After 8 years is the electronic suspension still worth the money?

Vicati said:

…Going to go back to recovering and working. Peace.

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Also, just in case you’re not aware of the potential legal consequences of crashing while riding so fast:

“Causing serious bodily injury or death results in 2nd degree felony charges, and your sentence can be up to 20 years of imprisonment and $10,000 fine. Multiple 2nd degree street racing convictions can lead to life in prison.”


From:

KarlKani said:

oi mate when the C H A S S Y got proper unsaddled you were no longer gonna take the win

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D’oh!

Sorry bro your damper didn’t fail. Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better though.

Even if it did that’s not the cause of your crash. A failing damper wouldn’t cause a wreck.

brad8266 said:

Sorry bro your damper didn’t fail. Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better though.

Even if it did that’s not the cause of your crash. A failing damper wouldn’t cause a wreck.

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Do you even ride bikes ? Lmaooo wobble can cause the whole bike to loose STABILITY. Who disagrees with me is a joke.

Vicati said:

Do you even ride bikes ? Lmaooo wobble can cause the whole bike to loose STABILITY. Who disagrees with me is a joke.

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I do, and clearly better than you do since you can’t handle head shake at high speed yet blame the damper for your lack of riding ability. I fight head shake everyday I’m at the track, both in straight lines and corner exit, just more skilled in dealing with it than you are. The best part of my riding is my ability to save myself from situations most would crash in ie.. tank slappers and sudden chassis instability. Point is the damper is not at fault for your accident regardless of whether it was working or not.

Hope you heal up ok

Mick1976 said:

After 8 years the wiring harness's are still a disaster from the factory so with the DES its more .... to fail and its why everyone that knows anything about these bikes stay away from that mess.

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Best post here, and all in all the FACT/TRUTH of the matter,

electronics suspension is cool, you can change things on the fly but there is no fail safety no memory, as soon as it stops receiving the constant electrical signal, it resets to the softest setting and that’s because Ducati, aftermarket Ohlins a lot different and a lot better built then stock oem.

mechanical is better in the sense it’s more reliable hands down I’ve both the 1299s aniversario & 1299s, so I speaking with experience, my anniversario had aftermarket Ohlins mechanical dampener never an issue, my 1299s just rode it with electronics and it failed catastrophically, regardless of setting, or parameters or location it shouldn’t have failed.

so if you can avoid the S model, plus with they 8K more you pay you could get with @Mick1976 or @cycler and buy lighter stronger wheels, ceramic bearings, Ohlins suspension, filter & exhaust. Many options these guys provide..

Enjoy the ride.

^^ agree with that. I have electronics but run it in fixed mode for this reason so that if it fails it won’t flip out. If I had to do it again I’d of went base model, even as much as I enjoy being able to adjust fixed damping right from the dash.

brad8266 said:

I do, and clearly better than you do since you can’t handle head shake at high speed yet blame the damper for your lack of riding ability. I fight head shake everyday I’m at the track, both in straight lines and corner exit, just more skilled in dealing with it than you are. The best part of my riding is my ability to save myself from situations most would crash in ie.. tank slappers and sudden chassis instability. Point is the damper is not at fault for your accident regardless of whether it was working or not.

Hope you heal up ok

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Oh .... you must be a pro racer? Uh what race org do you race for? I mean I don’t know who I’m talking to on here I don’t know a lot of you guys except Mick & Endodoc because we’ve exchange bike info and data. Questions about little things here & there.

I didn’t know this, maybe we atta run it in Cota when I’m healed up.
Thanks for the good hopes.
And yeah I had my suspension at fixed, it was not only the dampener it was the suspension as well, see the thing is if the electrical signal is lost the damping goes with it, the pins inside doesn’t have the sígnal to hold fixed position.

also just FYI I was dealing with a lot of wobble before on this bike on track and on street, we kept tweaking suspension, but still did it that’s why I had Ohlins service the whole thing, I can deal with wobble but it’s annoying and slows you down a lot when you go for track times, I even replaced map sensors on my 1299s because it like to shut off randomly at idle even tho when the Ducati master tech locked at it, it never reported an issue, like Mick said E suspension is just something else to go bad.

Vicati said:

Oh .... you must be a pro racer? Uh what race org do you race for? I mean I don’t know who I’m talking to on here I don’t know a lot of you guys except Mick & Endodoc because we’ve exchange bike info and data. Questions about little things here & there.

