Thyssenkrupp Wheels

About $1000 less for front and rear at BIKEHPS after the Pound to Dollar trade.

As an aside, ThysenKrupp also makes the OE CF wheels for Porsche and several others on the same 30 foot looms they make the Ducati wheels on, and have invested ALOT of money into making CF wheels mass produce-able with the same level of OE safety as other wheel materials, they are playing the long game on that and knew the costs of it going in, so I doubt they will get out of that line of biz.

My peoples, a shout out to Cycler for a hook up on a set.

I was a bit leery about going to a 6" rim on the V2 thinking it would detract from the nimbleness but I was wrong. Way wrong.
Throwing parts on the scale was interesting but doesn't translate the road going attributes too well. On purpose, I left all the suspension settings and pressures alone and took the maiden voyage this morning.

The first noticeable improvement was how smooth the ride was. Next, I practiced 'the sewer lid avoidance maneuver' rolling though town and it was actually less than stock with the same input. Maybe a foot and a half compared to two feet which I will attribute to the change in tire width/profile. (190/55 vs 180/60)

It being the wrong time of day, I babied it along the river for ten miles getting used to the attributes. Setting up for one corner is nothing when there are ten in a row. The Krupp wheels where so effortless and graceful transferring from side to side. Like a feather....with wheels and a motor.

The rolling circumference is a few mm smaller than stock so a bit of performance gain and a less 'nosey' riding position.

Foothills is 13 miles of new pavement and 17 miles of vintage blacktop with dips, sags and patchwork that can actually be advantageous. Today was like driving a whole new machine and I did get carried away a bit.

Although the tire/wheel combo weight differential isn't that huge, the change in inertia is. It is still possible to roll with your hands off the grips or go slow without fear of the bike falling over. I use to think, 'if you toss this thing, it's you' now even more so.

Pitch those clear covers, tidys and bling and come to the dark side.

I’m a relatively novice rider, but experienced racer so I’m sensitive to FEEL, these wheels make the bike noticeably more nimble even over the factory magnesium that I had on there.

min actually riding a bit better and leaning more threw the corners than I was because the bike just feels more intuitive and part of me in the twisties.

the downside, albeit a small downside, is that the lower gyroscopic forces make the bike feel a little less settled on the Highway going about 110 mph, any crosswind moves the bike a lot more suddenly.

min a track that wouldn’t be a problem but at higher speeds on the Highway it doesn’t track as well when passing big trucks etc.

I’m a relatively novice rider, but experienced racer

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bp_SFV4 said:

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porches…novice bike rider but have been a track rat with the cars off and on for 30 years.

obviosly bikes are a different skill set than cars, but some stuff carries over, like the sensitivity you develop on what the machine is doing under you.

I canceled my order with SBU and offered them to invoice me for the minor hassle of canceling the order…and ordered with BikeHPS.com who looks like a British outfit….SBU said something interesting when I asked if they could price match BIKEHPS price before I canceled the order, they said no and that BIKEHPS would likely cancel the order and re-invoice me for a higher amount because BIKEHPS doesn’t update their pricing as often as they should then re-invoice later when an order comes in.

so we’ll see I guess, will keep you guys updated…TBH a $1000 less than everyone else is charging might be too good to be true lol

That’s potentially accurate. From the time I ordered my Sicom parts to the time I received them (about 4 months) the price jumped considerably. Fortunately they were already paid for and I enjoyed the savings.

Steven31371 said:

I canceled my order with SBU and offered them to invoice me for the minor hassle of canceling the order…and ordered with BikeHPS.com who looks like a British outfit….SBU said something interesting when I asked if they could price match BIKEHPS price before I canceled the order, they said no and that BIKEHPS would likely cancel the order and re-invoice me for a higher amount because BIKEHPS doesn’t update their pricing as often as they should then re-invoice later when an order comes in.

so we’ll see I guess, will keep you guys updated…TBH a $1000 less than everyone else is charging might be too good to be true lol

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Your bike and your money, but you are not going to ride any better or enjoy it any more by installing this level of equipment. I think its been mentioned before; at your level you are far better spending 5-10k on coaching and trackdays. You will then actually feel and appreciate the upgrades, these are last 1% moves- the stock bike is so much better than you or me. I am probably coming from it differently, but the standard brakes still have the rear bouncing of the deck at 250k's delivering as much ass pucker as I need

While I would generally agree there is another factor and that is the ride and feedback that a high quality platform can deliver. I would hardly call myself a "good rider". I can find my way home from a ride without falling and noodle my way around a track day here and there but I can absolutely tell you that throwing my leg over a stock 1299 is night and day different than riding my bike. I used to race road bicycles way back in the day. I remember the first time I rode an expensive (6K in 1980's dollars) bike. The precision of the components and ease of operation were amazing and I wasn't riding junk to begin with. If you don't know what its like to ride top shelf parts on a well engineered precision platform that this is moot. Most people don't that's why gimmicks, hype and PR are the go to standard. The standard 99/v2 platform is a .... show of a daily rider in diverse conditions. My 1299 is the absolute smoothest, easiest to ride comfortable platform I have had in a sport bike but is took a lot to get it that way and a lot of the mods wouldn't be noticed or appreciated by most. Bottom line if it improves your riding experience, go nuts man. As far as the coaching is concerned, absolutely but temper that with what you want to achieve. I could be coached into being a better rider for sure but realistically, I'm going as fast and aggressive as I want to be and honestly have no desire to up my game and I'm probably riding at 60% of my ability and probably a lot less than the bikes. I am however a parts junkie.

