Must be one powerful 916 to pull 15/38 at Donington and 15/36 at Silverstone, mine just about gets away with 15/38 at Thruxton

I understand the gesture to offer gearing advice to a fellow Ducati owner based on your own experience, but some of you are missing an important point. Different Ducati models have different different red-lines, primary drive ratios and different transmissions. So they require different sprockets.

First, 916’s and 996’s both have the same standard-ratio transmission, but the 916 has a 2:1 primary drive ratio where the 996 has a 1.84:1 ratio. So the answer to the initial question about the best gearing will be different for the 916 and the 996. Which model is it?

Second, (if his profile is correct) dave w drives a 999 that has a 1.84 primary drive ratio and a close-ratio transmission, which is a set-up that has a different overall gearing and gear spacing than either the 916 or the 996 in question. So a positive result with a particular sprocket combination on a 999 doesn’t translate to a model other than a 998.

If you convert his 999 recommendations to a 916 set-up then the recommendation become 15/37 to 15/42. For the very highly geared 996, the closest you can get is with 15/42 to 14/42, but I strongly suggest that you not use 14-tooth sprockets on 99s’s, 998’s or 999’s because of higher chain tension.

Can someone PLEASE post a tricky question to test our self-appointed panelists? I'm gonna resent awarding the prize for a half-arsed contest.

Doesn't anyone have a really tricky techncial question to ask?

:puzzled::puzzled::puzzled::puzzled::puzzled::puzz led::puzzled:

My question before logoff

Why is it that Ducati still insist on producing red and yellow bikes when we all know that Blooo is a much better colour?

And Ruthie Babe, I'll open the box please what ever the prize

rgds
mort

ok - in for a penny...and its one I'd wondered about for the desmo boys as well..

I have my 93 900ss turning quite nicely after dropping the forks though the yokes some 20mm (serious I know but, I had to do this to be able to fabricate my own hi-rise bar kit) and fitting a Magnesium Marchesini front...

But....for the track wouldn't a combination of mild head dropping AND raising the rear ride height be better.

Finally - does anyone actually make a proper rear ride hight lifter/adjuster (eg - BLOCK OF METAL) seperately, to do the job - I have not found any yet.

If my feeble memory still serves me only Ohlins shox actually have real height adjustment built-in?

Ahem - I thank you all in advance....

Frazzeled Franko

[Edited on 5-2-2005 by Iconic944ss]

Not technical questions but ones I keep asking myself
Why did Ducati replace the 998 with a 999.
Why did Emmett and Chilli both struggle so much with the 999.
How many miles should I expect my 916 to go on for considering the constant abuse it gets.

Why would somebody want to paint a Ducati BLUE :frog:

ok heres one-- is it possible to fit 600ss crank barrels and heads to 750ss bottom end(gearbox/crankcases) this will enable a six speed gearbox and the use of an oil cooler/oil temp guage would it not?or is it possible to fit oil cooler and-oil temp guage to 600SS crankcase/gearbox and then fit ducati performance aftermarket six speed gear cluster?-- just thinkin of next years project

I thank you boys. Keep it coming, Iconic, Skidywids and Monstermob.

Especially Skidywids as you are actually a panellist. :bouncy::bouncy::bouncy::bouncy::bouncy:

Frank your memory still works the Ohlins shock for the SS range (DU235 I think) does have a ride height adjuster built in so that you can increase the rear rideheight by making the shock longer than the standard 328mm.

I am currenty working on a solution to jacking up the back end of my desmo Due 600SS, an couple of hours ago I picked up Senna3's spare shock to take measurements and have also measured a couple of shocks I have, I now have a little drawing of a block that should fit in between the swing arm and a suitable shock. Currently working around a Paioli shock off a Laverda, it has a ride height adjuster built in and if I get things right I should be able to vary the over all length from the standard 328mm up to around 340mm. i did think about popping into work this evening and knocking out a prototype. The Paioli shock has about 12mm of adjustment and at its shortest is 280mm, giving me 48mm between fixing centres for my rideheight adapter

For anyone interested in how it's done...

The 900ss Ohlins units are adjusted by winding out the bottom mount point. There's 2 options for the 900ss according to ohlins catalogue... the DU235 (as skidywids says cos he da man!), or a DU245 which has a remote preload adjustment.

Adjustment range on the Ohlins is also about 12mm.

Should point out that Paioli shock cost me all of £70 and has remote reservoir and as well as the variable lengthn it also features rebound and compression damping. Last time I saw a 2nd hand Ohlins on ebay for a SS model it went for £300 which is a bit outside my budget for the race bike.

As the saying goes "Necessity is the mother of Invention"

Nice one guys - I must check out my WP shox sometime and see how easy / difficult a quick mod might be.

:D

Just measured the dimensions of the spring fitted to the Paioli and put the dimensions into my equation and come up with a figure of 600lb/in which is way to stiff, fitting a softer spring is no problem but getting the damping matched to a new spring rate may prove a bit more troublesome and could make using this shock a non runner as I want to stay in Budget.

SO then, a question close to my heart then....

How much longer can Ducati viably produce 2V bikes?

