999shock conversion for S2R1000

[He Man]

Alright, made some spare cash today selling scrap metal, so after monstermash confirmed that the 999showa shock fits on my 06 S2R1000 i just have a few questions before i buy that ebay shock.

a)I am 160lbs geared up, ducati states that the springs are suited for my weight (but i think we all know thats a lie) so would i benefit from an aftermarket spring? or is the spring fine and i can just slap the 999 shock directly onto my bike and just get it setup for me?

b) I only assume that the 999 stock showa is better than my Sachs shock, how much of an improvement am i going to see here? Ofcourse its not going to be a penske/matris/ohlins type deal, but i assume its still much better than the sachs.

c) I want to take this oppritunity to change the color of my shock, what would be the best way to do this? Would it be practical to strip and PC the spring? or shoudl i just buy another spring in the right color? (i want either black/blue/orange/red, ideally orange or red)

d) The shock i want to purchase on ebay is of an 02 999, they guy doenst know if the bike was tracked or not, but im thinking it should be serviced with new fluids and nitro, thoughts? Does anyone have a 999 shock they want to sell?

Thanks in advance.

[moto]

PENSKE Shock: 749

[55Spy]

If you are talking about rebuilding the showa read this first

http://www.ducati.ms/forums/showthread.php?t=46688

And then save up for an ohlins or penske.

[TAftonomos]

Call some REAL suspension people, before you listen to a guy who couldn't get the spring off......

No doubt the Ohlins or Penske is better.....and about 1K out of your pocket too.

[He Man]

PENSKE Shock: 749

wanna discount it 90% off. 

Seriously though, i cant afford a penske right now. and 555spy, That thread isnt that informative, theres 1 guy who pointed out that rebuilding a showa is the worst idea ever, but i dont know why that would be true. A valve and fluid/gas change is ~300 bucks. majority of which i can do myself, all id need is a tank of nitrogen. And its a showa, they come stock on S4R, all the SBK ranges that are not S or R models and the Hypermotard. Plus my showa forks after they were rebult with racetechs are SWEET AS HELL and made riding 10x more fun.

So since most people have never done this mod, and Monstermashs 1098shock on his S2R1000 was "lightyears better than stock Sachs' then the 999 showa should be just as good.

But i still need to know, should i buy a new spring? or can i stick with the one i have? I assume the 999 is sprung for the same weight as all Ducatis are, aka 160lbs, which is perfect since that is my weight geared up. So is there a real benefit to getting an Ohlins Spring rated for 160lbs? I wil be stripping the paint of this spring, and PC'ing it, will the oven baking be fine for the spring?

[TAftonomos]

Only way to really know if to install it, set the sag up, and go ride it.  The 999 rocker and the monster rocker appear to be identical, so it should be in the ballpark.

The 999 spring rate is different from those bikes that were monoposto to bi-posto

[He Man]

Only way to really know if to install it, set the sag up, and go ride it.  The 999 rocker and the monster rocker appear to be identical, so it should be in the ballpark.

The 999 spring rate is different from those bikes that were monoposto to bi-posto

I assume they didnt mark the spring rate on the spring.  since i cannot find it on my current sachs.

[Ducatiloo]

Wont the external reservoir hit the sss?

[55Spy]

I didn't know what the price of the shock you were looking at was, but figured it was a bit less than the penske/ohlins and that there was going to be an rebuild cost of a few hundred bucks, and if that was the case you might only be $200 short of the ohlins and that is a huge jump in performance for aonly a bit more scratch

I didn't mean by pointing you to another thread on the topic that it was "The" answer, it was just more info. 

I've gone through shock rebuilds on my offroad bikes and they can make quite a difference, but never as much as going up in quality of the whole component.

[Monstermash]

d) The shock i want to purchase on ebay is of an 02 999, they guy doenst know if the bike was tracked or not, but im thinking it should be serviced with new fluids and nitro, thoughts? Does anyone have a 999 shock they want to sell?

 Did I miss something? I had no idea they made a 999 in 2002.   

 He Man, can you post a link to the Ebay auction please?

[He Man]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2002-Ducati-999-Rear-Showa-Shock-and-Linkage_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ35592QQihZ012QQitemZ220170398535QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V the item has 12k miles on it with the 02 999.

I did some research, in 2002 999 was introduced to the US market, for sale in the end of 02. 999S and 999R came in 03 nad 04 and production continued until 2006. Though i can find no indication of an 02 999. :/ but i did find this pic.

[He Man]

Quick question, is the 2004 S4R showa rear shock the same showa in the 04 999?

[Monstermash]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2002-Ducati-999-Rear-Showa-Shock-and-Linkage_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ35592QQihZ012QQitemZ220170398535QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V the item has 12k miles on it with the 02 999.

I did some research, in 2002 999 was introduced to the US market, for sale in the end of 02. 999S and 999R came in 03 nad 04 and production continued until 2006. Though i can find no indication of an 02 999. :/ but i did find this pic.

 I was just kidding. I KNOW Ducati didn't make a 999 in 02. At least not for the U.S. market. It may be different in Europe.

 The 999 was introduced in 2002 to the U.S. market as an 03 MY. Check any of the DP cataloges and you'll see no mention of any parts or accessories for an 02 999 because they didn't exist. They were still producing the 998 in 2002.

 If i were to guess, I would say that the shock is from an 02 998 and the listing is a typo, or just like amny of the ebay sellers, he may not know anything about Ducatis. 

[Monstermash]

Oh, It's just my opinion but that shock in the auction looks pretty beat up. If i were you I would wait for a better one to come along. For that price you won't have any trouble finding another one.

[He Man]

I emailed the guy and he says he has no info on the bike except it was taken of at 12K miles.

This being said, it is still a 5 year old shock. Mine looks as bad as that shock and its only 2 years old and 8K miles.

But if u think that shock isn't in good condition ill take ur word for it.

Ebay also has a 749 showa shock. 03 with 9k miles on it. (On my blackberry so I can t link u guys)

Its a bit more pricey and out of my range ( 180 shipped) I was thinking of a rebuild for the shock, but from the looks of it, I can do it myself if I just had something to refrence. So the cost would only be parts. (Race tech valves are 169 and o ring set+ fluid would be another 50.) So it would be about 350 before I can get the shock on the bike if I can find a shock for $120ish That's about 500 shy of a penske (if I'm lucky)

That's a lot more than in up for at the momment. But could I go with just droping the shock in and tuning it? If there is still a significant increase in performance at that point, I would just do that since my riding style just doesn't justify a new aftermarket suspension ( plus I'm paying for college myself at this point)