Ohlins Suspension Upgrades for Base Model

jhegener · Jul 19, 2012

Hi guys,

Just wanted to share the email thread I had with Dan Kyle at Kyle Racing on the Monterey Peninsula.

Dan is a big Ohlins dealer-he's offering a combo kit of a fork cartridge kit + a TTX shock for $2275 plus shipping. He'll do the installation for $200.

As of last week he had the shock and was anticipating getting the cartridge kit in a week-so he might have that by now.

Installing this kit will more-or-less bring your suspension up to "superstock" trim. (at least the last time I read the rulebook)

Kyle Racing - Roadracing Motorcycles

11ninenine · Jul 19, 2012

^ Awesome! Thanks for sharing - this is what I've been waiting for. Kindly place your fist to my avatar.

tstephenson · Jul 19, 2012

11ninenine said:
^ Kindly place your fist to my avatar.

Funny

Rocky907 · Jul 19, 2012

11ninenine said:
^ Kindly place your fist to my avatar.

LMFAO! Thats funny. I've been on a lot of forums in the past 10 years and I've never heard that. nice. My new fav quote!

+1! on the set up! Thinking about going that route but I just figure I would set up the Marz forks to my riding style ect and replace the shock to a decent TTX set up. Thanks for the share!

jhegener · Jul 20, 2012

@Rocky907

Kyle Racing has the TTX shock by itself quoted for $1181.90.

Ohlins TTX MK II Shock for 2012 Ducati Panigale

Perty...

orangebusa · Jul 20, 2012

Kyle has a great reputation...I'm assuming that he'll want to know your weight and preferred usage to select the proper springs? The price is very good too.

Rocky907 · Jul 20, 2012

So the TTX shock; theres a TTX MKII and theres another version as well?

orangebusa · Jul 21, 2012

The mk II and is the latest version..

jhegener · Jul 22, 2012

@orangebusa

Yes, Dan says that he can ship you the proper spring for your weight with the shock.

Cloner · Jul 23, 2012

I had my dealer order this kit when I picked up the bike Saturday. Cost/benefit analysis says base plus near top shelf suspension yields a better bike than the S for less money!

turnone · Jul 23, 2012

Cloner said:
I had my dealer order this kit when I picked up the bike Saturday. Cost/benefit analysis says base plus near top shelf suspension yields a better bike than the S for less money!

+1
If I upgrade at all, this will be the route I take as well.

Chris

jhegener · Jul 23, 2012

@Cloner

Hold on there pahdna.

To compare apples to apples (sort of), we need to add the set of Marchesini forged aluminum wheels to the mix. So:

$2275 for Ohlins upgrade
$2400 for forged Al wheels (estimate)

$4675 to raise your base to an "S" spec (minus the electronic adjustment of course).

It's $18k for the base, and $23k for the S, right?

TransNone13 · Jul 23, 2012

jhegener said:
@Cloner

Hold on there pahdna.

To compare apples to apples (sort of), we need to add the set of Marchesini forged aluminum wheels to the mix. So:

$2275 for Ohlins upgrade
$2400 for forged Al wheels (estimate)

$4675 to raise your base to an "S" spec (minus the electronic adjustment of course).

It's $18k for the base, and $23k for the S, right?

Not that the LEDs are are deal breaker to some, but many will put in HIDs and on top of that, the LEDs offer a ridiculous amount of illumination at night. No idea how much those cost.

Cloner · Jul 23, 2012

jhegener said:
@Cloner

Hold on there pahdna.

To compare apples to apples (sort of), we need to add the set of Marchesini forged aluminum wheels to the mix. So:

$2275 for Ohlins upgrade
$2400 for forged Al wheels (estimate)

$4675 to raise your base to an "S" spec (minus the electronic adjustment of course).

It's $18k for the base, and $23k for the S, right?

The base model's wheels are about four pounds heavier (from what I've found....1kg front, 1.1kg rear) than the S. For $600 per pound I'll keep the base model's Enkei units. A good front end is all this fat man cares about. I saved more that that ditching the LED headlight, anyway. (it's not unsprung weight, but still.....)

1198freak · Jul 23, 2012

You can get an Ohlins cartridge kit for the forks for 2K, and you can get aluminium wheels that are lighter than the factory S wheels for 2K. So it would be 4k for the wheels and suspension that would be better than what the S has, for a total of 22K compared to 23k for the S. But then unless you do it yourself, there will be charge to install the cartridge kit and wheels, that would cost a good amount so it would end up being pretty close cost wise in the end.

michaeldorian · Jul 23, 2012

1198freak said:
You can get an Ohlins cartridge kit for the forks for 2K, and you can get aluminium wheels that are lighter than the factory S wheels for 2K. So it would be 4k for the wheels and suspension that would be better than what the S has, for a total of 22K compared to 23k for the S. But then unless you do it yourself, there will be charge to install the cartridge kit and wheels, that would cost a good amount so it would end up being pretty close cost wise in the end.

From my understanding the S wheels are ridiculously light. This is not the traditional wheels from the older S models. Some folks on the forum who have switched to the carbon BST wheels have said that the "chicken feet" wheels are not that might heavier then the carbon.

Which alum wheels are you speaking of that are lighter then factory? I think these are near mag weights of the aftermarket marchesni's.

If you can spring for the S, it's actually good value. I have a base btw.

littlejohn · Jul 23, 2012

Cloner said:
The base model's wheels are about four pounds heavier (from what I've found....1kg front, 1.1kg rear) than the S. For $600 per pound I'll keep the base model's Enkei units. A good front end is all this fat man cares about. I saved more that that ditching the LED headlight, anyway. (it's not unsprung weight, but still.....)

Not just unsprung weight, but more importantly, it's rotational weight

Also don't forget resale value. Aftermarket upgrades pretty much have no value when it comes to resale. But the "S" badge on the other hand

*It's silly... but it's just how the world works...*

Cloner · Jul 24, 2012

littlejohn said:
Not just unsprung weight, but more importantly, it's rotational weight
Also don't forget resale value. Aftermarket upgrades pretty much have no value when it comes to resale. But the "S" badge on the other hand

*It's silly... but it's just how the world works...*

I have never bought a bike to resell it. I buy bikes to ride, or to build, or to tinker...or sometimes just 'cause I like 'em. Strike the resale arguement in my odd case.

After looking at the wheels, the OE Marchesini wheels on the S are the cat's ass. No questions asked. They're worth their money. I don't trust BST wheels (call me crazy...it's just a personal foible) or magnesium wheels on the street, so forged aluminum is the option of choice for me. I suspect I'll end up with a set of these forged beauties before it's all said and done....but I bet I won't pay more than $1500 the pair.

I guess I should also mention that I own a small shop here in Albuquerque that specializes in Ducati maintenance, so I get a pretty good deal on aftermarket and OEM bits. My local dealer (PJ's Motorcycles, where I buy all my OEM parts) and I have a great business relationship, which is why I ordered the suspension bits when and where I did.

That said, I should also mention that the stock bits are surprisingly good on the base model.....if you're a fat bastid like me. I suspect this bike is radically oversprung for the average rider, but it's about right for me. I'm following the break in recommendations ('cause I'm funny like that) and I've still already completely eliminated the "chicken strips" on the bike without exceeding the 6000 rpm recommendation. This bike is willing to carry an amazing amount of corner speed without making me wonder what's happening out front. This is the first Ducati I've ever ridden (and there have been hundreds of them) where I could tell what the front end is doing right out of the box! I really didn't expect to have the traction control cut in down in the cellar like it does, but I guess I'll either get used to it or turn it down a notch or two.

My experience so far is that if the bike made a measly 100 hp I'd be happy with just the chassis and brakes. The brakes on my '95 SS (the first Ducati I owned....still got that one...see note above about not buying for resale...I've owned others in the middle, but he SS keeps hanging around) are a one finger affair, but it's a pretty firm finger. The brakes on the Panigale are a one finger affair, but it's a very delicate finger. Little initial bite, followed by a linear movement toward "OH MY GOD THIS THING FRIKKIN' STOPS!!!" with very little effort. The brakes are the second most impressive feature of the bike so far.

Then there's the switchgear...and the electronics....and...well...you've got one, why am I telling you?

Can't wait until the break-in period is over. At the current pace it won't take long.

LarryG · Jul 24, 2012

Cloner said:
I have never bought a bike to resell it. I buy bikes to ride, or to build, or to tinker...or sometimes just 'cause I like 'em. Strike the resale arguement in my odd case.

After looking at the wheels, the OE Marchesini wheels on the S are the cat's ass. No questions asked. They're worth their money. I don't trust BST wheels (call me crazy...it's just a personal foible) or magnesium wheels on the street, so forged aluminum is the option of choice for me. I suspect I'll end up with a set of these forged beauties before it's all said and done....but I bet I won't pay more than $1500 the pair.

I guess I should also mention that I own a small shop here in Albuquerque that specializes in Ducati maintenance, so I get a pretty good deal on aftermarket and OEM bits. My local dealer (PJ's Motorcycles, where I buy all my OEM parts) and I have a great business relationship, which is why I ordered the suspension bits when and where I did.

That said, I should also mention that the stock bits are surprisingly good on the base model.....if you're a fat bastid like me. I suspect this bike is radically oversprung for the average rider, but it's about right for me. I'm following the break in recommendations ('cause I'm funny like that) and I've still already completely eliminated the "chicken strips" on the bike without exceeding the 6000 rpm recommendation. This bike is willing to carry an amazing amount of corner speed without making me wonder what's happening out front. This is the first Ducati I've ever ridden (and there have been hundreds of them) where I could tell what the front end is doing right out of the box! I really didn't expect to have the traction control cut in down in the cellar like it does, but I guess I'll either get used to it or turn it down a notch or two.

My experience so far is that if the bike made a measly 100 hp I'd be happy with just the chassis and brakes. The brakes on my '95 SS (the first Ducati I owned....still got that one...see note above about not buying for resale...I've owned others in the middle, but he SS keeps hanging around) are a one finger affair, but it's a pretty firm finger. The brakes on the Panigale are a one finger affair, but it's a very delicate finger. Little initial bite, followed by a linear movement toward "OH MY GOD THIS THING FRIKKIN' STOPS!!!" with very little effort. The brakes are the second most impressive feature of the bike so far.

Then there's the switchgear...and the electronics....and...well...you've got one, why am I telling you?

Can't wait until the break-in period is over. At the current pace it won't take long.

Agree with you 1000%
This is my 3rd Duc and too many sports bikes to mention and like you I like the feedback I'm getting from the bike, just got back from a four day ride thru the smokey mountains and she now has 1670 miles...

Ohlins Suspension Upgrades for Base Model

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