I didn’t know this, maybe we atta run it in Cota when I’m healed up.
Thanks for the good hopes.
And yeah I had my suspension at fixed, it was not only the dampener it was the suspension as well, see the thing is if the electrical signal is lost the damping goes with it, the pins inside doesn’t have the sígnal to hold fixed position.

also just FYI I was dealing with a lot of wobble before on this bike on track and on street, we kept tweaking suspension, but still did it that’s why I had Ohlins service the whole thing, I can deal with wobble but it’s annoying and slows you down a lot when you go for track times, I even replaced map sensors on my 1299s because it like to shut off randomly at idle even tho when the Ducati master tech locked at it, it never reported an issue, like Mick said E suspension is just something else to go bad.

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So you clearly already had stability issues, likely unrelated to your damper. My point stands that it wasn’t the damper that caused you to crash. Probably not a good idea to be going 190 on the road knowing you already had stability issues, but hey what do I know I’m not a pro racer …

Likely won’t see me at COTA, try to keep to it the east coast.

Vicati, glad you were able to make it out of that wreck. I'd say you're more than a little lucky to be here if you actually came off at 190.

I think all of us are actually on your side, and dont want anyone to get hurt. That being said, instantly blaming the steering damper because you had a high speed tank slapper is extremely naive and convenient to pass the blame. Just another accident waiting to happen. Like others have said as well, even IF it did fail, it didn't cause the crash. How are you so positive it failed? Did you see the DES light in the .00001 seconds between the slapper and flying through the air? I've had a couple 100+ tank slappers on my 1299. In fact one of my steering stops is broken off from it. I didnt go home and blame the dampener. There's lessons to be learned.

You said you had the suspension completely serviced. Did you check the geometry afterwards?

I've seen the DES light many times over the 27k miles I've put on my bike. I'll agree with you there, mechanical is much more reliable. When the DES light comes on, I honestly dont feel a ton of difference in the suspension and I dont cruise along at 50 either. I dont claim to know how the suspension works in failure mode, but from my experience it doesn't go to softest settings. If you think about it, it would only make sense it would stay in the mode it was in at the time of failure especially if you already have it in fixed mode.

Get well, learn from it, and maybe hire a forensics team to really find out what happened.

Ryfly05 said:

Vicati, glad you were able to make it out of that wreck. I'd say you're more than a little lucky to be here if you actually came off at 190.

I think all of us are actually on your side, and dont want anyone to get hurt. That being said, instantly blaming the steering damper because you had a high speed tank slapper is extremely naive and convenient to pass the blame. Just another accident waiting to happen. Like others have said as well, even IF it did fail, it didn't cause the crash. How are you so positive it failed? Did you see the DES light in the .00001 seconds between the slapper and flying through the air? I've had a couple 100+ tank slappers on my 1299. In fact one of my steering stops is broken off from it. I didnt go home and blame the dampener. There's lessons to be learned.

You said you had the suspension completely serviced. Did you check the geometry afterwards?

I've seen the DES light many times over the 27k miles I've put on my bike. I'll agree with you there, mechanical is much more reliable. When the DES light comes on, I honestly dont feel a ton of difference in the suspension and I dont cruise along at 50 either. I dont claim to know how the suspension works in failure mode, but from my experience it doesn't go to softest settings. If you think about it, it would only make sense it would stay in the mode it was in at the time of failure especially if you already have it in fixed mode.

Get well, learn from it, and maybe hire a forensics team to really find out what happened.

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Proper post! And language towards another fellow rider, respect. This is what I’m talking about, and yeah the master tech had the look and the night of the accident was my first ride with it, when it got tank slappers at that speed it was second maybe 2-3 when it threw me off, the entire bike wobbled that’s why, like I said previous post I been actively working towards solving the problem, I put a lot money in not only aftermarket parts but in maintenance too, the only thing that makes sense to me, is the electronics especially because it was giving some issues before, weeks before I had the bike shut on me & light Thew up DES ERROR light, Idk man, bike spent time with the experts. This is super wierd to me I’ve never had issues with my Panigale especially because I up keep them or keep up with the maintenance. I cut no corners with them. This is my passion and hobby so off work I try to make sure they’re good for when I ride them because I ride them. I think a forensics team is a solid idea for sure.

Just pulled an Ohlins e damper out of a bin and measured the resistance (un powered). The resistance is about the same as the manual damper set to min.

endodoc said:

Just pulled an Ohlins e damper out of a bin and measured the resistance (un powered). The resistance is about the same as the manual damper set to min.

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Do you know what it was set to before it was taken out?

on I-10 west out of houston I don't doubt someone trying could easily get an indicated 175. Like this for 10-15 miles at a time... and you can take the couple of turns at well over a 100.

brad8266 said:

^^ agree with that. I have electronics but run it in fixed mode for this reason so that if it fails it won’t flip out. If I had to do it again I’d of went base model, even as much as I enjoy being able to adjust fixed damping right from the dash.

