2 up better? - Ducati.ms

JFB1973 · May 22nd, 2011, 1:28 pm

Went for the first real ride with the missus and a tank bag, had to keep up with 5 multistadas on this 2 day ride. I had this feeling before but was not sure, now I can confirm riding with my wife makes the bike handle like a dream, usually I have no feeling in turns and I am always wondering where the bike is at, I don't feel the road through the suspension, 2 up all changed, I had a blast, more confident, I can feel the road and feel what is happening, now the question is how can I get the bike to talk to me the way it does 2 up? Can anyone solve this riddle?
Thx

krisnet55 · May 22nd, 2011, 4:43 pm

Gain some weight?

All joking aside, you may want to look at changing ur front springs and depending on ur weight maybe even the rear. After that set up ur suspension.

This is what im gonna do tomorrow.

Cheap front fork fix!

Decreasing Dave · May 22nd, 2011, 5:13 pm

You just need to take a look at how it was compared to how it is. With your wife on the back, you had more weight to the rear and relied mostly on the shock vs. the forks. The front fork springs are under-sprung and vague. I'm one for running my suspension softer on the street but because of the light fork springs, it has caused my front end to be extremely numb. Once I tightened up the Compression and Rebound, I got more feel but at the expense of being over-damped, mostly due to the too light springs.

I would consider getting springs to match your weight and go from there.

Kristnet, did you get your springs already??

They haven't even charged my card yet and I ordered mine a few days before you. Something's wrong I think..

Dave

JFB1973 · May 23rd, 2011, 12:19 am

thanks for the replies, lots of space for jokes here i recon

.
anyways, I softened my suspension for road use when I got my bike 2 years ago, we have bumpy roads with ever changing conditions, I thought I'll have more feel, I will try to stifen it back to see the difference.
I want to make some changes to the fork first and see what I get, my problem is that we have nothing locally, i have to ship in everything and don't want to do the wrong thing.

Decreasing Dave · May 23rd, 2011, 12:58 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by JFB1973

thanks for the replies, lots of space for jokes here i recon

.
anyways, I softened my suspension for road use when I got my bike 2 years ago, we have bumpy roads with ever changing conditions, I thought I'll have more feel, I will try to stifen it back to see the difference.
I want to make some changes to the fork first and see what I get, my problem is that we have nothing locally, i have to ship in everything and don't want to do the wrong thing.

Understood, but unless you weigh around 140lbs, the spring is wrong for you anyway. However, I am 205lbs so I'm not even close to being within the range of the stock spring (dyno'd at .66kg). The closer you weigh in toward 140-ish, the easier it will be for you to use the spring that Ducati supplied.

If you don't change the spring, you should change the oil to 5wt from the stock 7.5wt. This will allow you to get within the damping range with the stock spring. If you weigh what I do, and consequently require the spring weight that I do, then you would be ok with the 7.5wt oil as you will need the viscosity to tame the heavier spring through the stock valving.

Another plus to changing the fork oil is that rarely have any two fork legs had the same air gap (space between top of oil and top of fork tube when fully collapsed and spring in). Which means that each fork, hypothetically, has a different range than the other and that can't be good for consistency or feel.

Dave

freeflydive · May 23rd, 2011, 1:12 am

I'm not familiar with your bike's suspension, but I had a problem w/ my 1198's handling...I had the suspension set up (SAG) for my weight and now handles amazingly well!

Where in Beirut do you live? I lived in West Beirut when I was kid (Abu Shaker neighborhood) until we moved to the US, in 1986. I want to visit one day to see how much the city has improved from how I remember it.

Cheers,
Majdi

JFB1973 · May 23rd, 2011, 4:54 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Decreasing Dave

Understood, but unless you weigh around 140lbs, the spring is wrong for you anyway. However, I am 205lbs so I'm not even close to being within the range of the stock spring (dyno'd at .66kg). The closer you weigh in toward 140-ish, the easier it will be for you to use the spring that Ducati supplied.

If you don't change the spring, you should change the oil to 5wt from the stock 7.5wt. This will allow you to get within the damping range with the stock spring. If you weigh what I do, and consequently require the spring weight that I do, then you would be ok with the 7.5wt oil as you will need the viscosity to tame the heavier spring through the stock valving.

Another plus to changing the fork oil is that rarely have any two fork legs had the same air gap (space between top of oil and top of fork tube when fully collapsed and spring in). Which means that each fork, hypothetically, has a different range than the other and that can't be good for consistency or feel.

Dave

thanks for the advice, I weight at 190lbs without gear, I will try and change the oil and take it to someone that can help me set up SAG correctly and see what happens.I don't mind buying springs if this would make much difference, I just need sort out where is the best and easiest for me.
cheers

JFB1973 · May 23rd, 2011, 5:04 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by freeflydive

I'm not familiar with your bike's suspension, but I had a problem w/ my 1198's handling...I had the suspension set up (SAG) for my weight and now handles amazingly well!

Where in Beirut do you live? I lived in West Beirut when I was kid (Abu Shaker neighborhood) until we moved to the US, in 1986. I want to visit one day to see how much the city has improved from how I remember it.

Cheers,
Majdi

Hey! I lived in West Beirut, funny enough till 1986 too, Mar Elias Area then we moved to East Beirut, now it is 1 big Beirut, no more East West... and it has changed a lot since then, completely different city, down town has been rebuilt, it is a busy city with many faces, really good night sceen, clubs and bars, good food... If you decide to come, PM me, maybe can hook you up with a bike and visit the South and North, well you have to leave your costume at home though...

Cheers

freeflydive · May 25th, 2011, 2:59 am

Yes, the "costume" will stay at home on the hanger ;-) I'm glad to hear that it's "just Beirut" now, vs west/east side...those were bad times and unfortunately it brought out the worst in "some" people while "most" suffered. I was fortunate that Mama and Baba were able to get us away, but part of me always wonders how it is now. I hope to visit in the next few years and hope ride through the mountains to Shturah! I'll let you know if you're still on the forum...have fun and stay in touch.

Salam,
Majdi

JFB1973 · May 25th, 2011, 4:29 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by freeflydive

Yes, the "costume" will stay at home on the hanger ;-) I'm glad to hear that it's "just Beirut" now, vs west/east side...those were bad times and unfortunately it brought out the worst in "some" people while "most" suffered. I was fortunate that Mama and Baba were able to get us away, but part of me always wonders how it is now. I hope to visit in the next few years and hope ride through the mountains to Shturah! I'll let you know if you're still on the forum...have fun and stay in touch.

Salam,
Majdi

Will hopelfully still be in the forum and in Lebanon for a while.
Yeah it was really bad times and like you said brought the worst out of some people, fortunatly my father was wise enough to keep us out of it too, although we lived it all and had couple of close calls... I was in Shturah this week end, slept there and had the best lunch and dinner and some nice riding!
Yalla don't be late.
Take care
Jihad.