Getting comfortable with my SFV4S

Folks:

For those of you who have read my posts, you know I’m a a bit of a newbie. I arrived late to two wheels and I’ve been working to make up for it! I just recently crossed mile 10k on two wheels. 1k on a BMW G310GS, 2k on a BMW F900XR, 5K on a BMW S1000XR, and 2K on my Ducati SFV4S.

This weekend for the first time I *finally* felt comfortable on the bike. It’s taken a lot of practice, but especially a lot of mods to get here. I almost got the point where i traded the bike in to get something easier to ride. I’m writing this in case someone else finds it useful.

First a bit of background. I live in SoCal and love to ride the many canyons we have around here. I’ve been driving them in high performance cars for about a decade. Since getting into bikes last year, I’ve sold my cars, and gone all in on bikes

Here’s my journey with my SFV4S.

Rider mod 1: two finger front braking

This made a huge impact. Using only two fingers on the front brake coordinating with throttle roll on and roll off. It took a while to get used to it but what a difference it made to my riding. Especially trail braking in the canyons and also anywhere you need to react quickly with your brakes (Eg heavy traffic). Motojitsu has some great videos on this.

Rider mod 2: two finger clutching

This might have had an even bigger impact than the braking. Only using index and middle fingers on the clutch with the rest of my fingers wrapped around the handlebar. The control is amazing and shifting is way more consistent and super fast. I also feel a lot more confident because I’m not letting go of the bar to clutch.

Bike mod: Rizoma handlebars

Hard to overstate what an impact these made. With stock handlebars my arms are stretched forward and out, Superman style. I feel like I’m flying over the front wheel. Sudden stops make me feel like I’m going to slip over the tank and Superman over the front handlebars! The Rizomas are slightly narrower and higher. This moves my elbows closer in and closer back to my body. It feels much more natural. It also gives me a nice, comfortable upright stance which is great for riding longer distances or for when I’m not going all out. This also has the side effect of moving my body weight back and let’s me lock in better to the tank. Hugely confidence inspiring! For some reason, even when I’m on it and in full forward lean, I still feel more comfortable with the higher narrower bars. Quite amazing the difference an inch here or there makes. This was the first major bike mod that really boosted my confidence.

Bike mod: Lever ergos

This was key and really improved my ability to fine control the clutch and front brake. I rotated the levers around so that my hands could stay as flat as possible when transitioning from throttle hand grip to lever. This really speeds up how quickly my fingers move from one to the other.

Bike mod: Throttle spacers and low power mode

I like smooth, predictable throttles so I can make minor adjustments. Out of the box with throttle slack and on medium engine setting (smooth, full power), I found it very difficult to manage the throttle smoothly on the road (that is, not at a track). Throttle spacers really help a lot to get rid of that throttle slack. In combination with low engine mode (smooth, low power) I find a huge difference. Throttle is smooth and easy to modulate in tight spaces like some of the canyons I go through or just puttering around town at non track speeds. Don’t get me wrong, I still crank it! But I find it much easier to modulate at non track speeds.

Bike mod: Engine Braking Low

In stock form, I find engine braking to be quite abrupt. I get the reason why. Again, designed for track. Hammer, hammer, hammer, engine brake, brake, brake, turn. I prefer to manage my corner entry speed with the brake rather than using engine braking first and then brake. For this reason, I have my engine braking set to minimum. I find this gives me smoother roll off throttle to brake in the twisties. Around town, I’m combination with the changes above, I find it easier to modulate the throttle. Where previously roll on/roll off would jerk on throttle opening and then jerk on engine brake engage, now it’s much smoother rolling on and rolling off. And… confidence inspiring.

Bike mod: Engine Power

“New naked bikes are angry and vicious”
— Yammy Noob

(Don’t hate me for watching Yammy

The street fighter is a very angry bike in stock form. For the longest time I tried to ride it around town in medium engine mode (full power, smooth throttle). Bad idea. Low engine mode (reduced power, smooth throttle) is much easier to manage around town. It’s a lot smoother.

I find medium engine setting good in the canyons but too rough around town. I’ve only used high engine setting a few times.

So, that’s it! I hope some of this is useful. Trying to capture all of my thoughts in one place. Would love to hear other’s experience.

I know most of the folks on this forum have been riding these high performance bikes for years and this is all second nature to you. But if you’re haven’t, hoping this is useful.

I still feel like I have no business riding a bike like this (which is true), unfortunately I’m hooked


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I'd love to hear your thoughts on the high engine setting. I used the low a few times but I found it required a lot more wrist movement so I always ended up rolling the throttle in my hand, as opposed to twisting it with my hand, if that makes sense. But, now I do that all the time. It makes for a better arm and wrist position. I like the high because it takes such small movement to get it going. For around town EBC 1 for sure. EBC 2 for spirited rides. I'm not a fan of EBC 3. Maybe if I was on a track with heavy braking zones.

Have you tried any of the DES Dynamic or DES Fixed settings?

Hi BP. I haven’t played much with the high engine setting. I know exactly what you mean about low though. It is smooth but requires a lot of rotation. I’ll try the high setting tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

I have done a lot with the DES settings. I was fortunate enough to have Dave Moss set things up for me with the bike in stock form (that’s when I first saw what a big difference the ergos make with handlebar and levers). Since then I’ve tried a lot of different things. Most of the canyon roads here are quite beaten up due to the ground shifting. I have a relatively plush setting on the shock and fork to absorb the bumps (that’s my sport mode). In my street mode I have it even plusher still to absorb the bumps on our interstates (also beaten up).

I haven’t used fixed suspension mode yet.

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A correction on my previous post, I don't like EBC 1, I find it very abrupt. I prefer EBC 2 or 3.

Here we get frost thaw cycles and the roads are usually pretty trashed.

On the 2021 Panigale V4S the DES Dynamic settings are the same for sport and street. Interestingly, the DES Fixed settings are not. Its important to note when playing with the dynamic settings you won't notice a difference when the bike is stopped since the dynamic settings are applied to varying degrees when you are moving.

Thanks for sharing BP. My street and sport suspension are about -1 or -2 softer.

I tried high engine setting today. It was really nice as you said A little *too* nice for me! I don’t trust myself just yet. I’ll hold off another year or try it on the track (I’ll be there next week!).

I experimented with low and medium today in the canyons and around town. I like medium, but for the tight canyon near me with 1st gear turns, I’m still feeling more comfortable with low. For everything else, medium is a nice compromise between full power and fine control at low speeds.


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devlaps said:

Folks:

For those of you who have read my posts, you know I’m a a bit of a newbie. I arrived late to two wheels and I’ve been working to make up for it! I just recently crossed mile 10k on two wheels. 1k on a BMW G310GS, 2k on a BMW F900XR, 5K on a BMW S1000XR, and 2K on my Ducati SFV4S.

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Click to expand...

That is an Excellent two wheel progression with a good amount of patience in there as you transitions from each bike with more capabilities. Good for you and thanks for sharing