Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > 998 / 996 / 916 / 748 > Help with more comfort for a taller rider.

[antonye]

Here's a pic of my screen

[Wulfie]

Originally Posted by skidlids

Not sure if Wulfie has any mods as he's a tall guy, makes his 748 look like a mini-moto

Cheers Kevin,

No I haven't made any mods at all, I am 6ft 4in so pretty tall, and I'm no spring chicken at 43. I suffered initially with discomfort across the shoulders and wrist ache too, but I have managed to work most of it out by altering the way I sit on the bike and how I ride, might sound weird but it works.
The biggest thing I changed was to relax a lot more riding the bike, bend your arms and basically flop onto the tank (or that's what it feels like) and have a light a grip as possible on the bars, sometimes I only use the throttle with 2 fingers which helps loads with the shoulder and kneck aches and pains.
Funnily enough I had a Fireblade previously and also fitted a double bubble in the hope that it would deflect the wind over the top, but instead of hitting me in the chest it hit me straight in the face, which makes me believe a screen won't be the answer. I always ride on the balls of my feet which actually increases the severity of the bend in the leg, but if you push your arse right back to the stop it kinda helps too. Other things I do, clutchless up shifts as much as possible to reduce the number of times I have pull the clutch in, get into neutral as often as possible at traffic lights etc and sit straight up for as long as I can, ride round towns not through them and when on a long ride absolutely hammer it so you get there quicker just joking
Recently ridden to the welsh coast and back in 1 day, with no issues that was nearly 10 hours in the saddle.
Hope some of that helps, works for me

Cheers

Chris

[skidlids]

Originally Posted by Wulfie

but if you push your arse right back to the stop it kinda helps too.

My Mate Adrian who raced my bikes at the TT although a couple of inches under 6' always rode with a thick piece of foam stuck to the back of the tank to help push him back in the seat, helped him deal with 4 laps of the Island with average lap speeds of around 115mph so about 80 minutes flat out. So probably works for some people

[r15suk]

Thanks for the all the advice here, there are clearly a number of things that i can try. Obviously i'll try the cheapest first :-)

cheers
Simon