Suspension advice needed

[suzyj]

Dez, I'm not sure whether I love you or hate you.

You're a genius, but an evil one, I fear.

I just ordered a 999 shock (at this rate I fear I'm going to end up with a whole 999 rear end) on ebay - US$129, which works out to ~AU$200 including shipping at silly money.

Are you going to bar Italia next week?  If so I'd very much like to see how you did the crankcase breather mod, as there's no way the 999 shock will fit without losing the reservoir.

[Two dogs]

I usually work Thursday night's (just got home and read your post)
always wanted to go for a cuppa and hang out, have to be another time.
EVIL GENIUS? Im flattered LOL
well maybe you got the  part right.

[goldFiSh]

Matty's also done the mod Suzy, perhaps take a look at his bike on Thurs...
 
Be warned tho..... there's a lot of bling on his bike, and you may end up with more evil ideas... sometimes it's best not to look too close to other's bikes!

[ajw85]

Short answer

I think it was 749/999  Showa for $200  haven't been able to find the receipt from eurobrit but if you are really keen P.M. me and I will call them and ask exactly which bike it came from.

Getting a shock with the eye to eye length isn't the issue with the 695 ,matching leverage ratio so you get the correct spring rate can be done but getting one with the piggy back  at the correct angle was.
The 1098 OEM (plenty around as a lot of owners upgrade) looks on paper to bolt straight in but after reading on the main board that there are rear wheel clearance issues as it faces south I kept hunting.

There are so many different angle piggy backs the easiest would be I guess a remote like from an ST2.

The shock I went with has the reservoir at around 45 degres south west which fouls the frame tab for some of the wiring , as I installed a crankcase breather which removes lots of hosing and the big black reservoir box under the seat enabled me room to move most of the wiring under the seat.
The tab had to be bent down to fit the shock so I just cut mine off rust treated the cut and painted it .
Originally I had replaced the OEM spring with a heavier Ohlins $100 ish which did help a lot with firming up the ride and making it less wallowy but the improvement in handling with a shock with compression and rebound control was amazing.

There is a small bridge in a corner that I ride over on the way home from work that has a really bad dip which would previously make the bike unstable and be quite un nerving  now I cant even feel it even at high speed much safer

The ride heigh adjuster I got from fleabay US for $40 It was from another Ducati and out of the box was 30mm longer  so didn't have to wind out to much thread which apparently can make them fail as in snap if you hit a pothole only issue was it was nearly locked up completely and took a lot of work to crack it open so be aware when buying one that it is not corroded and locked up.

I wouldn't mind seeing how you mounted your rectifier, if you have any pictures of that off hand...

[Two dogs]

Hope this is of some help AJ and Suz
Very easy ghetto fix :
Originally I had planned to fab a bracket ,
but after securing it to the original hole for the crankcase breather resevoir (which I replaced with a K&N TPO kit)it felt very secure with no movement ,and it now has  unincumbered air flow .
Second photo is to show the tab I cut off to allow the shock piggy back to fit in the frame moving the wire loom up under the seat out of eyesight.

[suzyj]

This is very similar to what I'm planning, except that I'll probably make a plate to mount the regulator and coil to, using the existing mounts for the breather canister.

I was thinking flipping the regulator upside down and rotating it ninety degrees would probably be useful as well, so that it gets better airflow.

[suzyj]

Woohoo, my monoshock arrived.

Dez, it's not identical to yours, but it has the reservoir in the right place, and measures 305mm eyelet to eyelet.  From what I've read, that's the same length as my 695 one.  Mine allegedly came off an '04 999.

I have no idea what the spring rate is - I'll do a disassemble/clean/reassemble with new oil and work the rate out when I do that.

The main thing is it has adjusters for both compression and rebound

[monstermick58]

Suzy, it might help if you take your shock to Terry Hey or Frank Pons as they can re-gas it when you get the oil changed and they will be able to tell you if the spring is in the right range for you.






                                                   Mmick

[suzyj]

Cool.  For reference, the stock spring for a 999 appears to be 70 n/mm (7.14kg/mm), which will be way too light.  From what I've read, I'll be wanting something like 95 n/mm...

My desire to disassemble is strong (we use bottled nitrogen at work, so recharging isn't a problem - the main hard bit would be fabricating a tool for compressing the spring).

Dez, did yours need a revalve as well as the spring change, or was the spring change adequate?

[Two dogs]

Nah Motorcycle weaponary checked it out and no regas or valving needed .
MW have a spring compressor so it was an easy spring swap for me
 

[ajw85]

For dissassembly,
You can try putting it in a vice and loosening the preload adjusters all the way. If that works, then just remove the retaining spacer at the bottom and drop the spring out. If it doesn't work, then you're back to where you started, but it's worth a shot.

[suzyj]

Yay, I got the new shock on tonight, and just went for a ride.

Many thanks to Mike from Desmo Clinic for sourcing the spring for me - an Ohlins 01091-31/95, 95n/mm.

Getting the old spring off was really, really hard.  I bought a spring compressor thingy, and had to try a couple of times before I got it right and was able to compress it enough to get the collar off.  The new one is shorter, so was a lot easier to put on - I only needed to compress it a little.

It was a bit of a saga - the list of things I had to do was:

• Source a 999 Showa shock from ebay - $200.
• Buy a spring - $220.
• Get a crankcase breather kit from TPO (can't remember exact price, but ~$50).
• Fabricate a plate to put the rectifier/regulator and vertical cylinder coil on.
• Cut the mounting tab for the vertical coil to make room for the reservoir on the shock.
• Fit the crankcase breather and throw away the old plastic reservoir and hoses.
• Remove the old spring (really hard work) and fit the new one.
• Pull the old shock out and fit the new one in its place.
• Adjust preload to suit - I put in 16mm of preload, which gives me 42mm sag (13mm with me off the bike).  I'm thinking that once I swap to clipons, it'll come up just a tad to ~40mm.
• Adjust rebound and compression damping.  I went in 0.5 turns on rebound to compensate for the stiffer spring, but have thus far left the compression setting at the 999 stock setting.
• Go for a ride  [moto] and enjoy.  
  

Here's some photos:  The first is an overall shot:



Next detail of the shock and spring, also showing the cut coil mounting bracket:



And finally detail of the regulator/rectifier mounting:



The difference is amazing - well worth the effort, and then some.  The back end just feels really planted and sure.  It's literally like chalk and cheese.  Makes the stock front end feel dreadful in comparison.

Mark also got some shiny new Ohlins springs for my 998 forks, so soon (after sourcing clipons and boring my triple) I'll have the front sorted too

[Nickati]

Chick Ching !!!
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Bling !

[Two dogs]

Ahh umm sorry Suzy its all my fault isn't it 

but now wait until you drop it into a corner at speed 
and it will be all worth while
then home for a 

It really is the best thing I have done to my motorcycle ,
it really doesn't matter how many shinny blingy bits we cover a bike with to make it look better if at the end of the day it does not perform where its important.

Now whats next

[suzyj]

Now whats next

Well like Signora says, there's always something

I'm thinking a new seat and some new tyres, then some nice four-pot calipers and 320mm rotors, some diy carbon, then maybe new mufflers (I like the sound of Arrows), maybe an ECU upgrade, light weight battery, maybe a big bore kit (I have reason to keep my 695cc monster with the new CTP prices putting my bike in the same category as a 250  .