Ducati Sporting Club UK > DesmoDue Race Series > DesmoDue - General Questions and Chat > The Desmo Due Weigh In

[Ray]

Corner weight scales........hmmm you can have hours of endless fun messing up suspension settings with them. Usually done with the driver etc on board

Not seen much overt measurement of similar techniques (with the obvious differences due to one pair of wheels less!!) in bike racing?

Maybe front rear weight bias tuning with the rider on board is done behind closed garage doors?

Ray

[skidlids]

MOT stations do it slightly different as in they only use one set of scales, these are usually set into the floor so that they are the same height as the floor. Then they wheel the front wheel on take a reading then the rear wheel and take a second reading and them add them together.
When using a single set of scales it is important to have them level with the surface the other wheel is sat on other wise you could be adding a bias to the process, if the scales are set lower then the bike will read over its true weight and if they are set higher it will come in lighter than it really is.

A set of scale under each wheel eliminates this chance of error.
Using two scales dead flat will also give you the weight bias of the bike and if you raise one set a known height above the other the figures can be used to calculate the bikes centre of gravity (CoG)

[Ghost]

Originally Posted by skidlids

MOT stations do it slightly different as in they only use one set of scales, these are usually set into the floor so that they are the same height as the floor. Then they wheel the front wheel on take a reading then the rear wheel and take a second reading and them add them together.
When using a single set of scales it is important to have them level with the surface the other wheel is sat on other wise you could be adding a bias to the process, if the scales are set lower then the bike will read over its true weight and if they are set higher it will come in lighter than it really is.

A set of scale under each wheel eliminates this chance of error.
Using two scales dead flat will also give you the weight bias of the bike and if you raise one set a known height above the other the figures can be used to calculate the bikes centre of gravity (CoG)

Only in the X direction the Z direction is quite complex.

[skidlids]

Thanks to everybody that took part
There was certainly a wide range of bike weights, 7 Class A bikes were weighed long with 20 Class B bikes, two classics, a 1098 and Sam West's M600 standard road bike.
Class A ranged from 183kg down to 156.1kg with Steve41 taking the bottle of bubbly for the lightest.
Class B ranged from 186.7kg down to 157.6kg, with Dallas having the lightest bike in class and Rosco572 taking the prize for heaviest overall.

Other bikes weighed

Sam's 600 Monster road bike 187.6kg
1098 race bike 170kg
Classic Lansdowne Racer 138.8kg


After the weigh in I stuck my bike on the Dyno (at a cost of £25) where it recorded all of 55bhp and with its weight of 173kg I have quite a lot of work to do if I ever want it to be a competitive

[injected]

Thanks for doing that Kev - any chance you could publish the list to serve as a snapshot of where bikes started the season? If not, can you PM me my bike's weight for my records? I remember it was heavy, but not HOW heavy!

[skidlids]

Hi Guy, it was good to meet you at last and you were riding well, which made it harder for me to pass you as I worked my way through the field from my 27th place on the grid.

Weights
if people are happy to have the weighs of their bikes known add your name to the list and I will fill in the weight, also let me know if you would like the splt front & rear, I have been asked in certain quarters not to just publish a spread sheet with the results.

No record was made of any fuel levels so only you know what you had in the tank at the time of the weigh in.

skidlids Fr 86 Rr 87 Total = 173kg
Injected Total = 167.1kg

[NBs996]

I'll leave it to Craig if he wants it published, but OMFG, how did I manage any decent results with such a porker of a bike!
Some carbon fibre on order I think...