So... took the scoot for its first spin and have a few small probs.. The first was a me thing, locking the front at the round about 100 yards from my place! it so nearly went but brake off an try again, pulled her up in the middle of the round about just in front of an asian chap (who musta seen my troubles and stopped instead of running me over!).. judging by his face he either was really amazed at the shininess of my ride or he had shat himself. So the first thing is the ride height in the rear is way to high (i knew this but dont have the right spanner at the min) I think this coupled with the new tyre and brake pads and me being very rusty and silly led to the locking up.. I carried on and did 15 miles on her but she is a pig at the min!!!!!!! The ride height is out and this does me no favors as im a midget and every mm counts, the front is too hard but it did seem a lil softer towards the end of ride.never owned a new bike, this would be the closest (with all new bearings, seals ect) would i be right to think that it will "loosen up"? Is it probably best to put a good few miles on it before messing with the suspension to much? (apart from the ride height which i'll do now!) It all seems very stiff, hard and unforgiving at the min.. The clutch is quite grabby and not nice to get of the mark (this was helped quite a bit but bringing the lever in a bit so less travel) After 10 miles or so the clutch started slipping so i headed home to find that there is oil coming outa the clutch from somewhere so that will need seeing to. Its a bit surreal at the min, having not ridden for so long and the hype of finally getting on the road, I have a strange combo of buzzing of my head (especially when i nearly dropped it) and feeling a bit flat about the whole affair.. I think i expected to just get on it and feel like i could rag it silly if i wanted to (like before) but it would be an even better fit with the nice suspension mods and whatnot but it feels a bit weird!!!
I know that feeling only too well but if you had dropped it then it would have been the anticlimax to end all. You will get there again with a bit of fettling and patience
I realise I maybe missing some stuff but which bike do you have, ,,,,,,,,,,,,, ps,,,as the finish rally driver said,, " get fast slowly "
ok thanks mate,, yes the black n white one,, saw some photo on other thread,, stunning bike,, would have been sooooo bad to drop it first time out,,,,,,,,,,, or any other time !!!!!
Take it easy, we all remember how fast we were. I've ridden enough old nails (not that this is) in my time to know getting the suspension right first (back to standard settings to start) can give the confidence to ride around other problems until you can get to the bottom of them. But saying that, if it is the 748 then oil in the clutch is obvously bad, and i'd think can only be shaft seal behind the basket. The grabbiness might just be some air in line, but check the slave seal too as they're a common fault. Best of luck
cheers mate will be taking it easy for sure!!!thing with the suspension is the forks now ave ktech internals so im unsure if the standard settings will work... will call the chaps that done em. the oil/clutch thing i think is cause i put a 1098 setup in and they are slightly different in the seals... should be an easy (ish) fix. Its more the bike in general just feels so harsh and foreign that kinda dulled my day... im sure it will be ok with a few more miles and a bit of tweaking.... otherwise i'll scrap it...:Banghead:
Noooooooooooooo don't scrap it. If it's got K-tech internals and the spring weight is right it'll be awesome with some fiddling. The twin seaters were a bit harder than the solos, but one things for sure, give the K-techs some sdjustment either way and you'll feel the change unlike standard stuff. It's wrong time of year to be pushing suspension and despite popular thoughts, preload doesn't change the stiffness of a spring. The stiffness is dictated by the spring rate. It's a black art suspension but don't be affraid to fiddle once you've noted down the current settings. But don't try one click at a time until you start getting close to comfortable. I normally work on 4 clicks front 6 rear at a time. Once i feel i've gone too far go back 2 front 3 rear etc. You'll know it's too far cos instead of being harsh it'll start pitching about and getting all weavey. I had seals changed on my k-tech'd forks and the bloke set the suspension to how he felt would "win BSB rounds". I hated it and changed compression about 10 clicks to how it was before. Don't give up though, we're all here to help each other enjoy Ducatis
As has been said,take your time.Judging by the pictures,I presume you wont be riding it thru the winter.Just put a few miles on it,do your fettling and keep it spanky for next spring.Im a shortarse and lowering the ride height at the rear helped no end,especially slow speed manouverability.
Give it a few weeks, it'll be reet. First time I rode an 848 was when I collected it from Glasgow. In 'ex' hurricane Bertha in August. 5 year old Dragon Supercorsas with 500 careful miles on (didn't look like they'd ever been round a corner). Torrential rain. I rode home the back way, 6 hours, can't say I enjoyed a second of it. Except when I stopped at McDonalds and was looking at it sat in the car park whilst I definitely wasn't sliding the rear out of roundabouts questioning my choice of bike. Tyre change to Sportsmarts, set static sag. A 1000 miles down the road and I can forgive the fogged up headlights/ dash, the fuel hose in the tank that came loose, the occasional engine fault light that goes away if I switch ignition on and off a few times. It's a revelation. Just didn't feel that way on day one. Or two.
clutch prob solved!!!! I could lie and say it was a hugely complicated task that involved hours or trial and error.. but the fact is Al from proteam rang me (after seeing my post ) and suggested that i may need some free play at the lever. In my defense i had thought of that (ish) what ever... anyhu its all good now!!!!!!!
If you're still having trouble getting the suspension right it really is worth taking it to a suspension specialist for a professional set-up. Whether it costs £40 or £100 its money well spent. It doesn't matter that its a rebuilt and modified set-up, they will set the bike's ride height and posture, get the damping perfectly matched at both ends and if they don't get it perfect first crack out of the box, they'll establish a new base setting, probably with a print out, and give you a datum from which fine tuning will be so much easier. There are few things you can buy for your bike which are more cost effective IMO.
Agree 100% need to talk to proteam as im pretty sure Al said he can set it up for me but being the impatient fucker i am i just wanted to get it home and didnt really think to get him to sort it whilst it was still there!!!! I know he can definitely set ride height correctly (has the jig) and im pretty sure he has the skills to fine tune the suspension as he's a clever bugger! Assuming also he has time. If not I'll be looking for an outfit close to me (west london) so any recommendations would be greatly welcomed. Lowered the right height the other day (not sure if i've mentioned this elsewhere) to where it looked/felt right and it is so much better! done 40 miles today and its getting better by the mile. Still has niggles including what feels like a fueling prod maybe in that it cuts out when winding the power on every now and then.. could be the ecu as that has a prob anyway i think as the rev counter doesn't work and it used to have soft kill when hitting the rev limiter but then that changed to cutting power completely (this fault is historic, i've been nowhere near max revs yet as needs running in) so there's issues but im working thru em!
