The Sachs rear shock is definitely rebuildable on the 899 but it's a very slightly different unit, literally from appearance just down to a different looking adjuster. Anyway, check out mct's facebook page as they have done lots of 899 shocks, u could always put one of those in there rebuilt? £100 for a mint one off eBay and £175 for the MCT rebuild is still cheaper than a Ohlins. Btw, I was told that for 14.5stone road riding without pillion the 8kg Spring that the 899 has will be fine for me
I've already bought the Nitron shock. The way I see it is that it cost me £480 which is a fair investment, but it is built to my weight and riding style and when I come to sell the bike I'll just stick the original shock on there and be able to sell the Nitron separately. So in the long run it'd probably work out pretty cost effective as I'll hopefully only lose, at worst, around £200. Hopefully less and in the meantime I get to use what is meant to be a pretty awesome rear shock.
Well I've gone for their subtle option, i.e. a titanium coloured spring as opposed to having it in their traditional 'Nitron blue'. They've also gotten rid of the gold anodized parts and overall it's a lot less in-yer-face than their previous versions. So to be honest it's just going to blend in and not shout out that it's an aftermarket shock, but that's fine with me! I can't find any pictures of it fitted to a Panigale, but as soon as mine turns up I'll obviously post up a few photos
I was almost tempted with the blue spring, but just couldn't bring myself to order one in the end! It'd look great on my Rizla blue GSXR though! I've also gone with their sport shock, which doesn't have the remote reservoir (which they were very keen to point out doesn't mean it would perform worse than an OE shock with one, quite the opposite. It appears the lack of this reservoir causes concern for some people!) I like this picture, with their magic floating Panigale
I've not had anything changed on mine but I did have the suspension setup a month after I got mine (1199 Standard).. (I fluctuate between 12.5 - 13 stone) and the handling has been transformed from bucking bronco on our shitty streets to a much smoother rocketship... was done by Paul Adams at racelab, top bloke and knows his onions, in his opinion the rear shocks are decent and don't need to be replaced (unless you want to or are properly racing and the front could ideally do with a little more range and if you were just using it as a trackbike or racing you'd probably look at doing the springs but for most (note, not all) road riders they should be ok when setup. Happy to post up the settings if anyone is interested.
Yep, please do. Interested to know if you're in the flat or progressive linkage option too. It's funny how different companies give out such different advice.
its as personal as our opinions Matt! Remember when 'progressive' was best for road? Until you tried it!
Well kinda, although you'd think people in the same line of work would apply some science and therefore you'd maybe get (some) consistent answers? It doesn't really matter, I've found an excuse and justified to myself to spend some money on some shiny new bits My bike has always been in progressive btw, I've not changed it. I'll be switching it to flat though if that's what Nitron recommend but I've not asked them that yet.
I'm in no position to comment on other companies as this is the first bike I've ever had it setup on (crazy I know) but the jap bikes I've had never seemed as hard as this, my old 999s was pretty compliant too... all I know is that what Paul did transformed it for me.. best £100 I've ever spend on a bike. Here's the data.... incidentally I'm not sure on F or P, we didn't touch what it was set on originally.will check and come back to you tomorrow on that
Well that confirms something is wrong with my forks! You're getting 40mm of rider sag with 6 turns of preload whereas I can barely get mine to budge with preload wound fully out. Thanks a lot for posting this sheet, I'm going to actually print it off and go out to the garage now and compare mine to yours Edit - I forgot we live in 2015 and I can just take my phone out to the garage. The trees are safe for another day...
I know what you mean, but most comes from experience, cause science is above most of us Flat is the only way you can set up the stroke consistently , the progressive changes spring rate as it compresses altering the rebound speed throughout the return stroke. In practice, all the progressive position gives is more wallow than a hippo at a mud hole
The odd thing is that I've always known it was in progressive and I thought that was where it should be for road use. Little did I know, obviously! Yep, the manual states for 'two ups' to put it in progressive. If you search on flat vs progressive though on this forum and the US-based Ducati1299.com there are tons of posts with people arguing which is the best setting for general road use. There are as many who say progressive is the best setting for road use compared to the those who favour the flat setting.
Is it not the same as the fork argument? JHS advised me to out linear springs in my Daytona instead of the progressive ones. I have to say that I couldn't really tell much difference other than the forks feeling super plush and the travel being used as I wanted.
Yep, it all comes down to spring weights again. Those whose weight is matched well to their springs would probably find linear to be the better option because the suspension is working at the same rate through its stroke. Those whose springs are too heavy will most likely find progressive better as it is softer initially, although obviously becoming harder through the stroke. But that initial softness is what people favour. Personally I think if you've got correctly weighted springs then you'd want a flat rate.
