank you.
Sounds interesting. Daft question probably, but can this be done safely in a home oven? Or should it only be done in a non food cooking oven?
So the pack will be well worn , buy the correct set for your model and replace, whip the slave off and clean it up, check the pushrod & pressure plate bearing, bleed the system fully (don't forget there's a little bleed screw for the MC inside the reservoir). Personally I wouldn't faff about baking things, it's not a black art just precision engineering
It may be that simply cleaning out the clutch will help. You get quite a lot of dust build-up with a dry, enclosed clutch. If you want to try the lithium grease mod, you can do it in a domestic oven - I think everyone does - but the missus is likely to notice the strange smell - mine did... I am also running the quiet clutch mod, with a very low stack-height. I now have a quiet, smooth clutch that is also 2-finger light. The lightness is due to the reduced preload on the springs from the low stack-height. It also clears so well that at standstill, i can tap down into neutral from second as easily as tapping up from first.
Round town only reply, I have a 749s, leave front sprocket size the same but replace, change rear to either 42/43 I can't remember which, this requires an extra link in the chain but the difference was phenomenal as well as the feel coming out of corners when on the move! I used "bike torque racing" for their advice and new kit
Fingers crossed its just the clutch pack, however, given its been like this since I've owned it, I'm not going to hold my breath :disappointed: I've got to start the process of elimination somwehere though and given the clutch is due for replacement, its a good enough place to start :smile: If I'm due to replace the clutch pack anyway, is this replacement vastly different in price? I'd miss the dry clutch noise, but if it meant I enjoyed the rides far more then it might be worth a try!:smile: Awesome, thank you for this. I'm of to do some more research on it and give the shop an email. :smiley: Thanks again to everyone who has responded, I really, really appreciate all the time you've taken to give me your advice! Fingers crossed its all resolved come the next service *gulp* I'm not looking forward to seeing the bill! :seenoevil:
