Panigale steering head inserts in the Clowncar (21 SFV4)

Before I bought my SF I read all the reviews and the handling was generally praised. Only 2 reviewers (both brits) commented on the vagueness of the SF frontend relative to the precision of the Panigale. Everyone else all good. So I made a trip to poseur central (LA) and bought the bike.
When I started using it as intended I found that it pushed at turn-in and ran wide off the corners. Intuitively I started raising the rear and raising the forks in the triples. In the end I had the rear up 14 mm (which is about all there is) and had the fork showing 4 lines above the upper triple. So front to rear the overall rake was probably lessened a degree and this made the bike tolerable but with the same wheels as my 1198S it felt about 100 lbs heavier when flipping the bike side to side. The 1198 is probably 40 lbs lighter in reality. When I posted what I had done to make it tolerable one of the forums esteemed members commented that my set-up resembled a clowncar.
Fast forward to November and I pull the bike apart to time the cams and shim the valvetrain. This requires the front frame to be removed and as it was being disassembled I saw the 26.5 + 2mm stamped on the SF head inserts. The offset was measured and indeed the there was a 2 degree offset (outwards) relative to the front frame.
The front frame sans inserts is 24 degrees so the Pani inserts add a half degree to get the 24.5 head angle. The Pani specs are 24.5 and 100 mm trail. If you consider that each degree of rake is accompanied by about 4 mm of trail then 26.5 inserts in the SF gives (well 26.5 degrees rake) and about 108 mm of trail. Totally explains the behavior before I started fussing with the geometry.
The take away from this is Ducati is lying about the SF geometry.
The bike was reassembled (Pani inserts) with the rear returned to stock height and the fork showing 2 lines but a break in the weather to actually ride it. Which happened midweek. And low and behold the bike feels 50-60 lbs lighter and no push at turn in or running wide off the corners.

Soooo this proves that you should’ve bought a Panigale V4?

@baggerman Presumably it’s set up different to the Panigale due to a different riding position?

Interesting post though.

SuperDomestique said:

Soooo this proves that you should’ve bought a Panigale V4?

Click to expand...

Yep. I would not buy another SF. Not only is the geometry different you give up the 6 or so HP at the top from the motorized intake stacks. I'd buy a Pani and change the upper triple etc.

spooky said:

@baggerman Presumably it’s set up different to the Panigale due to a different riding position?

Interesting post though.

Click to expand...

I don't think so. The high bars put less of a load on the front so why would you want the front further unloaded. They did the same thing to the 1098 SF. The problem with the 1098 SF is no head inserts so all you could do is run them real steep (or cut and reweld the head). Because of the geometry the reviewers hated the handling of the 1098 SF so they were a sales flop. They did all this (they did a bunch of other stuff too) because of the lack of wheelie electronic intervention. So when they did it to the SFV4 they lied about the geometry. The increased stickiness of the current tires hides the behavior unless you're railing. Most guys who buy these would never know.

@baggerman Is the geometry better on the SF848?
In that case giving it a 1198 transplant should make for a fun bike.

848 head geometry is normal ducati sportbike spec so this would be a good swap. They use different rear axles, 848 uses the small one. Probably ok if you don't use slicks or the swingarm casting is probably the same so you could just swap a large axle hub in. And you'd have to weld the 1198 exhaust flanges onto the exhaust system you're using. Reprogram the ECU to fix the fueling. The 848's SF are probably the best handling of all the ducati naked bikes, although the S4RS's are really good.