A New Panigale Track Bike Build

jarelj said:

Click to expand...

Jarel,

I would love to see inside of your bike hauler. It looks great!

Here's the end of season wrap-up for my "hybrid" X99 Panigale project: The verdict........ SUCCESS!!

The summary if you didn't want to read through the entire thread was that I started with my 2014 899 Panigale that I ran on the track last year, tore it completely apart last winter, and built a new bike out of it using a 2013 1199R engine, full Mupo suspension, and the Magnetti-Marelli SRT full superbike electronics package.

Starting the season with it, things were difficult. The electronics package was flawless right out of the box, so no issues there. The problem was with the chassis combination of the shorter wheelbase 899 chassis combined with the excess horsepower of the tuned 1199R engine. The wheelbase was just too short to cope with that amount of power, and the bike was very unstable on the throttle. The magic solution to that problem, after many other changes made with limited success, was to lengthen the wheelbase (swingarm) by 13mm. That was accomplished by milling out the axle slot on the swingarm to allow it to go back farther. After that, the stability went from borderline terror to "normal" big bike front end lightness. That was about mid-season, and I then spent the last half of the season doing final tweaking on the suspension, gearing and tires.

The last great stride with the bike was switching to the Pirelli Superbike Slicks. The combination of that tire, along with the Mupo superbike forks, gave a better feel on corner entries and allowed me to pick up some entry speed. Telemetry data shows that I have higher entry speeds now on the "big" bike than I had last year on the 899 with Ohlins TTX25 gas cartridges in the Showa 899 forks. That's pretty awesome to have higher entry speed with the larger engine bike, it's the "holy grail" of sorts, a "big" bike that turns like a "small" bike.

The end result: 1/2 second faster than I've ever gone around my home track, besting my previous personal record from 2010 on my very well set up 848 race bike with a built motor. 1:39.1 yesterday and prior best was 1:39.6, and the track was in WAY better shape back then, it's much bumpier and has less grip now after being completely flooded in 2011 during the catastrophic Missouri river floods of that year. For me, the best part is that the bike is very easy to ride and I was able to achieve that lap time riding very far below the limit, I never revved the engine over 11k rpm and was relaxed and not "pushing", just concentrating on running a clean line and being smooth. Here are yesterday's lap times:

TrackAddix Transponder Lap Times

Great way to end the season, and now will be working on a few more mods for next year including installing the MAC radiator kit to keep the temps down a bit, and revising the valving in the forks to get a little more movement under braking. Really looking forward to next season, this will be the first time in many years that I'll be starting the season on the same bike I ended the previous season with.

Great!!
Did you ever weight your bike?
What do you think makes the X99 easier to ride than a 1199?

Gecko said:

Great!!
Did you ever weight your bike?
What do you think makes the X99 easier to ride than a 1199?

Click to expand...

Yes, 357 lbs. sans fuel. It still has a shorter wheelbase than an 1199/1299. That was really the whole point of it from the beginning, running the big motor with a shorter wheelbase and steeper rake of the 899 to optimize it for my home tracks which are mid-sized tracks where corner speed really matters. They're not "horsepower" tracks and guys on 600's routinely run as fast as comparable riders on liter bikes. It was always the same for me, I was just as fast or faster on my 749/848/899 bikes as I was on my 1098/1198/1199's. There are only a couple straights on the track where the power of the bike bike is useful, but in the typical tradeoff you give up the agility with the big bike and you lose a little corner speed in exchange for the stronger drive. I wanted to try to get both.

As far as it being easier to ride than my 1199 was, besides the greater agility from the shorter wheelbase, the electronics also are a factor. They are just so good, all of the systems work flawlessly and I was able to remap the throttle to give a softer initial delivery from 0-10% throttle which really helped mid-corner stability when going off-on throttle. Everyone knows how "touchy" the Panigale throttle is in Race mode, this is just way better.

Did you think of installing linear potentiometers to your suspension (like the ones from the original ducati superstock aquisition kit)? I'm pretty sure your electronics would support it's input...

