Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > 998 / 996 / 916 / 748 > Best value mods for 748S? (which give greatest return for cost)

[DJ Tera]

Forgot to say Tecmoto did a good deal on mine!

[Haley]

I would have to agree with weeksy on the full set up for rideability and Dazza and DJ with the wheels for looks ......................hmmm just gotta save up

[998Addict]

As you guys know, I started racing this year. At the start of the season, I was adamant that, to my already well-prepped 916, I needed:

1. Lightweight wheels
2. Slipper clutch

When I say adamant, I mean bricking myself at the thought of racing without getting them.

So on I went, and £1,300 later said bike is looking like the best thing in the paddock - but did it make me go any better? Did it hell!

The top and bottom of it, guys, and I bet I'll get flamed for this, is that very few of us will ever truly explore the limits of the 748/916/996/998 package through anything other than incompetence. If you don't believe me, just take a standard bike and give it to someone who can actually ride - you will not believe it. Like slinging their leg over anything from a GSX-R to a KTM, they will take many seconds off your laptime, without the benefit of thousands of pounds in bolt-on goodies. One of the instructors at Croft regularly joins the Fast Group on a CB500 (yes, one of those!) and laps in the low 1:40s/high 1:30s, which is Sound of Thunder race pace. Its about skill, not how much you want to bolt-on.

THAT SAID, if you want to spend money making your bike look more pose-worthy, or just better in your own eyes, then there's NOTHING AT ALL WRONG WITH THAT - just don't kid yourselves that spending money on any Ducati bolt-on goody will make you a faster rider. It may make you feel more comfortable (better brakes, etc.) but when it comes down to it, there's no substitute for learning to ride better, as I'm now finding out the hard way.

[adam]

could'nt have been said better, a talented rider will storm round a track on what ever bike quicker than most of us if not all. I have spent quite a bit of cash on goodies knowing it was the looks first then any benefit it may give, though the PFM brakes i added were better than the ones on my 748r, much smoother.
We buy our bikes for it's looks, nothing compares to a Ducati. People buy exhausts for that little increase in power, right, can they use all the power there already? NO. Those termis look good and sound good, simple as that.

DJ, mags let you turn in quicker at 100 miles an hour, hum, remember the CSS, you push that bar enough and that bike will turn in quick even with pram wheels.
As previously said schools will help above anything else.

[muttsnuts]

Rider training at a school like CSS - its cheap, will make you faster, safer and it costs you nothing to change bikes in the future, very cost effective.

Oh and Weeksy, I agree with you as well - what a bugger eh - its just isn't your week is it !

Did you get the leathers back anyway ?

[skidlids]

I find some of the comments a bit disturbing, is it being said that riders who can not lap as fast on there bike as some one like Hodgson, Toesland or Shakey would on the same bike are all incompetent. If any of them were happy to take my bike to its limit and feel safe in doing so I would consider that I had done a fairly competent job of putting it togeather. The fact that I can't ride it at their sort of pace is mainly due to a lack of skill/talentl, coupled with a lack of fitness, agression and a good dose of self preservation (old enough to know better)following to many hospital stays.
I race for fun, quite often attending meetings by myself in excess of 160 miles from home and crashing is not something I want to do, although it does happen on the rare occassion. To help me stay upright and get to the chequered flag I try to put the best bike I can out on the grid, knowing that I will reach my limits well before the bike does, put my mate Adrian on it and he will be near the front of the field in any club race, stick the 955 Corse engine in it and he would probably be on the podium. Last Year I raced a TL1000S which certainly had more power and speed than my 916 and took me to finishes in the top 5 and in every race I entered on it I was always the first TL1000S home, maybe some of this was because of the Ohlins shock, the reworked forks, the braced swingarm, rearsets and my own setting up of the bike. So how this quallifies myself and others like me as incompetent I don't know.
Maybe i should try slicks which would extend futher the limits of the bike, but at my level I am happy enough on Rennsports and super corsas or Wets.
I could go on but thats enough for now.
As the best value is the parts you've paid for and don't regret spending the money.

[998Addict]

Skidlids -
Fair comments, my friend.

The point I was trying (and evidently failing) to make is one you make at the end of your post, about "the best value is the parts you've paid for and don't regret spending the money".

A TL1000 is well documented to be an ill-handling bike, and so I'm not surprised that adding Öhlins suspension, alternative linkages, etc. would provide a big benefit. I was actually referring specifically to the 748/916/996/998 package, and the benefits that most of us (me included, and if I have inadvertently included you in that generalisation, I apologise) really can get from upgrading things like Öhlins suspension, slipper clutches, lighter wheels and the like.

I also make the point that making these upgrades in order to make your bike merely look better or sound better is absolutely understandable, and something I poured a lot of money into before I started racing.

No offence intended.

[Edited on 10-7-2003 by 998Addict]

[DJ Tera]

Originally posted by adam
DJ, mags let you turn in quicker at 100 miles an hour, hum, remember the CSS, you push that bar enough and that bike will turn in quick even with pram wheels.
As previously said schools will help above anything else.

Pram wheels would turn-in even quicker mate
I'll let you take my bike out for a spin some time and you can tell me whether you think the 600 quid was worth it or not

[ducatimad]

Thanks all for your comments, as always some real interesting stuff.

I agree that as long as the bike is 'ok' and I think we'd all agree that the 748S is pretty ok in stock format, it's more about the standard of the rider than the wizzy bits or even the colour, though red is clearly faster than yellow of course!

I know that the main limiting factor is me and not my bike but I have been experiencing some 'rear end' problems especially in the wet at Mallory that I believe (and so do Sigma) would be resolved by a slipper clutch.

Hey, why not use the 'better' kit to help your 'less than brilliant' riding ability.

Keep on postin!!