Back in the shop

There’s a lot you are yet to see…

I live in hope.

Meh. Just complicating things… The foot rear brake is sufficient for a track day bike. Race bikes are different.

SuperDomestique said:

Meh. Just complicating things… The foot rear brake is sufficient for a track day bike. Race bikes are different.

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Sure it is, but believe it or not, once you get use to it the thumb brake makes the bike a little easier to ride in some instances, and the thumb brake is less than ideal ergonomically. The index finger brake should be even better ergonomically.

I like to brake hard and late, which can really upset the bike for a newer rider, lightly tapping the rear brake just before the front brake smooths that braking transition in a hard braking zone. You feel less unsettled.

You could still use the foot brake in that instance but with the foot it’s too easy to over brake and lock up the rear which I’ve done, now you’ve unsettled instead of settling the bike.

Lately I was playing with using the rear brake on a decreasing radius of a curve, particularly useful on double apex and decreasing apex corners. Not comfortable finding the foot brake at lean, and the thumb brake was a little awkward to finesse at lean too…hence the switch to the scooter brake. Feathering on the rear brake late into a corner tightens the radius of the corner without adding more lean or losing as much engine rpm, it’s almost like a cheat code on that last bit.

Andy, I use the long bars on my Woodcraft setup, that gave me more real estate to work with in fitting the switches, clutch MC, and Scooter Brake. Also the Dicacciati Finger brake and bracket is a lot smaller than the IMA thumb brake and bracketing, the latter was hitting my gas tank at full lock.

My bike feels great into corners with just using the front brake. Proper bike setup (aka stock) will get you to the 9/10ths of the way. I think as a novice, braking hard and late is a mistake. Braking should be a smooth affair to where you can properly set corner speed and then work on braking deeper into the corner. Doing this properly shouldn’t twist the bike in knots. Remember, you’re doing a trackday not a race. IMO, if you haven’t mastered the front brake then you’re not ready to use the rear. If anything, you’re doing yourself a disservice

SuperDomestique said:

My bike feels great into corners with just using the front brake. Proper bike setup (aka stock) will get you to the 9/10ths of the way. I think as a novice, braking hard and late is a mistake. Braking should be a smooth affair to where you can properly set corner speed and then work on braking deeper into the corner. Doing this properly shouldn’t twist the bike in knots. Remember, you’re doing a trackday not a race. IMO, if you haven’t mastered the front brake then you’re not ready to use the rear. If anything, you’re doing yourself a disservice

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I think you should stop judging people by your own standards …

andyb said:

I think you should stop judging people by your own standards …

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Kettle. Pot. Black. But I guess when you have a bike with lots of stickers, this doesn’t apply to you.

Also unless you’re at the pointy end of A’s, you’re still a novice. I’m still a novice when it comes to track day riding. But I also have 15 years plus of track day riding experience and have learned a lot over those years. I’ve made those mistakes. I’d rather ride with a slow consistent rider than fast wild one.

The reality is that a bone stock V4 set up for your weight with slicks and the right tire pressure will get you within 10 seconds (most likely a lot less) of the litre bike lap record. Adding a thumb brake, longer swingarm, adjustable triples, lightweight whatever is not going to make once bit of difference until you are well into the A group. We are not talking about some ....... track bike from the 2000's, its a V4 that Pecco was lapping within 5 seconds of MotoGP times...

Anyway bling away, add fun stuff and burn up your middle age salaries on our favourite toy but dont forget to get training. If I had my time over instead of spending money on a pipe and carbon etc Id get proper training and much more track time first.

Even Pecco doesn’t use a thumb or scooter brake on his trainer V4

SuperDomestique said:

Kettle. Pot. Black. But I guess when you have a bike with lots of stickers, this doesn’t apply to you.

Also unless you’re at the pointy end of A’s, you’re still a novice. I’m still a novice when it comes to track day riding. But I also have 15 years plus of track day riding experience and have learned a lot over those years. I’ve made those mistakes. I’d rather ride with a slow consistent rider than fast wild one.

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Well along those lines a bone stock bike with sticky rubber is too much bike too learn on, I’ve expressed my thoughts on this. Without a single mod this bike is already such a blast to your senses and the speed so great that it inhibits rather than helps a novice rider to go fast.

That’s why I’m ordering a Kramer that I’ll keep bone stock other than some Sicom Rotors and heavier springs.

On this bike I was already using the thumb brake and am use to it now, and won’t likely go backwards on that. Other than switching to index finger instead of thumb. Do you need it, no, but it’s kinda like a Quickshifter, after you use one and get use to it you don’t wanna go back to not having it.

I’m pretty sure guys wrote the EXACT same kinda post about blip shifters when they came out

SuperDomestique said:

Even Pecco doesn’t use a thumb or scooter brake on his trainer V4

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Yes, but does he drink lattes on the regular?
I like a latte break please, thanks...

Dont get me wrong here, stick as much go faster bling on your bike as you like, its all part of the fun but bikes are absolutely impartial when it comes to skill, the platform dont care! Thats why I like riding, its honest and the feedback is in your face, if youre not up to the speed you're going then there will be consequences- some very serious. Scoot brakes yep why not, a bit of extra enjoyment. Who knows maybe you WILL be able to back it in with a deft dab of the left hand and leave big black lines all the way through the turn

So we always end up back at this
So let’s all get back in to c90s and learn to ride properly before trying to exploit 200+ hp (185 in the USA) let alone sticky tyres, posh suspension, carbon this carbon that
It’s a non sensible argument of talking .... !

How do you get time to post here? Aren't you debriefing are FP1?

Steven31371 said:

That’s why I’m ordering a Kramer that I’ll keep bone stock other than some Sicom Rotors and heavier springs.

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Which one are you going for? You’ve probably already said but there’s a lot of comments to wade through…

spooky said:

Which one are you going for? You’ve probably already said but there’s a lot of comments to wade through…

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Evo2, I want the lowest power and best set up bike that can get my 220 pound body around the track at reasonable speeds.

Paul G said:

How do you get time to post here? Aren't you debriefing are FP1?

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there you go talking .... again....I expect you ride around on a std bike? Wait till you can exploit that fully before you change anything on it? ...oh no.......... talking .... again?




So you have a upgraded exhaust and ducati upgraded map? Why do you need that? Unless you are lapping within 10 secs of the WSB boys... why do you need more power? Whats wrong with how the bike was set up as std by Ducati.........

Ah you must be lapping within 10secs of the WSB boys...I see why now.......ffs!!

I thought he was primarily sharing what he’s doing.

spooky said:

I thought he was primarily sharing what he’s doing.

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Don’t let the facts get in the way of the BS
Next we will be changing our gearing away from std…. Why? If you are not within 10 secs of the big boys what’s the point?

Paul G said:

Panigale barflys talking ....- tell me it isnt true

Andy we all know you have a nice bike and that when youre not drunk posting that you even go for rides, but you miss my point dear chap. Ever mock those middle managers who dress up in tassles and screamin' eagle merch as they ride their chrome tractors and play 1%ers? Well the Ducati equivalent is putting on faux race parts and pretending to yourself that it makes you faster because it must be betterer right? My point is that just like the Harley bro's, we do this for fun and while it may add considerable potential to mythical lap times, it almost wont any difference at all to a well setup stocker unless you have the skill to exploit it.

Most riders here are competant I'm sure, some are kick ass but they dont .... on and on..., they just do it whereas the other end of the spectrum are people who seriously think that a pipe and map is going to make them into Valentino going around a track. Ive said heaps of times, this is a fun hobby and bling away, (as we all do) add all the .... you want to the bike but FFS dont piss on the rest of us and tell us its raining!

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All good and accurate points, accept that other than maybe Pink Slips I don’t see any regular posters here that actually think they will get faster based on a mod other than proper suspension setup. I’d argue that ergo’s help too, and possibly gearing if it fits a track profile better.