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scb27 said:
@roadracerx I wonder if I can pick your brains for the Ducati XDiavel.

It's a bit of a funky setup as the front has 120mm of travel but a 30deg rake and only about 95mm of travel at the back with a fairly aggressive motion ratio (1.68:1 @ rider sag) with very little progression (1.7:1 to 1.6:1) plus's the rediculoisly high unsprung mass (wheel is 25kg).

What sort of wheelrates would you target for fast street use and a single rider?

The stock springs are:
Front(All) - 7.8 N/mm (21 N/mm wheel rate)
Rear(16-18) - progressive 65->90?? N/mm (23 N/mm wheel rate for soft portion)
Rear(19-23) - progressive 50->90?? N/mm (18 N/mm wheel rate for soft portion)

The Ohlins replacement shock somes with an 80 N/mm spring which puts the wheelrate at 28N/mm with 12mm static / 30mm rider sag for my 75kg with 15mm preload.

No matter what I do to the rear in terms of damping, you can feel it's imbalanced rear to front.

I'm going to rebuild the shock with a longer shaft to get me 110mm rear wheel travel to thinking of dropping down to a spring in the 60N/mm to 70N/mm spring with 22mm preload that gets me to:

11mm static / 33mm rider @23 N/mm

ASK - Does this make sense to target a more even front/rear wheelrate or is this a crazy change to make for such a torquey bike?

Any other advice for this bike would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

changing the length of the rear shock is likely a move in the wrong direction and will create more problems that it is worth. Has your sag, both bike and rider, been set front and rear? Keep in mind, setting sag puts the suspension in the middle 1/3 of travel with the rider on the bike riding at say 60 mph on maintenance throttle. What year is the bike?
 
roadracerx said:
Every rider's needs are different so NO I don't really have a basic setup I give all riders. You mentioned it was "hard as a brick"....is this your experience riding on the street? What mode are you in? What tire pressures are you running? What tires are you running when you experienced this? Was the preload changed from your setup to after service? Because the V4S sets damping electronically I am guessing the preload on the fork was set to a different setting from the Ohlins tech but I am guessing here so answer those questions and I will try to help you...
Click to expand...

Pirelli Rosso Corsa IV
Fnt 31PSI
Rear 33PSI
SPORT MODE Riding on street hit a bump and almost fell off. Though turn in I like more than before. I like more feel, but I don't want to fall off.
Was not this "hard feeling" before. Not the experience in previous set up.

SERVICE I'm guessing they disconnected the battery resetting all to Default. When I turned it on I noticed it was in settings mode.
I doubt they made any mechanical changes to the suspension like preload. I think it's all electronic that changed. They resealed the engine casing that was leaking.

Right now these are the settings:
SPORT MODE
Fork Compression 12
Fork Rebound 10
Shock Compression 12
Shock Rebound 12
Steering dampening 10

RACE Mode
Fork Compression 12
Fork Rebound 10
Shock Compression 14
Shock Rebound 14
Steering dampening 10

I don't think the SPORT and RACE were the same before.

I don't completely understand what higher number:
Dampening does verses lower.
Compression higher number verses lower?
Rebound higher number verses lower?

I think the Ohlins guy said to keep the Front / Back the same number. Does that make sense? As in, Fork Compression 12, Shock Compression 12.
He also said Dynamic was ass and set everything to Fixed which I've been riding since and like it way more at the track.
I think I get what Compression is and Rebound basically. I just don't know how to adjust to get what effect.

I could test better If I knew this.

THANKS!
 
Last edited:
roadracerx said:
changing the length of the rear shock is likely a move in the wrong direction and will create more problems that it is worth. Has your sag, both bike and rider, been set front and rear? Keep in mind, setting sag puts the suspension in the middle 1/3 of travel with the rider on the bike riding at say 60 mph on maintenance throttle. What year is the bike?
Click to expand...

Thanks Roadracer! Mine is a 2016 model registered in 2017 but the ohlins has been on about a year now as the stock shock was punishing due to aggresive progressive spring ramp on a firm spring rate, and bizarre low speed vs high speed comp damping which they attempted to address from 2018 onwards. You can somewhat reverse engineer the difference in stock springrates by the spring preload (attached).

