Just ask why they persist in using belts instead of gears for cam drive when it is so bl**dy obvious that the idiosyncrasies of belt tensioning and potential belt failure can cause so much damage......weakest design point of a Ducati engine, I reckon....and in my mind it can only be a cost cutting excercise. AL.
From the Ducati website: "The need to control the enlarged valves with the extremely precise Desmodromic system prompted engineers to replace the original belt transmission, mounted on the first Ducati Pantah in 1979, with a configuration mixing both chain and gears. As a result, the chain timing allows an efficient transmission of the motion between crankshaft and camshaft transmission and thanks to the automatic tensioning adjustment, ensures constant reliability and a reduction in routine maintenance costs." I have no idea how the chain/cam combination works, or why it isn't one or the other .
Ah-hah! Still got a camchain then! Marvellous. I originally got my first Pantah because it didn't have a camchain. I got traumatised by Honda camchain tensioners that didn't work. Seeing as Ducati probably haven't made a camchain tensioner in living memory, what makes you think they got it right first time? Will the dry clutch rattle be replaced by the worn camchain rattle on the Panigale? We'll find out soon. They had made much of it being gear driven cams, but this is evidently rubbish. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
As per Suzuki TL1000's View attachment 8697 View attachment 8698 Desription, The TLS motor featured a 90° V-twin for perfect primary balance and had hybrid chain/gear driven cams. A traditional cam chain turned a gear that in turn rotated the cams. This hybrid design eased maintenance immensely and gave the motor additional aural character because of the gear whine.
Hey guys. There's nothing more unsavoury on a motorbike forum than blokes talking about motorbikes. And even worse when the talk is about bits of motorbikes. No-ones' interested.
