I have had my 1299 for a couple of years now and am still adjusting to it. There have been a few issues a long the way which haven't help, like paying for and getting a poor suspension "upgrade", now sorted and me losing quite a bit of strength and stamina due to illness, but working hard to restore that. The other thing I find awkward is the seating position. In comparison to my 749R, there is little tank for your thighs to hang onto and its weird sliding back and being lifted up when you want your body weight over to the side. So if anyone has any riding tips (for track) then much appreciated. Also, has anybody made any hardware changes? The tank on the race bike is very different and there is the Jorge solution
I use a rear tank extender like the race bikes have and would definitely recommend it in general although maybe not if you are looking to make the ride easier? It makes the seating position longer like the older race bikes. Its probably harder work if you were using it on the road since you are seated further back but on track they stop the off throttle low sides that lots of people were having when the Panigale first came out. In terms of riding style it doesn't give you any more tank width to grip so might not solve your problem. For the Pani I have to consciously grip the tank with my knees when in the braking zone and then shift off to the side. I already have my ass off the side to some extent and then slide around the tank a little more as I drop into the corner. I think the extension probably does help here but it is still different to other bikes. The V4 looks to be a bit more supportive in this area.
for me longer would be better. Do you think the low sides occurred when the oil in the rear shock got so hot that the thing was no longer working effectively. That's my feeling. In the morning on track all is fine. In the afternoon, the back starts bouncing around mid corner and tyre wear becomes really bad.
Have you had your shock refreshed and is it stock? Its a front end thing rather than a rear end so I dont think this has anything to do with it although you shouldn't be experiencing that anyhow. The low sides are just a geometry characteristic as far as I can see. I find the Pani needs to be driven off the rear wheel all the time and if you let off throttle at maximum lean the chassis flattens out and you have more of a risk of a low side than other bikes. I think its the same geometry reason the Pani tends to understeer as well. Not a big negative or problem, I'm just talking about characteristics at the limits. Some bikes tend to oversteer and have the back end go (My Yamaha R6 likes to launch me into orbit when I get it wrong) whereas the Panigales tend to understeer and low side the front. I suppose you are less likely to get injured being low sided! Many of the racebikes had a lot of crashes when at the limits until they started using the tank extender around 2013-14. I had a few low sides and this was suggested by someone who runs Superstock teams in Europe and it also looked to be the case with the Motorapido bike in the first year or two.
Hi I have a Ktech DDS lite with IDS inserts in the front. First set up was shocking. Always felt like it was under steering. Second set up by Steve Jordan is now great, but I do notice that heat affects the reservoir and it doesn’t work anywhere near as well. Goes from dealing with ripples without fuss to bouncing about and it shows in the tyre
Oh thats interesting so you definitely have a decent setup. I'm assuming the oil is not that old? I'm only thinking aloud but could it be the other way around in that the handling goes once the tyre drops off? On my 1199R (1299 generation) Supercorsas are almost unuseable because they seem to collapse too easily so there's no support at the rear and it makes the bike handle terribly; bad headshake and pumping at the rear if the rear wheel is spinning due to bumps or poor grip. Extending the rear shock 4-5mm to compensate for tyre height helped a little but it didn't fix it. Dunlops are usually really good but the same thing happens even with Dunlops if the setup if not so good for the conditions. When the setup is good the bike is a dream but it can be a right bitch on occasions. You need the rear support and grip to make the bike handle well and be stable; both on acceleration and also on cornering because of needing the rear to squat and push the bike around to avoid understeer. Tyres not performing due to being worn out or just because of bad pressure or something like that can have the same effect?
