Having taken on a bit of project I want to replace the front caliper pinch bolts on my 748 2000/W reg as they are rusty as....... do I replace with stainless or titanium? What are the pros and cons bar price! Any advice apart from replacing one at a time, torque settings and any preferred suppliers? Cheers RR
It’s your choice but it’s just about price and weight. Titanium bolts defo feel amazingly light especially when you have the steel ones in your other hand, but I don’t think you’d feel any difference on the road or track. I bought mine off eBay. Can’t remember the seller, sorry.
Unless it's race bike and you're at an elite level, you're probably better off using stainless, certainly from a price point of view. Titanium is lighter but the amount of weight you would lose for 4 bolts is minimal and it's not rotational weight plus, despite it's higher strength to weight, titanium is not as strong as (good) steel for the same size (though maybe stronger than stainless?) and it is certainly more brittle. Some would say to use high tensile steel rather than stainless for strength reasons (pretty sure the originals were?) but given that the pinch bolts on your caliper are well over-engineered, I can't think using stainless is any detriment but use A4 rather than A2 stainless in any case as it's stronger. That said, I confess to having some titanium bolts on my 916 (disc and caliper mounting bolts) but when I overhauled the rear caliper on my Monster I replaced the pinch bolts with stainless so I (mostly) practice what I'm preaching.
I did put titanium bolts on my Fireblade front callipers because I wanted to replace the oem ‘stretch’ bolts and didn’t want to buy Honda at similar prices.
Thanks for the above - not worried about weight being a scrawny git; but being the front brake didn't want to replace with inferior bolts. Now to find some A4 stainless....
Unsprung weight is the enemy for either road of track, marginal gains. Titanium is lighter and light sprinkling is good for pub talk. Stainless steel is heavier and cheaper..................but worst of all it's used for kitchen pots, pans and washing machine drums There are various debates on the material properties on both. The case for titanium is also made by the fact that Titanium was used extensively on the SR 71 blackbird, a very, very very, fast aircraft. That makes Titanium almost as cool as carbon fibre
There was an excellent post on here recently by @Shazaam! about the pro’s and cons of various materials. Long story short I decided to replace various (stainless) bolts on my SP3 with plain old bright plated zinc high tensile steel (from Accu who were excellent). Bit boring but hopefully safe!
I know! The great thing is that you can buy just what you need (want), you don’t have to buy a pack of 10/50/100 or whatever.
A quick question - does everyone use locktite on the threads for pinch bolts or all bolts/screws? Being a machine that vibrates a just little, wondered if its the way to go or am I just making hard work for myself later on?
After what could have been a bad experience on track I use threadlock a lot more on the 748 than I would on, say, an in-line 4. There’s no need to use ‘red’ or ‘high-strength’ threadlock unless the service manual calls for it. ‘Blue’ medium stuff if good to use liberally, those bolts will be easy to break free when required but won’t vibrate out at 120mph at snetterton.
The A4 stainless M8's from Accu can come with Thread locking already in place so will go for those - half the price of RaceBolts!! Happy Days. This poor old bike has been neglected...... Thanks Coda
I get the feel some bolts will never vibrate loose! The 2 that secure the exhaust guard are well and truely in place - looks like I'll be drilling them out...... shame, cos replacements are stupidly expensive compared the other bolts... WHY?????? And I'm unlikely to be doing any speed until belt status is known......as said, its been neglected over 23 years and only 3.6k on the clocks.
Yep.... belts were changed apparently at a Ducati dealership in May 2022 along with a service but the bike has done virtually no miles since, so that doesn't really help me much apart from best replace unless others disagree. However, to ease my mind, I may just replace and be done with, then at least I've a known starting point. I'm no engine mechanic so another expense to justify......
Bit late in replying to this but I generally go by the workshop manual. Some bolts require blue loctite, others need a smidge of moly grease.
Thanks AndrewS, that is something I'm lacking having only just purchased it apart from the lack technical skills/confidence and more honestly, patience.... but a workshop manual would help with other esstential/safety critical parts. So, if anyone has one for sale ... please pm me.
If that is the case (and you have a receipt to prove it) then I wouldn’t worry about it until next year. You could always take the side covers off and visually examine the belts and even do a tension check (app on your phone) to make sure they are right.