Current measurements for me at 75kg are as follows:

Front:
Static 26mm / Rider 40mm of 120mm travel
(40mm fork travel equates to 35mm vertical wheel travel of a total 105mm due to 30deg rake)

Rear:
Static 14mm / Rider 32mm of 95mm travel

The original idea behind the slightly longer shock was to get to 105mm rear wheel travel so I could balance out the spring rates to get a more even front/back reaction to a 1G bump for example but happy to scrap that notion!
 

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Vbreeze said:
Pirelli Rosso Corsa IV
Fnt 31PSI
Rear 33PSI
SPORT MODE Riding on street hit a bump and almost fell off. Though turn in I like more than before. I like more feel, but I don't want to fall off.
Was not this "hard feeling" before. Not the experience in previous set up.

SERVICE I'm guessing they disconnected the battery resetting all to Default. When I turned it on I noticed it was in settings mode.
I doubt they made any mechanical changes to the suspension like preload. I think it's all electronic that changed. They resealed the engine casing that was leaking.

Right now these are the settings:
SPORT MODE
Fork Compression 12
Fork Rebound 10
Shock Compression 12
Shock Rebound 12
Steering dampening 10

RACE Mode
Fork Compression 12
Fork Rebound 10
Shock Compression 14
Shock Rebound 14
Steering dampening 10

I don't think the SPORT and RACE were the same before.

I don't completely understand what higher number:
Dampening does verses lower.
Compression higher number verses lower?
Rebound higher number verses lower?

I think the Ohlins guy said to keep the Front / Back the same number. Does that make sense? As in, Fork Compression 12, Shock Compression 12.
He also said Dynamic was ass and set everything to Fixed which I've been riding since and like it way more at the track.
I think I get what Compression is and Rebound basically. I just don't know how to adjust to get what effect.

I could test better If I knew this.

THANKS!
Click to expand...
I remember from my notes, the higher number is less dampening, and low number more dampening. Think almost closed valve (1) vs wide open (32). If those are your default settings they are different from my 2021 bike, which may just be a year to year thing.

1682107973302.png
 
Hey guys, new to the Ducati game but not wrenching on bike. Just picked up a 2015 1299s that I am getting ready for the track to replace my 750 GSXR that served me well on track for 4 years now. Looking for advice on a baseline geometry setup.. its a bit of a curve with the suspension link setup, chain adj, and linkage length but I understand most of how they effect eachother. My biggest issue is I cannot find a Corse Rear ride height tool to set a basline/keep track of one.

I weigh 160 w/o gear so I am running the stock fork springs, sag set at 38f/28r with a 90 rear spring. 15/39 gearing,considering 14/39.

Without the height tool, its hard to create a basline/starting point to work from. My current idea is to set forks flush, rear shock at 306 eye-eye (unless someone else has a better #to start at), rear linkage 120mm e2e and swingarm length 552-554, link on F. Is this sane or is there a better rearshock e2e length? Or is someone willing to measure a Corse ride height tool so I can cut one on my plasma table 😆.

Thanks!
 
If you have a plasma table and are ever in the position to get the V4 tool dimensions, I'd happily buy one. I'm quite sure you could get a few sales here.
 
The REAL Ducati Corse ride height tool for the V4 is $875 and surprisingly not all that special. I DO have one and I am in SoCal.
 
@bp_SFV4 CORSE charges what they want and delivers the parts whenever they feel like it, usually MONTHS later after having been paid in full.
 
kyledeg4 said:
15/39 gearing,considering 14/39.



Thanks!
Click to expand...
Having done this...i recommend against...will add more complexity to your measurements. And with the wheel base being shorter this way, youll def feel alot more twitchy...
are you tuned? I get the bike fully unrestricted on stock gearing, then go from there. I did +2 on rear...feels great!
 
roadracerx said:
@WetDog Racing no you can't just use springs from other brands UNLESS these springs match in internal and outer diameter as well as length. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a replacement for the Showa fork springs; most people just have an Ohlins conversion done.
Click to expand...