Given ever tightening environmental laws and market image, does the two-valve have much more life in it? :(

I have a question
In a wood-cutting factory, four large sawing machines stand in a windowless room. Each machine has an on/off switch attached, there being no doubt as to which switch controls which machine. Outside the door to the room are four back-up on/off switches, one for each machine inside. The power for each machine must first pass through the back-up switch, and then the machine switch before reaching the saw. The problem is, the new manager cannot decide how these back-up switches match with the machines inside the room. One day, the manager's brother visits. The manager takes him inside the sawing room where all four machines are at work and explains the problem. The brother announces that he intends to leave the room and that when he returns he will be able to match correctly the four switches outside the room to the four machines inside. The brother works alone, cannot see the machines from outside the room and solves the problem purely by operating switches. How is it possible? One for Redruth :P

You were warned, Chief! I shall be deducting points from your already negative score AND sending you an invoice for wasting my time reading that. Worse still, for the additional time I've wasted trying to think of the answer! :devil::frog::lol::P

In the absence of anything more taxing, can someone please answer these questions for me?

1. How do I measure the tread on my tyres (using some simple tool that I might have access to) and how much tread should there be for it to be road legal?

2. Is it normal to be losing something like 4 or 5 lbs pressure from the front tyre every time I ride the bike? i.e. I put it away after a ride and the next time out I check the pressures and they've gone down about that amount on average. :puzzled:

Redruth,
Is this one of those conundrum's you know like "Peter has a cake and cuts it into 4 slices......?"

How about this one.
What goes through a door but never goes in and never comes out?

Chief, you're gonna get in trouble again!

Ruthie, no it's not normal to lose so much pressure, but are you measuring your pressures hot then again when they're cold? There could be that much difference between hot and cold pressures.
Take your readings from stone cold tyres and they might lose, at a guess, a psi or two over a month but not 4-5 from one weekend to the next.

p.s. I'm off out to get drunk now, so anything I post after I get home should be considered even more crap than I normally post!

Chief, if I were the type of person who got seriously irritated by people being intentionally obtuse, which I'm not, luckily, I'd be getting the right bl00dy 'ump with you by now! :lol:;):P

have started planning next years project- ok so the above may not be feasible ( didnt get any replies:puzzled:)apart from fitting the six speed cluster in the 600 gearbox and adding an oil temp guage as per the ducati performance catalogue part no 965069AAA where does the sender fit????? is it possible to plumb in an oil cooler to original 600 crankcases? and also in the ducati performance catalogue there are some variable-advance control units- do these just advance the ignition timing if so , for what purpose??higher torque? faster revving?or just moves the torque of the engine to lower revs ?

Nick, I am measuring them from cold.
Here's the procedure.
Get bike out of garage.
Check tyre pressure (yes I have a digital tyre pressure gauge of my very own).
It's invariably 4 - 5 lbs down on the front and between 2 and 4 on the back.
Take it to garage (200 yards up the road)
Add air.

re-measure pressure next time I get bike out - about 5 - 7 days later.
pressure dropped again.

I have to say, I think it's something to do with the fact that I'm riding on these 208RRs. I've never had this drop in pressure on any tyre before, unless I actually had a slow puncture.

And what about the tread??? Where's you're reply on that?

Leave it till you're sober to answer because I don't want to have to struggle with some uninteligible drivel - (she can bl00dy talk! :lol:)

:sing::devil:

I'm starting to think this whole thing is a smoke screen by RedRuth so she can ask every single question she's ever wanted to in one single thread.

Clever really - I like it !

Frank

Ruth its worth checking the valves for leaks if you have the alloy ones that Ducati originally fit, I have known them to corrode in our luvley winter conditions and start leaking air past them.

Pressure
 

Hi Ruth
Have you measured the pressures with your digital gauge at the garage, immediately after you have re-inflated the tyres? Check what your gauge says against the garage pump's gauge's reading. There can be a big difference!
:eureka: (maybe)

If that were the case Frank, and I am not saying it is, but if it were, then I'm certainly getting my monies worth.

:devil:

But no, that wasn't the purpose of the quiz. The real purpose of the quiz was to allow me to ask enough questions to irritate someone somewhere sufficiently to say

"Listen love, don't tax your tiny little brain over these things. You're a girlie, after all. You pop back in the kitchen and I'll come round and sort out everything that needs sorting on your bike for the price of a nice Sunday roast and a few beers!"

So, top marks for getting quite close, Frank, just not close enough! :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::frog::P

Just in case you didn't spot it, I've started a new thread, 'same quiz, new thread' as this one was becoming somewhat unwieldy on my dial up at home.

So anyone has any questions to put to our experts, post them on the new thread. Everything will be aggregated at the end of the month to decide who's won.

We're more than 1/3rd of the way to knowing who our know-all is ...

:sing::sing::sing:

I'm bumping this one too. Tomorrow is half way point. Clearly, you testosterone driven guys are all going to be busy keeping the Laydeeez happy tomorrow night but just spare a thought for those of us who are trying to show our appreciation to the efforts of the panel of helpful blokes who make this message board the centre of technical excellence that it is today (and yesterday, and hopefully tomorrow)
:D