Can'tn trype kreyborde coberd in droooool.......

I'm lost for words. Not since I stood on the Venezuelan altiplano looking out over 300,000 sq miles of virgins (and some rainforest) have I seen anything so close to perfection. Don't park it round 'ere. I'll nick it. :D

Have fun Mort, and lets see those dyno charts asap.

Cheers,

ali

looks sweet neil ! nice 1 ;) ...................mav

Heads look nice, real credit to you Nelly. Mort you got a shiny helmet to match your heads:D

That looks the biz, bet it goes some as well.

I look forward to following it around the Jerez GP circuit at the end of the month:lol:

WeeJohnyB

Looks even better in the flesh. Just been up there and they just loading it onto trailer to take it for a dyno run. Now that WILL be interesting, glad I swapped my 916 for a 996....

You know, as my long suffering riding chums will witness, I've been wittering on about getting a more sporty bike (eventually) that I can put in the garage (eventually - when I get a garage) beside the ST. The ST would still be my all weathers, touring/rideout/do-it-all bike, the more sporty something else would be for warm sunny days, mainly road riding but some trackdays. One that I could keep as a special bike to fettle, polish and treat to bits of bling.

I've posted on this board before that yes, I could go down the 998 or 999 road, but because I always like to be different, there's always something that draws me back to the notion of getting an SS and spending the extra dosh that a 999 would've cost on bits to make the SS put out about 100bhp and weigh about 160Kg. That sort of bike with big punchy V-twin torque would make a just about perfect bike for the road I reckon. Wouldn't be out of touch on most trackdays either. Blooo Duke is pretty damn close

My thoughts exactly. Pick up a s/h SS for about £2k, track down a 1000ie engine (there should be loads around soon from numtystruddles/spurtclassic/etc) and spent the spare change on some Ohlins R&Ts, radial brakes, BST carbons, and Testarossa heads. Nest of vipers, trick bodywork and Bob's a close relative.

With the BSTs I reckon you're under 160kg, and a 1000ie with a few mods should easily kick 100bhp. Put some slicks on and you can ride round the outside of lardy 999s while smoking a pipe and reciting poetry. :lol:

Cheers,

ali

Well it seems like they're expecting about 100 bhp (altough I shudder to think about the cost) but how would you get the weight down to 160kg ? That seems much harder to me.

Well yes, I shudder to think about blooo dukes cost but then again it can't be any more than other people spend on their pride and joy (thinks...nearly three grand for a 57mm termi system for a 999R which nobody really needs for the extra power). You have to admit, it's a very special bike, it's very different and I'm sure riding it and fettling it brings Mort a lot of pleasure.

100 bhp needn't cost that much though, as Ali says you should be able to pick up a 1000DS motor from a scrappers that'd just drop straight in. Using current Ducati figures (yes, I know they've changed from 'at the wheel' to flywheel figures) the 1000DS motor puts out 95bhp as standard with catalytic convertors and all that jazz. Should be able to see 100 bhp easily with simple things like free flow cans, filters, chips etc or if you want to go mental there's always Sigma's 1080DS conversion with high comp pistons and porting. I guess the main limitation with big bhp is ultimately the two valves, but before that keeping it cool enough limits the bhp you can produce (particularly the rear cylinder). The 1000DS lump has got a new fin pattern and improved cooling, but even so, you're going to get into reliability issues much beyond 100-ish bhp IMHO

As for the weight, again Ducati quote 179Kg standard, so 19 kg weight loss? Once you strip off all the non-essential bits, get some lighter wheels, half fairing and have you felt the weight of the standard cans? Each one of my original ST cans weighs nearly 2Kg more than the DP ones I have. So, it's a challenge, but I reckon it's do-able. Might be eccentric going this route when you could have a sorted 749/999 for the same dosh, but I don't think this is the point. If you want something special and uniquely your own it's always gonna cost.

Hey Jools you're preaching to the converted here

(Superlight III no 260)

I say go for it.