I purchased an Ohlin's 95N for my base shock...the length of spring off the bike and dims all around were the same..... I purchased from a forum member @SickDuc

So i think ohlins makes direct replacements.
I have a date with my suspension tuner this week to rebase line the bike...just changing the spring made it handle way way different, with the damp/comp adjusters un touched.

Question for ya? if i'm bottoming out the rear spring on hard acceleration... do i need to just keep buying a stiffer spring until that does not happen?

JAG
 
SirJAG said:
I purchased an Ohlin's 95N for my base shock...the length of spring off the bike and dims all around were the same..... I purchased from a forum member @SickDuc

So i think ohlins makes direct replacements.
I have a date with my suspension tuner this week to rebase line the bike...just changing the spring made it handle way way different, with the damp/comp adjusters un touched.

Question for ya? if i'm bottoming out the rear spring on hard acceleration... do i need to just keep buying a stiffer spring until that does not happen?

JAG
Click to expand...
You shouldn’t be blowing through travel on the rear due to the inherent anti squat. In fact, you should have even more anti squat by going +2 on the rear. How much do you weigh? And how do you know you’re bottoming out the rear shock?
 
SuperDomestique said:
You shouldn’t be blowing through travel on the rear due to the inherent anti squat. In fact, you should have even more anti squat by going +2 on the rear. How much do you weigh? And how do you know you’re bottoming out the rear shock?
Click to expand...

i weigh 225 lbs in full track gear. I am +2 rear, 15/41. I know b/c i put a small zip tie on the inner shock tube (not sure proper name). I hammer it in 2nd gear (usually riding out wheelies or some other hooligan ....) and when I look down right after the zip tie is tight against the bump stop.

It happens less now, with the 95N ohlins spring..
I suppose i could increase the preload on the rear, that should in theory stop that from happening so easily...but my rear SAG is already 25mm...more preload will give me even less SAG...and i'm not finding any suspension guys out there recommending less than 25mm.

Oh and my static SAG is 5mm.

Front SAG = 30mm, and Front Static SAG = 8mm

thanks for the feedback and questions @SuperDomestique !
JAG
 
SirJAG said:
i weigh 225 lbs in full track gear. I am +2 rear, 15/41. I know b/c i put a small zip tie on the inner shock tube (not sure proper name). I hammer it in 2nd gear (usually riding out wheelies or some other hooligan ....) and when I look down right after the zip tie is tight against the bump stop.

It happens less now, with the 95N ohlins spring..
I suppose i could increase the preload on the rear, that should in theory stop that from happening so easily...but my rear SAG is already 25mm...more preload will give me even less SAG...and i'm not finding any suspension guys out there recommending less than 25mm.

Oh and my static SAG is 5mm.

Front SAG = 30mm, and Front Static SAG = 8mm

thanks for the feedback and questions @SuperDomestique !
JAG
Click to expand...

Sounds like you could bump up to 10 or even 10.5 (maybe you could cut a 10 and 10.5 spring in half and get the best of both world haha!). You’re probably in between springs. Does the bike feel too plush? Or push wide on corner exit?

What’s your static sag w the 9.5? Adding preload to the could work in the interim. It’ll prob make the bike feel like it handles better (could get better turn in). But it might feel harsh over bumps.
 
SuperDomestique said:
Sounds like you could bump up to 10 or even 10.5 (maybe you could cut a 10 and 10.5 spring in half and get the best of both world haha!). You’re probably in between springs. Does the bike feel too plush? Or push wide on corner exit?

What’s your static sag w the 9.5? Adding preload to the could work in the interim. It’ll prob make the bike feel like it handles better (could get better turn in). But it might feel harsh over bumps.
Click to expand...

5 mm static sag rear

I will add a little more pre-load.

If anything, it’s on the plush side but I have no issues running wide in corners the bike’s rear end hooks up very well, and I’m only bottoming out on the track when full throttle once the bike is stood up, coming out of a corner. . I’m bottoming out on the street basically every ride when I’m using maximum torque to pull dank Nooners!
 

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