Suspension set up ?
 

I was happy with my 999 till I rode my TLR race bike.
The 999 now seems impossible to turn, so to remedy this I've raised the rear 25mm.

What set-up are you running ?

The section 8 superbike website has some good tips. 285mm eye to eye on rear tie bar, 3 /4 lines through forks sag F and R 30mm is a good place to start. I'm on a 70kg rear spring, weigh 65Kg, if you are heavier than that depending upon the model of 999 you have you'll need a stiffer rear spring.

[/quote]

The section 8 superbike website has some good tips. 285mm eye to eye on rear tie bar, 3 /4 lines through forks sag F and R 30mm is a good place to start. I'm on a 70kg rear spring, weigh 65Kg, if you are heavier than that depending upon the model of 999 you have you'll need a stiffer rear spring. [/quote]

Would these be similar settings for a 749r ?

No, I got all these details from section 8, tried to adjust the tie bar and it was impossible to reach the suggested length, apparently this was for the 'old' shape swinging arm which had a longer tie rod.

The section 8 superbike website has some good tips. 285mm eye to eye on rear tie bar, 3 /4 lines through forks sag F and R 30mm is a good place to start. I'm on a 70kg rear spring, weigh 65Kg, if you are heavier than that depending upon the model of 999 you have you'll need a stiffer rear spring. [/quote]

Would these be similar settings for a 749r ? [/quote]

No the R uses a different rocker , tie bar and leverage ratios. Sorry, just to clarify thats the 749R not 999R, 999R uses same settings ( or Freaks did when i set his up)

[Edited on 23-5-2006 by Gizmo]

is there a link for section 8 so I can check out there recommendations.

IANG - what did you go for in the end, I've got a 2004 749r.

http://www.section8superbike.com/suspensionsetup.php but the 749/999 data page has gone :( luckily I copied a spring chart and some info off it a while ago and added it to upnorth, check it out here - http://www.ducati-upnorth.com/tech/suspensionspring.php

take it to k-tek at coalville,guys thier will help you no end. they did mine on the spot,took sag out of the rear as i found it squatted to much.

if you are over 150lbs you'll need a heavier spring unless its a bip ( they have 75 springs not 64 or 70). K tech are good, i got my spring from them, its easy to swap over. they'll do fork springs as well, you may need heavier springs if you trackday and are a hard braker.

What kind of money to set it up ?

Last time I was a 150lb I was 14 years old :( guess I either need a good diet or another spring :(

jack straw mate, just went on spec. two chaps did it in 5 mins. best ring them first before 300 749s show up though:eureka:

Will give them a call first. I'm only 25 mile or so from K-tech so will give them a try when it's stops raining.

A new ohlins spring is about £70, K tech do their own version, its just as good i think. its only 4 bolts to drop the shock out once its jacked up. they'll set the tie rod at the same time, they have setup data for most bikes, its always worth taking tie rod apart and coppa slipping the threads on the adjustors, the ball joint near the end of the tie rod with a ring going round is left hand thread, this usually goes at the bottom near the swingarm.

i found i didnt need any new parts, just set up correctly.

There was a pretty good set up printed in MCN a while ago.I'll see if I can dig it out.
When I had the 999bip,I found the rear shock was damn near perfect for me as std.I just added some ride height.After some experimenting,I settled for 2.5 turns of the ride height adjuster.
The front end had some preload taken out,...I have it written down somewhere,will look for it later.

I have the Section 8 settings but only in print. If you need these give me a U2U with your fax number
G

Couple of points, there are numerous rockers available across the ducati range, let alone stuff used for race.

There are also different stroke length rear shocks, even between a bp and mono.

The 749r rocker and tie rod was fitted as it is indeed the better track focussed set up, because of tougher homologation rules.
If you look in the ducati catalogue, this is now also sold as an upgrade kit, including the shorter stroke shock!

rather than talking about tie rod lengths, we should concentrate on using the datum tool, that is the only real way of making a comparison between bikes.

Incidentally every time we adjust a chain, blow a tyre up it has the potential to alter the ride height.............best get checking!

I'm running standard setup on my '04 749S but I've dropped the forks one ring.

Works for me on the road...

Rear ride height is usually used to alter head angle so for really accurate settings I'd suggest using a fork angle gauge, we do this for our DH race bikes, means you can allow for any changes in sag, front/rear ride height tyres etc and get an accurate setting with rider on bike although only at standstill. A datum tool isn't that much use , it was needed on the single sided bikes but has little relevance on the 999 where the height doesn't alter by the same amounts when the chain is adjusted, adjusting the chain on a 999 slightly alters the amount of rear wheel travel and the leverage ratio as well . The relationship between tie bar length and actual ride height remains constant (bar the small variation for that) 1 turn equates to 1.5mm and at about 1.8:1 giving or taking the small variations in progression means you'll alter rear ride height by approx 2.7mm for every turn. Accurate enough for me anyway given that wearing different clothes is going to cause 1 or 2mm more or less sag.

I wasn't aware of any different stroke lengths between mono and bip, wonder which models and by how much?? i thought they all ran 71mm stroke shocks (bar 749R) and the spring weight varied??

the 749R also has a completely different pivot point and has sheer bolts to limit wheelbase length it has a 56mm stroke shock, different rocker much higher leverage ratio and is more linear which is why it ran that different linkage and tie ba. most designs aim to keep a lower ratio as it involves more shaft travel for a given bump size which is easier to control , it would be a track thing as you don't get the same variations in road surface or conditions as road.

the ohlins home page reveals all on stroke length........

the ducati parts page shows how many different rockers there are.

a piccie of the difference between a 999r and a 749r rocker

er, i can't see it all i can find is that its DU301, 71 mm stroke on all bikes?? can you post a link Andy, i'd like to add the parts to the spreadsheet I've just compiled.

According to the parts fiches there are 4 rockers, 1 specific to 749R , all 05 and 06 bikes other than 749R all use the same rocker ( as did 04 999R). the other 2 rockers share almost the same part number and mix between 03/04 models seemingly without reason, its not linked to bip or S or non S.

the 749R is radically different, be interested to see the differences between the other rockers, as they all have the same maximum tie bar length in the manual it can't be much.

its been useful, I've got a spreadsheet of the rockers and models together so can now see which rocker went on each bike, I'd like to get parts drawings as well to see what it all actually means though :D :D

Also in the parts book they do a rocker with two holes for the tie rod! a sort of soft/race option!

Ill look for the page again.........