Your bike is AAAWWWEEESSSOOOMMMEEE! 162 kg is cool!

Gecko said:

Did you think of installing linear potentiometers to your suspension (like the ones from the original ducati superstock aquisition kit)? I'm pretty sure your electronics would support it's input...

Your bike is AAAWWWEEESSSOOOMMMEEE! 162 kg is cool!

Click to expand...

Yes it already has potentiometers on the front fork and rear shock, that was part of the electronics kit. The front potentiometer is used as part of the algorithm for the wheelie control function, and it actually anticipates a wheelie based upon velocity of the front fork extending and can prevent it before it event happens, much more accurate than a typical wheelie control function that uses front wheel speed or an accelerometer only. The rear potentiometer is not used in any of the electronics strategies, it's purely for data collection/analysis purposes. It was very integral in figuring out the wheelbase issue I was having, since it showed the lack of squat in the rear during hard acceleration.

Long time with no updates on the bike, finally have some progress to report! The MAC full Superbike radiator and oil cooler kit is now installed, I'm looking forward to much lower operating temps this year! Also had full service done, even after 30 track days last year there was not a single valve that needed adjusting. I chalk that up to the fact that I never rev it to redline.

I have been using the same radiator it works excellent

wilkson said:

I have been using the same radiator it works excellent

Click to expand...

Do you know how much of a temp drop you achieved with it?

jarelj said:

Do you know how much of a temp drop you achieved with it?

Click to expand...

On a hot day when a standard bike set up is running at 100 my bike will generally be about 15 degrees cooler .
This is a must for anyone racing a Panigale IMO .

Jarel would love more feedback on the mupo I plan on switching to it here in a month or two

zohsix01 said:

Jarel would love more feedback on the mupo I plan on switching to it here in a month or two

Click to expand...

I have done the same with my bike . I have always used a Ohlins set up on my previous bikes but to me the Mupo has been faultless .
After initial set up on the Mupo I have so much confidence in the bike .

wilkson said:

On a hot day when a standard bike set up is running at 100 my bike will generally be about 15 degrees cooler .
This is a must for anyone racing a Panigale IMO .

Click to expand...

That would be great! I was seeing 115-120 coming off the track on hot days, so definitely needed to do something so I don't blow a head gasket.

zohsix01 said:

Jarel would love more feedback on the mupo I plan on switching to it here in a month or two

Click to expand...

It's great quality stuff, just takes a bit more fiddling since there's not a large body of knowledge on the setup like there is for Ohlins.

Jarel - I just bought the same van (ford transit) and would also love to see the inside of yours and how you have it set up. Mind taking a few pics?

Here is the inside on my Ford Transit. I'll be moving things around to add an additional TRS system to accommodate the new bike.

derblott said:

Jarel - I just bought the same van (ford transit) and would also love to see the inside of yours and how you have it set up. Mind taking a few pics?

Click to expand...

Nothing special in mine, it's just wide open, haven't gotten around to installing any built-ins or anything. It has the rubberized floor and the black side wall covers, and 6 D-rings on the floor in the corners. I use Condor wheel chocks on the floor and CargoBuckle retracting tie-down straps to secure the bikes.

Ljuice26 said:

Here is the inside on my Ford Transit. I'll be moving things around to add an additional TRS system to accommodate the new bike.

Click to expand...

No problems with the rubbermaid baskets coming off the rails when you go over a large bump Leon? We have those in our race trailer and a couple times on large bumps we had the baskets flip up and detach. I no longer put anything heavy in them.

Leon - sweet van! What size is your transit? And what are those bars across each side that all of the hooks and such are mounted to?

jarelj said:

No problems with the rubbermaid baskets coming off the rails when you go over a large bump Leon? We have those in our race trailer and a couple times on large bumps we had the baskets flip up and detach. I no longer put anything heavy in them.

Click to expand...

Jarel, I don't put anything heavy in the baskets. Boots, tire warmers, gloves anything small and light weight. They gave never come down.

derblott, the bars are the ruberrmaide track system.