Head shake

I just did my first track day on the 1299S. I am getting a bad head shake on every straight as the bike tries to lift the front end. (3rd gear around 100-110) I tried tuning the steering dampener from medium to hardest with no difference. I had the bike on Race mode with all settings stock except the the dampener. Any tuning advice would be appreciated.

andymac said:

I just did my first track day on the 1299S. I am getting a bad head shake on every straight as the bike tries to lift the front end. (3rd gear around 100-110) I tried tuning the steering dampener from medium to hardest with no difference. I had the bike on Race mode with all settings stock except the the dampener. Any tuning advice would be appreciated.

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Thats is well know problem in Panigale..
Help ( for me) little bit, when make shock spring harder, the back is not going so much down...

What was your last bike?

andymac said:

I just did my first track day on the 1299S. I am getting a bad head shake on every straight as the bike tries to lift the front end. (3rd gear around 100-110) I tried tuning the steering dampener from medium to hardest with no difference. I had the bike on Race mode with all settings stock except the the dampener. Any tuning advice would be appreciated.

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Did you ride with Dynamic mode? Mine sorted out with fixed settings. No unnecessary wheelies, stable, easy to brake and so on.

Try a little less rebound damping which should help push the front tyre to the ground

In the shock? I do get this under hard acceleration but not terrible

andymac said:

I just did my first track day on the 1299S. I am getting a bad head shake on every straight as the bike tries to lift the front end. (3rd gear around 100-110) I tried tuning the steering dampener from medium to hardest with no difference. I had the bike on Race mode with all settings stock except the the dampener. Any tuning advice would be appreciated.

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You think YOU'RE getting headshake Andy, you should try mine! Ha ha! The headshake is not necessarily just that the bike is trying to lift the front end, it's more where the center of gravity is located and it affects the stability. What I find helps a lot on the Panigale is to slide your weight back on the seat and tuck low over the tank on the straight. I messed around with a lot of suspension changes on my 1199 and still had issues with headshake on the straights at high speed and that body position change really made more of a difference than anything. The challenge is that it's the opposite of what we were used to doing on the older bikes (1098/1198), where you could tuck your belly right up against the tank and ride over the front end. The Panigale does not like that. If you see the factory race bikes, they all have tank extensions on them to move the rider's weight back on the bike, which I suspect is for grip and stability in acceleration. Try that next time first before you do anything else, and if it's still unstable come see me in the pits and I'll help you get it sorted out. If changes are required, as long as the spring rates are correct, first thing I would do is raise the rear ride height a little and see if that calms it down, if so then you know it's chassis/weight balance issue and not suspension.

What cured my 1199 head shakes on the track is that I set the FGRT 203 to 130 mm stroke versus the 120 mm stroke. Some others I know on the S mounted the forks top flushed with the triples. These options provides more traction but you do have geometry changes.

thanks Jarel and others. I will give the body position a try first! then suspension tunning!

Raaseri said:

Did you ride with Dynamic mode? Mine sorted out with fixed settings. No unnecessary wheelies, stable, easy to brake and so on.

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I have done the same as you Raaseri.. Even though the Dynamic settings are fine for a weekend blast, once you REALLY start to push the bike, I found that using the FIXED settings is the way to go.

I had Dave Moss at my house yesterday and we went over my bike and set up the FIXED settings... Today, I went out for a quick blast on my local roads and really turned up the wick and the bike was really, really nice on the fixed settings.

I won't have everything fully dialed in until I get to the track, but for now, the bike is fantastically stable and neutral and the front and rear are in perfect synchrony...

Cheers.

So is the S model worth it? Why not just get a Base and swap the shock?

try less grip on the handle bars, i think you need to setup your suspension right

fzr100098 said:

So is the S model worth it? Why not just get a Base and swap the shock?

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For me personally, absolutely. Having the ability to select a setting that I can manipulate as I ride, the forged wheels, the LED lights, and how well the dynamic setup works for aggressive street riding is absolutely worth the extra money.

People love those LED lights - must be an Audi thing. Apart from that its just another heavy, boxy sedan

Fixed suspension for me, dynamic is too gimmicky - just another thing to go bad. The big 50 mm forks on the Base model are great.

Yeah. Marzocchi is definitely a huge player at the track... And I wish there were a fixed Ohlins option on the S. Oh wait... Nvm.

Typical elitist ......... By your own admission you haven't been to a track in years, it's all just badge/name waving

You really like that word elitist, don't ya?

fzr100098 said:

Typical elitist ......... By your own admission you haven't been to a track in years, it's all just badge/name waving

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Don't get upset at people for having a different model bike than you because your circumstance doesn't justify the $5k or because you're not content with your decision. Blatantly apparent that you feel compelled to make it a point that you're extremely happy and satisfied with the model you purchased. Nobody cares.

You should go chase around the guys who purchased the "R" and tell 'em how you're amazingly content with your base model. Maybe counsel them on particulate analytics in oil and how they should watch out for the times that they don't dump the oil every time they clutch it at a stop light. Smh.

Gentlemen, may I introduce you to "The Lounge":

http://ducati1299.com/lounge/

jarelj said:

Gentlemen, may I introduce you to "The Lounge":

http://ducati1299.com/lounge/

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My bad.