How to make her more nimble - rake?
 

This weekend i went for a ride with the Duc.
Of course i still haven't really ride her properly (bike is still breaking in, tires still not scrubbed, the ride was not long, had to ride with traffic, etc....) but it was enough to make some conclusions..... i liked the overall feeling and especially the stability and how smooth the honlins suspension work.

One thing noticed was the bike is not as nimble as....... let's say the R1 or the MV. I already knew that and was expecting it but i want to make he more nimble when you enter a corner. I want the bike to flick with less effort from me.

So the questions is........ what to do?
I know that if i set up more rider height the front will be more reactive and more nimble.
But what will i get if i mess with the rake?
Have any of you set up the rake to 23,5º instead of the standard 24,5º ? What's the result? Have you done i for street use or just for track use?

Wow think you should ride it a lot more before Jumping in with the twidding (tires still not scrubbed in) every one talks about the responce to counter stearing give it a shove on the way in, next time your out.
have a go at seeing how fast you can get it from one slider to the other.
with a bit of effort in the bars. :saint:

Yup I agree.I would get a few more miles under its wheels first before twiddleing.
I assume you have set the suspension sag to suit your weight first?There is also the rear ride height to consider.Have a look at this thread;http://www.ducatisportingclub.com/xm....php?tid=17551
Fitting a 180 section rear tyre also helps.(assuming you have a 190 fitted)
I would'nt recommend altering the rake for road riding,(although someone is bound to disagree!;) ),fine for track days but you will find the bike gets a bit unstable on rougher roads.

[Edited on 5-4-2005 by KeefyB]

I had exactly the same thoughts as you when I first rode my bike. Felt it was too low at the back and the front suspension was too hard with too much pre-load. Now with nearly 900 miles on the bike the suspension is starting to soften up and work better than before. It is still fairly slow to steer but not as bad as it was. I'm going to have a chat with the dealer when it goes in for its first service on Saturday about perhaps raising the ride height a little to speed up the steering, trouble is that I now like the stability so only really want to speed up the initial turn in... so adjusting the rake would probably be a little too radical.

Suggest you give it 1000 miles to let everything settle down, and I suspect you will find a difference by that stage.

Thanks for the help and suggestions guys.

Yes, i wasn't going to mess up with rake or even rider heigh right now.
I'll put some miles into her before i do it, but i wanted some feedback from Ducati owners.
I haven't even setted up the sag for me, but i'll try to do it next weeked.

I think a 180 rear tyre is a good way to go, but i'll only do it when the ones i have there need to be replaced (and that will take a while)
Also giving her some more rear rider heigh might be the way to go IMO, since the bike is very stable by nature, so unless you add a LOTof heigh to the rear, i think stability will still be there.

One thing i love about the MV handling is that it's a very nibmle and easy to flick bike but yet soooooooo stable :D
It has the best of both worlds in that chapter. If it wasn't so heavy (when you're standing, because once you're moving you don't notice it that much) i would say it's the perfect bike.

Anyway...... i want to fine tune my Duc so she can be almost perfect for me ;)

First thing I did on the 999 was swap to a 180 rear as I had on my previous Ducati's.

Don't know what tyres you're going to be using out there, but get something with a steep profile to aid turning, some people swear by Super Corsa's etc, I've never got on with them always felt like I was fighting the bike into the corners, switched to 208GP's again and the thing falls into the corners for me at least

The L-twin layout of the motor does make for a long(ish) wheelbase, hence it will feel stable. I have a 749s that I have not really tweaked at all (suspension wise). It was set up by Italia in Lincoln and I reckon they did a pretty good job too. There is so much you can do with the damping, preload and ride height, plus the tyre profile as suggested above that I think you really ought to explore that before taking the fiarly radical step of altering the rake. oh, and a little couter-steering goes a long way!

Henry :burn:

Bin the honlins suspension and get a 180 rear tyre on :P

If you weigh more than 165 pounds with your gear on (who doesn't) have your dealer set your springs preload for the proper sag. This will raise the rear ride height and improve your steering quickness.


Wouldn't you think that Ducati would instruct their dealers to do this for you when they deliver a new bike?



[Edited on 4-5-2005 by Shazaam!]

thats the shortest post I've ever seen from your good self , are you ok ? :roll: