Rapidbike review

I know there are a good amount but figured I'd throw out another towards people that ride like myself. Mostly cruise.

Bike is a 1299. Put about 1200 miles on it and mostly cruise 3500-4000rpm everywhere. Had a lot of bucking which felt like a lean spot. Got use to it within time. Sometimes would stall coming from a light which felt again like a lean spot.

As for install. Pretty simple if you follow the instructions. Took about 3 hr's to do with an end result hidden and looking like factory.
Bike fired right up and you can hear it adjusting. Idle was smoothing out nice and changed tone a bit.

That day I rode it 10 miles. Even then ou could feel smoother transitions on the throttle.
Next ride was 150 miles. I actually found myself cruising at 2500rpm many times. Night and day difference. Bike is a lot smoother everywhere. On the windy roads that I'm 3500 to 9000rpm the bike felt much better. Throttle response was greatly improved and more predictable.

So, in the end my opinion is this is the way the bike should of came out of the factory like. Very happy with the outcome.


For insite on how picky I can be. I own a performance car shop. My street car is 1400rwhp and runs high 7's in the 1/4. So I am picky on drivability of vehicle's.

Edit- bike is a base 1299. Had termi slip ons and filter done previously. Those mods made barely to no difference in drivability.
RB is also the race unit. If buying one, why not use there pre programmed timing map?

Is that the only mod to the bike? I have a new 1299 and also notice the poor fueling when riding around town.

Stock exhaust & map?

Racing module I assume.

Hmm interesting. Thanks

cpettit said:

Is that the only mod to the bike? I have a new 1299 and also notice the poor fueling when riding around town.

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I'm wondering this too. I have a stock exhaust on my 1299 but didn't know if a rapidbike module would be worth it being bone stock.

Slow said:

I know there are a good amount but figured I'd throw out another towards people that ride like myself. Mostly cruise.

Bike is a 1299. Put about 1200 miles on it and mostly cruise 3500-4000rpm everywhere. Had a lot of bucking which felt like a lean spot. Got use to it within time. Sometimes would stall coming from a light which felt again like a lean spot.

As for install. Pretty simple if you follow the instructions. Took about 3 hr's to do with an end result hidden and looking like factory.
Bike fired right up and you can hear it adjusting. Idle was smoothing out nice and changed tone a bit.

That day I rode it 10 miles. Even then ou could feel smoother transitions on the throttle.
Next ride was 150 miles. I actually found myself cruising at 2500rpm many times. Night and day difference. Bike is a lot smoother everywhere. On the windy roads that I'm 3500 to 9000rpm the bike felt much better. Throttle response was greatly improved and more predictable.

So, in the end my opinion is this is the way the bike should of came out of the factory like. Very happy with the outcome.


For insite on how picky I can be. I own a performance car shop. My street car is 1400rwhp and runs high 7's in the 1/4. So I am picky on drivability of vehicle's.

Click to expand...

I had the same result with my bike The Rapid Bike cleared it up a lot initially..
The R/B Racing unit tunes it automatically and continuously as you ride.
MY experience with the Rapidbike Racing module is it made a big difference in the throttle response..Ie; It cleared up the low end/cruising rpm range running and it was much smoother.. It is an amazing unit and a great product.. As far as increasing power and torque it made a huge difference..
Since I just ride in the RACE mode only and have been riding it for a logn time I didn't realize just how much better it runs until I recently rode a friends 1299S and also a stock DEMO unit. BIG DIFFERENCE when you get on it!

You are correct when you state that this is the way the bike SHOULD have some from the factory...However I think Ducati has built up this bike to the max degree and they had to resort to leaning it out severely on the low end to pass EPA Emissions testing..So unless you add a fuel module it will be the way your bike runs more or less... They had to do so for the EPA regulations.
That is also why they have an air pump that injects air downstream from the exhaust valves to dilute the CO2 emissions at the tail pipe.

