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  #11  
Old 16-Aug-2005, 10:36
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Best mod is a 14 tooth front sprocket followed by some loud or modified standard cans and apprproate chip and set up (see Nelly) and some earplugs, then get some bendix front pads (see Nelly again).

They are the cheapish mods, after that its skys the limit really.

Do the sprocket mod, oh and fit a scottoiler as well.

If you do much two up then an autocom system is the dogs. I've got a little radio on mine so we can listen to radio one on the motorway (turn it off on any other roads, too distracting). Oh and get GPS.
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  #12  
Old 16-Aug-2005, 11:00
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DSC Member Monty Monty is offline
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One other thing really worth doing and cost's nothing-cut out the back of the airbox. You basically want a 'letterbox' in the rear of the airbox lid-this has 2 benefits:
1/ you get that lovely Ducati intake noise.
2/ and more importantly it fills in the midrange by a noticeable amount.
This is a standard 888/900ss mod and since the ST range use a similar restrictive airbox they benefit in the same way.

John
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  #13  
Old 16-Aug-2005, 11:10
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DSC Member Jools Jools is offline
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I replied to this post on Sunday, but problems with the message board seem to have wiped out my reply. People have mostly covered what I put in my reply, but there are a couple of things I said that aren't there.

Firstly, raising the rear ride height is essential (these bikes are very low as standard) and raising the rear does indeed raise the ground clearance and sharpen the steering considerably - you'll have even more confidence in the front after doing it. However, remember that because of the cantilever arrangement of the rear suspension any increase in the ride height adjuster is effectively doubled at the tyre, so don't go too mad. The law of diminishing returns also comes into it and you'll find the benefits of raising the ride height decrease exponentially. If you raise the rear by 20mm the effect on the steering will be very noticeably better. If you raise it further, it will still sharpen the steering but much less noticeably than the first 20mm (take it from me, I once had mine set so high that it wouldn't sit on the centre stand).

I'm with Monty on this one, the rear tyre just kissing the floor is my preference. I haven't noticed the rear getting loose with this arrangement (although my ST2 has 40 less bhp than Monty's 4S so it doesn't spin the rear as easily), but the bike will shake it's head more when accelerating over bumps - personally I like this as it's a more involving ride, but you may not.

Next 'free' mod is getting your suspension set up right in terms of pre-load, compression, rebound on both front and rear. Don't take these things for granted on a secondhand bike, check it all out and make sure it's set to factory settings for a kick-off and tweak it from there. Suspension settings are a very personal taste depending on whether you want the bike set up more on the sporting end or the touring end of the sport/tourer equation and, as well as your riding style, are highly dependent on your weight (and the weight of a pillion and luggage if you're a tourer). There are loads of threads about this on the site if you do a search, but you can also take the bike to a suspension specialist to do it for you for about £40.

Another 'free' mod is to take a drill to the back of your airbox and cut some holes in it. Some people cut 'letterboxes', but I've drilled 8 x 22mm holes in mine. The airbox volume on ST's is very restrictive and opening the airbox lid up a bit increases the effective volume (the Ducati Performance 'airbox' isn't even a lid it's just a frame to hold the airfilter so it's completely open)

I personally disagree with Rockhopper about the Scottoiler. My bike has one and I've stopped using it because it's a pain, the only thing it seems to do effectively is cover the LHS of the rear wheel of the bike with thrown-off oil. Getting the flow rate of the thing right is a never ending battle - you get it regulated so that it's metering out one drip every minute, then it gets hotter or colder and the viscosity of the oil changes and you start all over again. With modern X ring chains the lube is sealed in, so all you need is a thin coating of oil on the outside of the chain to stop rust. I used the scottoiler exclusively on my first chain and got about 12K miles out of it. Stopped using it on the replacement chain and just give this one a once over with WD40 before each ride (and sometimes even forget to do this). So far, I'm on about 10K miles with no visible need to change the chain yet.

[Edited on 16-8-2005 by Jools]
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  #14  
Old 17-Aug-2005, 20:08
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mara mara is offline
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I shall be spending the weekend raising ride height and cutting a piece out of the airbox.

Then we'll be checking out the sprocket, cans and chip options.

A couple more questions:
a) does anyone have experience of the Garmin Quest GPS and mounting it on an ST?
b) does anyone know of a suspension specialist in the York/Leeds area?
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  #15  
Old 17-Aug-2005, 21:14
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A mate gave good feedback on UK Suspension in Bradford.....
Did wonders for his 1200 Bandit
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  #16  
Old 17-Aug-2005, 22:00
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Glyn Glyn is offline
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Mood: st2......we can rebuild
picked my st2 up about nearly two years ago now
when i got it, she was a dog to ride
she really hated turning in to the bends, once we were in a bend together the front wheel used to judder across the road badly
tweaked the rear ride hight up a bit.
set suspension to default then stiffened the front a tad more
she was a new bike
quick and sharp in the bends.
though to restate what monty said above if you go to far with the rear ride hight it feels like the back end is trying to over take the front under heavy breaking.
made i poop i pants a bit
i have also tried the airbox mod but it gave me a nasty flat spot at peak power for some reason?
this is on an st2 though
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  #17  
Old 22-Aug-2005, 11:09
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I thought I'd have a go at increasing the ride height on Saturday but the bottom locknut is up solid and impossible to get a decent spanner on. I'm going to have to take the ride height adjuster off the bike to get the nut undone so I'll leave it just now until a more convenient time.
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  #18  
Old 22-Aug-2005, 12:04
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MARTIN H MARTIN H is offline
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You may find the bottom lock nut is a left hand thread.
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  #19  
Old 22-Aug-2005, 18:51
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Quote:
Originally posted by MARTIN H
You may find the bottom lock nut is a left hand thread.

Oh aye. I know that. Makes no difference to getting it loosened though.
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  #20  
Old 22-Aug-2005, 19:11
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DSC Member Jools Jools is offline
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Both the top and bottom locknuts on my bike were seized up, after all they live in the open and can get corroded quite easily.

The first time I adjusted the ride height I had to take the rod out, but it only takes about half an hour. I decided to do it when I had already got the back wheel dropped out for tyre fitting, then I removed the RH footrest so that I could get at all the allen bolts that hold the adjuster.

Once it was out a little local application of WD40 left to soak in for half an hour plus a little heat did the trick. I took the rose joints out completely then squirted a load of waxoyl into the inside of the adjuster tube. Did the same thing with the rose joint threads and reassembled it all.

Now it's a 5 minute job, cos the locknuts and rod turn smotthly every time
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