The 1199 Flapper valve

There is always a lot of interest in the flapper valve so I thought I would post a couple photos so people can see what it actually looks like. These photos have been posted before but it is sometimes hard to search to find them.

One shot the valve is open in the spring loaded default position. In the next you see it closed. There is only a very small gap for gas to flow in the closed position when the cable pulls against the spring. I only noticed today that there is two small phillips head screws holding the valve on the shaft. They have a spot of weld to lock them on. Dremel the spot weld and undo two screws and you could remove it easily. Or cut the whole thing out as others have done.

The next photo is an old one from a post I put up in 2012 just showing how the cable is connected OEM.

I have also posted the servo motor pic. Its on a scale and you can see you save nearly half a kilo of weight getting rid of it. 465 grams.

NB This is from my 1199S from 2012, so may be different for newer models like the 1299.

Happy flapping.

kill the flappers

Its absolutely GREAT to see some of the Old Time Members putting up good info like this with pics and all Brad! VERY VERY good job on this one my friend, and good to see ya posting useful stuff still- as you always did Brad!

Rock on!

is it advisable to remove the servo motor and the flapper valve if you have stock exhaust?

Gunny Fitz said:

Its absolutely GREAT to see some of the Old Time Members putting up good info like this with pics and all Brad! VERY VERY good job on this one my friend, and good to see ya posting useful stuff still- as you always did Brad!

Rock on!

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Thanks Gunny. Good to see you are still lurking around there and keeping an eye on us. I hope you are getting out on the Tri sometimes. That is one nice looking beast.

maslov said:

is it advisable to remove the servo motor and the flapper valve if you have stock exhaust?

Click to expand...

I see no harm in it. You will not get an error code that shows on the dash but when connected at the dealer they will see it on their diagnostic equipment that it is disconnected. If you disconnect the cable you may as well remove the motor. Just takes more time.

For the first 2 years I just had the cable disconnected. I only removed the servo motor because I had everything pulled apart to fit the Akra system. You could probably do it in 90 mins.

Sweet! That'll give me something to do before spring sets in

Great post.

Yes, you can run your bike this way with the stock exhaust. It should run better and it eliminates the chance that the flapper gets corroded into the CLOSE position. Keep in mind that most Ducati dealers will reconnect it for you during servicing, then charge you for it. Best to just cut the cable, as you'll never need it again.

I didn't removed my servo when I disconnected mine, but if it weighs that much, that .... is comin' off.

Just removed mine. Pretty straightforward. I took a few pics, but it's easier to just steal 'em from the cloud.

Disconnect (or cut) servo cable (it looks like a bicycle brake cable) leading into the flapper valve on the exhaust.

Remove left side lower fairing.
Remove the four Torx bolts that face the lower front tire on the bottom of the radiator fan shroud.
Disconnect the servo electrical connector (in yellow--pic stolen from the 899 forum)

Disconnect the fan cable (directly in front of the servo connector)
Pull the servo and shroud out (careful how you pull out the cable, it'll get caught easily in the recesses of the exhaust.)
Pull the fan cable out through the other end of the servo housing.
Plug fan cable back in.
This is what your bike will look like without the servo and servo housing:


Put bike back together.

Takes about 20 min. Difficulty level is about a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10.

This is a video that I found about installing slip-ons, but this guy has a pretty good brake down on removing the servo motor and flapper valve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k1XuvENd4Q