After installing the RB unit in my bike many months ago I noticed it ran MUCH better..
Unfortunately mine has developed an outside of the RB unit/ engine problem in either the electronics or fuel injection and runs terrible below 5500 rpm (with or without the Rapid Bike unit). The dealer says it is just the way they are and the way the twins run however I had it running much better before. I just gave up trying to get them to admit there is anything wrong with it. I wish it would throw some type of code so they could know what was causing it.but alas it doesn't.. So no fixing it under warranty etc.)

Nothing seems to work for mine as you stated.. I just have to learn to live with it..I have a tremendous amount invested in mine and I am basically buried in it economically sincve it is literally worth half of what I paid for it 12 months ago. *Since I am "picky" like you I will probably never really be happy with it..

Good luck and keep us posted on how it runs..Mine still dies on me from time to time.. however not near as much as it used to.. It is a little scary when it dies in the middle of an intersection LOL but usually it is right after I crank it up and am about to leave a parking lot etc. Of course it seems to always happen when I just got through talking to someone about the bike etc and then it stalls and makes me look like I cannot ride LOL...

Of well just some of the "Ducati character" we have to put up with..

Unless your develops other problems like mine you should have a good experience with it.

Take care..

Speedy

cpettit said:

Is that the only mod to the bike? I have a new 1299 and also notice the poor fueling when riding around town.

Click to expand...

Sorry, it has termi slip ons and filter. The drivability was pretty much the same with those mods.

Tuning is a hard time to wrap your head around if your stock. I see it all the time in my field. I for one know a good tune can greatly improve a factory tune if done right.


We tune a lot of new C7 corvette's here. The owners can't believe the difference just tuning does on a stock car. We greatly improve throttle transitions.


Also, I have the tune boy here too. Haven't hooked up yet. I know I could fine tune the bike for an even better feel. But I also know I have no time right now to do it, so we went RB for now.

Slow said:

Sorry, it has termi slip ons and filter. The drivability was pretty much the same with those mods.

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I have the Akropovic slip ons with the "UP Map" didnt fix it..

My Rapid Bike is programmed for those mods..

I have a 899 with cored exhaust , Raid bike race installed. I have about 800 KMs since install wow what a difference is all I can say ... worth every penny !

Am I the only one that sees posts where people talk about cruising at 3500 rpms...or even anything below 4000...and can't understand why anyone would run this bike at those rpms...and expect it to run as it should?

It's not a Goldwing.....

MMC said:

Am I the only one that sees posts where people talk about cruising at 3500 rpms...or even anything below 4000...and can't understand why anyone would run this bike at those rpms...and expect it to run as it should?

It's not a Goldwing.....

Click to expand...

Hey ... Great question.. I have a 899 coming off a 600RR . I cruise at 5000 RPM is that a good range. I have often thought about what is recommended .

MMC said:

Am I the only one that sees posts where people talk about cruising at 3500 rpms...or even anything below 4000...and can't understand why anyone would run this bike at those rpms...and expect it to run as it should?

It's not a Goldwing.....

Click to expand...

Duly noted However!!!!!

No one I have seen on this forum is wanting to run at 2500 rpm? Hell the damn thing barely idles below 1800 rpm LOL...
But how about riding at 45 miles an hour (at about4800 rpm in second gear) and it bucks and kicks like it is going to stall? Of course I can run it in 1st at about 5500 plus rpm but it is ridiculousto have to do so..
You should not have to run an engine at close to half its rpm potential just to keep it from bucking and surging etc.while just cruising down the street on a casual ride to the store etc. Keeping the bike at 6K or higher rpm all the time not only adds a lot of unnecessary wear and tear on the motor it also keeps the temperature up there pretty hot.

Bottom line is the motor is NOT smooth at all at anything below about 5K on my bike and it is aggravating...in town or the highway (and at anything below 80mh 5th and 6th gear are not ever used ( unless I am either really speeding or on the track.)
In my opinion overall as a street bike the Panigale 1299 S sucks..

The motor is over built and runs far too lean and hot and the low rpm/speed fueling is atrocious..