Paul G said:

Your bike and your money, but you are not going to ride any better or enjoy it any more by installing this level of equipment. I think its been mentioned before; at your level you are far better spending 5-10k on coaching and trackdays. You will then actually feel and appreciate the upgrades, these are last 1% moves- the stock bike is so much better than you or me. I am probably coming from it differently, but the standard brakes still have the rear bouncing of the deck at 250k's delivering as much ass pucker as I need

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the two are not mutually exclusive, it’s not an either or for me, I already booked some coaching and track time at the earliest date available to me in my region which is in September.

but I also echo endodoc’s post, I do feel a difference, and enjoy it, does it make me a lot faster, probably not, do I care at 50 years old, probably not lol

but do I care about the fun of BUILDING a better machine and do I care about how it FEELS to ride it….very much so.

I’ve had enough Motorsports years in that I know HOW I like things to feel and I LOVE the feeling of LIGHTNESS….it makes any machine FEEL more alive.

I do (for realz) appreciate your concerns, and FULLY agree that nothing I spend in parts will replace seat time and instruction, but I’m not buying parts INSTEAD of seat time and instruction.

I also think that a better setup bike is easier to learn on….learning guitar might be a comparable analogy….often people buy a cheap guitar to learn on, but a low quality guitar has strings that are farther from the frets and is harder to keep in tune and play and hit your chords on than a more precision built instrument.

Irregardless, I like the FEELING of lightness in a go fast machine, it’s a thing lol

In my experience, and so far this is holding true with the bike, there is a progression you follow to make the machine more enjoyable.

1. the biggest impact is getting the suspension right, a poorly setup suspension has you all over the place abs inhibits the fun and safety while learning and lengthens the learning curve.
2. Get the contact patches right, meaning the ergonomics of how things feel at every point where your body contacts the machine. It’s a huge difference on how any machine feels and how fun and fast you learn with more enthusiasm when the contact patches are right.
3. Add lightness, assuming the 1st two are taken care of, nothing makes a machine more fun than lightness, because more so than power, lightness makes the machine feel more alive and visceral.
4. Add power, and like Shelby said: “There’s never too much power, just not enough traction.”

Of all of those the only one that can inhibit instead of helping you ride or drive better as a novice is more power. To that end, if I fall in love with track days on these bikes I’m probably going to buy a smaller displacement but well setup used beater that I don’t care about laying down to get proficient on.

lightness, better contact patches, better set up suspension all HELP not hurt one to learn and drive/pilot better and faster and make the learning process more fun.

1.Sure get the suspension right, its not that hard to do for a street bike.
2.Not sure what you mean, unless you are a giant or a midget the ergo's are pretty good stock
3.Lightness is relative, once you become accustomed to it the novelty disappears and only gets appreciated when the skill level gets up. In other words enjoy the wheel upgrade because pretty soon it will be normal!
4. Shelby was talking about cars in the 60's not bikes that have so much power that they require electronic rider aids to reign it in. Turn it all off, pin it and see what happens!

Yes definitely get something low power and cheap, a track setup SV650 perhaps? You will have more fun than you care to admit riding a bike like that at full throttle and in all honesty probably be nearly as fast around a track than the V4!

Paul G said:

btw, you dont need to be a "track" rider nor do you need to be able to corner at 62.5 degrees. Its your bike and you can do what you damn well please including parking it in your lounge as a display. My only interest here is that as a fellow rider you dont cream yourself all over the road because this animal got away on you.

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no worries brother, as you can see from my rather large chicken strips, I’m staying well within myself and this bikes capabilities on the street until I get some track time and instruction on it. I’d rather avoid it but I’m cool finding my limits on a low side in a track, but not so much into oncoming cars or off a cliff in the canyons around here lol

I also have an 1100 whp Porsche with 850 torque that will kill you if you look at it sideways so I’m no stranger to respecting power or a machine that’s more than I am driver lol

having said that, I don’t want this sidebar conversation to derail a very interesting thread so PM me if you have anything like this to add moving forward please.

Update….spoke with Gilles at BIKEHPS.com

he called me from Britain to confirm my setup, very good guy, has the SICOM front rotors in stock, and least a few, and for about $1000 less than anyone else stateside, and they ship immediately

the rear rotors are on back order.

Shout out to the guys at SBU who were very understanding and client centric and issued a refund on the cancelation with a good energy and spirit….I’ll be ordering from them frequently

Good info, I’m ordering another set

Of note about the pads, they are specific to the rotors and require a thorough bedding process, there is a material that needs to transfer from the pads to the rotors to bed them properly.

I also asked if I should order a second set of pads for future use abs he said in 5 years no one has order replacement pads, because apparently the pads and rotors pads material back and forth so little is lost in wear down over time.

will be interesting to see how they feel in terms of initial bite and final grip after the bed in process. He did say they are designed to perform AS WELL as the stock setup, but without fade, and adding lightness, but that’s fairly subjective.

I’ll see how they feel and then maybe do a master cylinder upgrade, which I didn’t need with my current pads.