Ducati Monster Forum

I recently installed a Nichols flywheel on my bike and loved the results.  I really like how quickly the engine spins up now.  I'd like to look into other places to remove rotating engine mass without going too crazy.  Is there anything else that can be done easily?

Remove the pistons.... They're just dead weight....



















































[laugh]

The only other "easy" part there is the clutch. It may be "easy" but it's not gonna be cheap.

If you start going deeper into the engine, you can do the primary gears http://tinyurl.com/5jzxhx , but again that's not gonna be easy or cheap.

As the old expression goes "speed costs money, how fast you wanna go?"  ;)

Now, wheels is a whole nother story and well worth the investment... lighter there will pay BIG dividends everywhere else. Again, that's not gonna be cheap. But it's pretty easy.

Wheels - Carbon. ;D   Its not the mass that matters but inertia of the mass e.g. its rotating diameter and acceleration.

 

Aluminum clutch basket and aluminum frictions are indeed about as far as it goes in the 'easy' department, not too expensive.
Depending on which bike you have, you may already have 'em.

There are lightened primary gear sets as Cromo mentioned, but they're definitely not cheap.

Thanks guys.  It looks like wheels might be the only other thing worth looking at.  I hear a set of magnesium wheels or BST CF wheels makes a huge difference.  Those will be a ways off with that kind of price tag though.

I got lucky and picked up a full aluminum clutch (basket, hub, plates) from a 999 with less than a 100 miles for $400 on ebay.  It made a nice difference.

Maybe you'll get lucky too.

If you are going to split the cases for a rebuild or stroke, it makes sense to lighten/knife the crank, and lighten all the rotating parts inside as well.  I've seen/heard/ridden a bike that had ~7 lbs removed from the lower rotating assembly.  Revved like a pissed off 2 stroke  ;D