I have a sneaky suspicion you may be right. When I held my OE 1098R wheels in one hand and the BST's in the other, I couldn't feel much difference.... I swapped hands about 15 times... But, nah. Bugger all in it. Probably a different story with JIL4's but not with the R. The BST carbon fibre swingarm is noticeably lighter, mind you.
Its surely all down to how much your original rims weigh,a lot of Ducatis come with lightweight rims to start with as does the s1000r as a option,so you will not notice as much of a difference as lets say a 899 with very heavy rims to start with,i think it is documented that carbon rims make very little difference to lap times,at the end of the day we all know power to weight makes a huge difference to a bikes performance and any weight saving will never be a negative.
I think how much difference carbons are going to make depends entirely on how light the originals were and how sharp and focused the bike that they're going on is to start with. A 1098R is a proper race bike with lights. (And a S1000RR isn't far behind). Its very, very good and very focused to start with. If you're chasing wins and fractional advantages, carbons could tip the balance but you could hardly expect them to revolutionise the ride on such a bike. The average road bike in fairly standard trim isn't going to be the sharpest tool in the box to begin with. Even the best road-going sports bike is going to feel fat and heavy next to a true racer or a thoroughly sorted track bike so I guess these road-goers are the sort of bikes where 2.5K on carbon wheels is probably going to deliver the greatest felt performance improvement pound for pound in financial terms.
I should maybe clarify, when riding the bike I didn't notice a difference, carrying them to have the tyres changed - definite advantage for the carbons
But seriously, how come performance enhancing bike bits are sooooo frikkin expensive? Its nuts if you think about it. . . . An Aka full system is about £3.5k for a Pani, or something daft like that. I've spent daft money over the 'closed season' on my bike. I totted it up yesterday, jeeezus. Needless to say, I forgot to tell the Mrs. Thing is, I run a tasty car too and the aftermarket bits and pieces are no more than they are for the bike but there's lots more to them so they seem cheaper. I priced up a CF airbox for my bike and it was £1200 plus a remap. Gumph. . . It was about the same for my car but about 4 times bigger and much trickier to build. I can't help thinking that motorcyclists get a proper bumming from the marketing machine. . . . . Aaaand breath. . .
Is a MTS worth the extra compared to say, a Tiger 800 or a Tiger 1050 etc.? In my own opinion, based on the fact that I fitted a set to my R1, and rode both road and track with them, i would say best bang for buck upgrade out there. But each to their own... I also fitted Braketech Carbon Ceramic discs at £1800 a pair( which was a favoured price to me) and I am in no doubt I will never ride or should I say use, a better brake set-up ever again. Nothing but nothing has ever come close. Even my Pani brakes. Was it worth it ? Who knows. But I'm so happy I tried them.!
We buy toys for our toys and the toy manufacturers know that we of a certain age have a disposable income to buy the toys , plus the toys are soooooo nice and shiny. I need carbon.
I've done 15,000 road and track miles on the carbon BSTs on my D16RR and over 5,000 miles on the carbon Dymags on my SuperDuke and 996SPS. The difference they make is very real and very noticeable - faster acceleration, braking and turn-in - they even make the bike easier to push in and out of the garage. Highly recommended.
I'll eventually treat myself to these for the D16RR Dave. Did you go for the ceramic bearings? If so, what do you think?
Best option if you want to run a 17" rear no doubt. I didn't bother with the ceramic bearings. I may have done but they weren't immediately available and I needed the wheels pronto for a trip to Portimao.
Yep the 17" rear tyre option is my reason for buying. For what a 999R rear wheel will cost, I may as well buy the BSTs
IF you want to run a 17" rear ? Is a 16.5 a real option and if it is, what difference does it make to the handling ? Thanks, Andy
The standard rear is 16" on the D16RR ... and you can only get one tyre for it ... Bridgstone BT01 which was expensive and rubbish when it came out in 2008 and seriously dated now. 17" gives you the widest choice of modern rubber. I don't know what options there might be for 16.5" ... I've never seen a D16RR owner go that way.
Funny... I'm just about to go on the hunt for a set of wheels for my z1ooo.... Looking at a secondhand set of marchesini's for just over 1k....alreay done the suspension.... I'm hoping for big things....
Can't say thanks and agree in the same rating. I agree that BT01s are well past their sell by date and have been majorly overtaken by the latest generation. I asked about 16.5" because I was recently offered a set and I believe from other conversations that they are suppose to improve turn in. Andy
One of my questions is..... Is the core wheel the same for all bikes of a certain size? I could for example get some second hand Oz wheels for 300 ish each, bit of a gamble if they don't fit though....
I spent 14 months building my R1. One of my original colour scheme ideas was that of the first LC's After it was tuned and lightened, 184 rwbhp & 23 kgs lighter than standard, it reminded me of my old LC racebikes. Sorry, if I'm thread busting.!
