it is not as bad as i thought
 

hi guys i bought a 888 strada the one that was in MCN a few weeks ago and only saw it for half a hour before i had to retutn home to go away to work.I got back on friday and have been in the garage as much as poss ( 2year old son always wants to see the bikes), anyway it needs some work but it is not as bad as i first thought , i first thought it would be a full strip but dont think it need that just some TLC.
if i list the main problems feel free to let me know what you all think and any tips
1, convert to single seat from what i have read i think it will be Carbon F, tips
2, side stand alloy bit req i think the bike has been up the road as the lug has been ground off and the stand goes to far forward and you have to put some wood under the stand to get the angle right
3,REMUS exhausts fitted an it any good
4,air box to has been cut out why?
5,i am going to start to pull of the plastics some time this week so we will see what we find????

1.Single seat easy enough to fit,couple of brackets probably need making,bit of time to line everything up but no big hassle.You pays your money etc,but some of the "carbon" available is expensive rubbish,good idea to see the actual seat before you hand over the cash.
3.Remus exhausts ok,high level to go with a single seat?
4.Air box lid cut away to get more air in,common mod with K&N or similar filter.Not sure about performance gains,but the induction noise is music to the ears.
Easy to start with a "tidy up" in mind,end up with this.

Airbox mod is standard on 851/888/900ss/ST2/4/4S which all have the same restrictive airbox design, won't give you much at the top end but will fill in the mid range by quite a large amount, 5-6bhp.
I will let the 851/888 experts on here answer all the other questions.
Enjoy the bike, and welcome, now all you have to do is join.......

John

i am going to start on the seat unit this week but am i right in saying that if i fit a CF seat i will need to get a SP seat pad? is there a seat that fits with the strada seat pad? what about the fiberglass ones in ebay? or is it possible to plasti weld up the strada unit and make it work? any input would be great before i start to spend £££
cheers

Filling in the Strada seat wouldn't look so good in my opinion as well as ruining a practically irreplaceable set of plastics...

You can use the strada seat pad however with a glass fibre single seat unit. It involves cutting the seat unit in the right place to allow the seat pad to still contact the subframe. The seat unit then kind of fits around the seat. If you do it right then it looks as though it were made that way. Both AKA.Eric and myself did it that way with our Ricambi Weiss units (£55 ebay jobs http://snipurl.com/10qtb ).

Darren

Congrats on your new bike ! Here are some useful posts ref; single seat...

http://www.ducatisportingclub.com/sh...ht=single+seat

http://www.ducatisportingclub.com/sh...ht=single+seat

Before pic..

During...!

Agree with Fiscus. Don't weld the standard Strada plastics together whatever you do. Much better to wrap them up carefully and stick them up the loft so that you can return the bike to it's original condition if you ever sell it.

I've considered the single seat thing as well and I've been umming and erring about CF versus GF, but when you weigh it up most of the carbon will be under paint anyway. The only 'benefit' to a carbon seat is that you can leave the carbon weave showing through if you want a number on it. Apart from that and a marginal weight saving, not much to be gained for spending the extra £200 odd quid (carbon seats go for £250 plus - then there's extra for painting).

So I've decided to go the GF route, then I'll have a bit of change to do something else with.

Anyhow, I'm going down the performance mods first route with a bit of extra braking bling and suspension work first...the cosmetics can wait.

And after !!!

OK looks like i will forget about the carbon fiber and go for a glass fiber one but what one is the best ? there seems to be lots to pick from? is it easy to get old SP seat pads i want to get it covered in something diffrent from the normal maybe red leather.
if you had to do the single seat thing again what one would you pick and why?

Theres not much in it to be honest..mines QB GF but some of the lads have the ricambi one and recommend those too...

It is possible to buy the SP seat pads,had mine from Germany.But,I found it to be a better job to use the Strada seat pad,your weight is then on the frame not the seat unit.Fitting involves cutting the seat unit,but its straight forward enough and no worries about stress cracks!.If you would like any pics just shout.

any pictures would be great

The Ricambi seat mould is taken from a race seat,so there isnt access to the underseat area (unless you cut a hole out),on the plus side,it helps to produce a stronger seat.

To use the Strada seat pad,a section is cut out of the seat unit.

The seat pad then fits as per a Strada,your body weight is on the frame not the seat unit.Once the seat is bolted on,its impossible to remove the pad.The fixings have to be removed which allows the front wings/side panels to move apart,seat pad can then be removed.

Two brackets(mounting holes already there) hold the unit at the required height/postion,rubber washers keep the vibrations at bay.I welded a nut under the bracket,seat then bolts on

Foam keeps the vibrations down at the back edge.

The end result.

thanks for all the input.
it looks like the QB and the Rimcambi are all copys of a race seat and all need some work somewhere to get a good resuilt but i have seen the picture of the sandbar seat unit and it looks like a 100% copy of the SP seat has any one fitted one and what do you think

Any single seat will require a certain amount of fitting,unless you use an SP subframe.I looked at a Sandbar seat amongst others.....you pays your money....

I have a new, genuine SPO single seat subframe going spare if your interested. A bit expensive, I'll warn you in advance.

Rgds,

Rob

Hello, i'm interested in the subframe. can you pm me pease. Cheers

Nat....that's gorgeous m8 !