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You can probably send your forks into Ohlins USA or a Ohlins dealer that repairs Ohlins products. Motorcycle Metal down in Florida is a certified Ohlins rebuilder. They can remove the electronic servo motor and install some sort of caps. You can either keep the lower line of the Nix30mm cartridges that come with the S model. Or install a the FKR cartridges. Is it worth it? Thats up to you.

Ryfly05 said:

Do you know what it was set to before it was taken out?

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No idea. I’m guessing (only a guess) that once power is removed it defaults to a “no load” condition. I don’t see it retaining it’s plugged in status but it might

cycler said:

You can probably send your forks into Ohlins USA or a Ohlins dealer that repairs Ohlins products. Motorcycle Metal down in Florida is a certified Ohlins rebuilder. They can remove the electronic servo motor and install some sort of caps. You can either keep the lower line of the Nix30mm cartridges that come with the S model. Or install a the FKR cartridges. Is it worth it? Thats up to you.

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definitely not worth messing around anymore with this bike. It’s plenty track worthy with the work I’ve already done on the suspension and other bits, which is working pretty well. Plus I have another bike I’m building from ground up for next race season, I’ll be pouring all the cash into that. Fortunately I have an ohlins service guy local to me that refreshes the shock and forks with quick turn around time.

Vicati said:

Oh .... you must be a pro racer? Uh what race org do you race for? I mean I don’t know who I’m talking to on here I don’t know a lot of you guys except Mick & Endodoc because we’ve exchange bike info and data. Questions about little things here & there.

I didn’t know this, maybe we atta run it in Cota when I’m healed up.
Thanks for the good hopes.
And yeah I had my suspension at fixed, it was not only the dampener it was the suspension as well, see the thing is if the electrical signal is lost the damping goes with it, the pins inside doesn’t have the sígnal to hold fixed position.

also just FYI I was dealing with a lot of wobble before on this bike on track and on street, we kept tweaking suspension, but still did it that’s why I had Ohlins service the whole thing, I can deal with wobble but it’s annoying and slows you down a lot when you go for track times, I even replaced map sensors on my 1299s because it like to shut off randomly at idle even tho when the Ducati master tech locked at it, it never reported an issue, like Mick said E suspension is just something else to go bad.

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@brad8266 wasnt trying to be an ass when he wrote about his riding abilities at the track and fighting head shakes. He was just pointing out that its not always the bikes fault. If a rider rides a bike beyond their abilities, then its a recipe for disaster. Someone can have all the best aftermarket upgrades on their bike. But unless they ride a lot in the streets to hone their skills. Or track their bikes and practice a lot (Im not talking about the rider who tracks their bike 3-8 a year) those upgrades wont mean squat if the rider cant handle the bike when they push it beyond their riding skills.

I would say my track and street riding skills are better than at least 40% of the forum members here. And that's not really saying much because I am far from an expert when it comes to track riding. I would say I am a lower to mid intermediate track rider even after all these years of tracking my bike. Thats because I dont practice enough or push myself like some of these guys do. I have nothing on guys like @endodoc @Blade Runner @Mick1976 @KarlKani @Team Gorgonzola @brad8266 . These are just some guys off the top of my head. I know I missed a lot of names. If I didnt list your name dont take offense. I bet if I gave these guys a base model 1299 or V4. And I rode my bike or one that has even more upgrades or even a bike built buy pierobon frames. These guys would still have better lap times, maybe lap me after 15 laps or who knows. And thats with stock parts.

Everyone on this forum is glad you are ok. Especially me since I know you (plus you buy parts from me. so I need your ass alive. lol.....ok just kidding). If someone wrote anything you took offensively. I dont think it was meant to be malicious. These guys respect speed and what the bike can do. Some type of riding isnt meant for the streets. The only analogy I can give you is riders on these bikes are like responsible gun owners and their bikes.

brad8266 said:

definitely not worth messing around anymore with this bike. It’s plenty track worthy with the work I’ve already done on the suspension and other bits, which is working pretty well. Plus I have another bike I’m building from ground up for next race season, I’ll be pouring all the cash into that. Fortunately I have an ohlins service guy local to me.

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Oh ok....I didnt know. When you wrote if you had to do it again you would go with a base model I was just throwing some info that I knew about. What are your plans for building another bike from the ground up for next race season?

cycler said:

Oh ok....I didnt know. When you wrote if you had to do it again you would go with a base model I was just throwing some info that I knew about. What are your plans for building another bike from the ground up for next race season?

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All good man, the weak link on a bike like a v4 is always the rider anyway, my best gain would be to lose 20 pounds of body fat lol.

I have a 2016 R1 that I bought cheap at auction. Stripped it down and have the engine in pieces in the garage. Gonna be a fun project for the winter and should be a very fast and light bike. Gonna build it to race minimum weight.