Speedy

I think you have to accept that your bike has something majorly wrong with it.. At anything above 2500 rpm, my bike is just fantastic and by 3,000 rpm, I can whack the throttle wide open and it just goes, no hesitation, no bogging, it just goes.. The same is true for part throttle as well.

Is there a lemon law where you are? I truly believe you are stuck with a lemon based on my experiences. I mean, I commute in stop and go traffic, in rush hour where we are barely moving and in first gear.. I am constantly on and off the throttle and it just works in all gears. The only slight issue is in first gear at ridiculously low rpm, like 1500-2000, THEN the bike gets a bit grumpy, but seriously, it's just as rideable as my BMW S1000RR was around town and far better at the track.

I am sorry that you are not getting your full ration of serious fun with this bike, because when it's working properly, it's effing brilliant.

If you are ever out this way, look me up and you can ride my bike to compare.

Cheers.

MMC said:

Am I the only one that sees posts where people talk about cruising at 3500 rpms...or even anything below 4000...and can't understand why anyone would run this bike at those rpms...and expect it to run as it should?

It's not a Goldwing.....

Click to expand...

Bear in mind, there's a distinct difference in usable rev ranges between the 1199R and the 1299. The 1299 will happily cruise on the freeway as low as 3000 rpm, I tend to want to see 4,000 rpm before I put her into 6th gear. The 14T front sprocket also makes a huge difference, even on the 1299.

You are welcome to ride my bike anytime by the way, since you are around this area quite often.

MMC said:

Am I the only one that sees posts where people talk about cruising at 3500 rpms...or even anything below 4000...and can't understand why anyone would run this bike at those rpms...and expect it to run as it should?

It's not a Goldwing.....

Click to expand...

I do. Like the noise down while cruising through populated areas. Didn't ..... about it,just happy it's a lot smoother now. So it's fun all over. It's sold as a street bike why not ride like one? Now it does.
I do ride it hard too. Just like the torque pull.

The dragon Lady pulls happily from 2000 rpm (can cruise at 2000 rpm in 6th if I so desire). What made it possible is a PCV with Autotune (2 wide band lamdas) and a 42 rear sprocket.

I debated wether to start a new thread or post here my opinion. Obviously settled on here.

I bought and installed the RB race on my 2015 1299s. Here are my thoughts:

Install:
I will state that I am very mechanically inclined. I always do the majority of work on my own bikes. I took my time on the install not trying to rush to finish. Instructions were fairly straight forward and relatively well documented. There were some omissions such as needing to remove the electrical pod on the right side of the bike to find connectors and wire routing. Otherwise the install was pretty straight forward. It took probably 3-4 hours at a casual work pace, most of that time was trying to remove body panels which I had never removed. I did have an issue after install with a check engine light. I called RB and got a somewhat ambiguous answer of "you botched the install". I was told to check for loose pins and such. I went back and double checked the connections, but didn't find anything obvious. The only possible solution I could think of was one of the locking clips on the 02 sensors broke when I was disconnecting the connector. It broke really easy, so I suspect it was possibly defective. When I reconnected everything the check engine light was gone, so something must have been loose. I would say that anyone with decent mechanical ability could install the RB. I hung the module in the general vacinity of where it is pictured. How it is supposed to be mounted is poorly documented and the Velcro provided is inadequate. I used zip ties to secure it.

How it works:
From the start the bike is much better. Fueling is so much better especially at low throttle, low rpm. Before the RB you could feel the exhaust butterfly changing positions as the bike would lurch on steady state throttle. It was also difficult to modulate the throttle just off closed throttle. Now the throttle is very linear with the exception of one point higher in the power and where it hits and accelerates like a bat out of hell. Heat feels a little lower, but that is hugely subjective. I can't even tell when the exhaust servo activates any more!

Slow said:

For insite on how picky I can be. I own a performance car shop. My street car is 1400rwhp and runs high 7's in the 1/4. So I am picky on drivability of vehicle's.

Click to expand...

Stop teasing already, what's that monster you're talking about? Pics or it didn't happen

NorCalDuke said:

Stop teasing already, what's that monster you're talking about? Pics or it didn't happen

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There's one.