Ducati suspension upgrade, part 2

Well, I found a good buy on ebay and I have a set of forks. Actually, I have a set of forks, calipers that are still mounted on the forks, an axle that is clamped into the forks, and the lower triple tree as well. This assembly came from a 2005-2006 Suzuki GSX-R 1000, and the fork diamaters are correct for my Ducati at 50mm/54mm. The forks are “upside down” and the uppers are gold anodized which should look nice installed on the black Ducati. I just need to get the spacers and the fender brackets and I will have the parts necessary to do the swap. There are some incidental parts like copper sealing washers and brake fluid but those should be easily found locally.

I am pretty sure this swap is a rainy morning job, especially with an extra pair of hands. Once installed, setting the preload, rebound, and compression dampening will be trial and error, at least for me. I’m not a suspension expert so I will have to find the right section of road and run back and forth until the adjustments seem correct. Not terribly precise I know, but I have to start learning somewhere.

Ducati suspension upgrade, part 1

The Ducati front forks, good as they are, are a compromise. The sag, rebound and compression dampening are set for a rider of average weight and allow no adjustments. Well, you CAN adjust them by replacing the springs, and changing to lighter or heavier fork fluid and/or altering the fluid levels. Not optimum for me as I would much rather ride than pull the front end apart because changes are needed. Never fear, there is an answer. Ducati will happily sell you fully adjustable forks for your 695 and the price tag will exceed $1200. WOW, that’s a lot. But there is another solution to the suspension upgrade question – use fully adjustable forks from a different bike.

There are two possibilities here – adjustable forks from a different Ducati or adjustable forks from a different brand of bike. Both will work but you may age significantly while waiting to find a set of Ducati forks. The best answer is to source fully adjustable forks from a different brand of bike entirely. Suzuki forks are made by Showa, just like the Ducati forks. And even better, forks from the 2002-2006 Suzuki GSX-R 1000 will fit the Ducati triple trees perfectly. Other than the forks, calipers and an axle, all that is necessary to have fully adjustable forks on your 695 is a set of spacers for the axle (the Ducati wheel is a little narrower than the Suzuki wheel) and spacers to center the brake rotors in the Suzuki calipers. The Suzuki calipers are radial-mount calipers and the banjo bolt from the Ducati brake line will bolt right up to it – just like it was made to go there.

Look on ebay for forks, calipers and an axle – they are there all the time. Expect to spend around $400 for forks, calipers, and an axle. If you have access to a lathe, you can make the required spacers, otherwise post a question on the ducatimonsterforum.org and someone will be able to point you in the right direction.

Once you have the forks, calipers, an axle, and the spacers you are ready to begin. I would expect the swap to take a half-day or so. It should be a good project for a rainy weekend day. You will need to bleed the front brakes, so be sure you have fresh brake fluid on hand. While you’re at it you may as well replace the rear brake and clutch fluid too.

You need:

  • 2002-2006 Suzuki GSX-R 1000 forks (50mm top/54mm bottom diameter)
  • calipers for the forks
  • an axle for the forks
  • spacers to accomodate the narrower Ducati wheel and to center the rotors in the calipers
  • a fender adapter to mount the Ducati fender on the Suzuki forks
  • brake fluid, a single 10mm banjo bolt, 4 copper sealing washers

Let’s get the parts together and then move on to the swap itself.

Goldwing suspension upgrade, part 3

And so, it begins – the saga of the u-nuts. I ordered some from McMaster-Carr that looked better than OEM but they didn’t fit properly so I returned them. Then, I ordered a half-dozen OEM ones ($2.50 each, ouch!) from HDL and waited for them to arrive. While I was waiting I decided to make some replacements. I ground off the protruding threads from the bottom of the OEM u-nut and drilled the hole out to match the other side. I got some 5mmx.8 nuts and jb-welded them onto the bottom of the u-nut. Now I have some u-nuts that will fit properly, and also have the added strength of a regular 5mm nut instead of 2 or 3 stamped threads. I was looking for some additional strength for the 2 middle u-nuts on each side as that’s where my Baker Air-Wings fasten down.

Today I put the top shelter back on, remembering to plug in both audio plugs and the radio antenna. Plugged in the connector for the pushbuttons on the meter panel, the two tweeter wires and pushed the meter panel into place. I left the pockets out for now, and began the preflight.

Turned the kill switch off, and turned the key. The dash lights worked as expected. I turned the kill switch to “run” and the FI light came on, the pump pressurized and the FI light went off. Started it and it sounded like it did last fall. Checked all lights, turn signals front and rear, brake lights, headlights both low and high beam. Checked the headlight adjuster – worked fine. Check the audio system, AM, FM, WX, speaker and headphones. Verified the suspension preload at “0”. Got on, tested reverse. So far, so good.

The ride height is a little higher than stock, mainly because of less sag. There was a noticeable difference when taking the bike down off the centerstand with traxxion/progressive installed than before. I didn’t measure it but I noticed the difference right away. Pulled out of the driveway and wondered what happened to the bump at the end. First impression underway – firmer but not harsher. I will play with the rear damping later – for now it’s set at the delivered middle-of-the-range. I got up to 60mph and tested the cruise and the clutch/handbrake/footbrake deactivate of the cruise. Tested above the setting, letting the cruise coast down and below the range, letting the cruise accelerate. All working well. Apparently I got everything plugged back in the way it should be. The steering seems very similar to the OEM bearings, not tighter, heavier, or excessively dampened.

Of course, I had to see if there was a wobble. I powder coated the wheels and put on new Bridgestones front and rear while everything was apart. At 60 mph, cruise off, removed my hands from the grips to see what would happen. Not a wobble to be seen, felt, or imagined. Went all the way down to 20 mph or so and pulled the clutch in and called it good.

All in all, a good-sized project, but not brain surgery. Organization is key to success. The only special tools I used were the bearing drivers and the steering stem socket. All other tools were standard and would be found in most any decently equipped garage. I do not have a table lift, I used the centerstand and a floor jack to do the lifting and supporting. Almost all of the work was done solo. Having a helping hand would definitely speed up the proceedings but is not necessary.

Ride report to follow…

Goldwing suspension upgrade, part 2

I decided to go with the Progressive 460 rear shock, mainly due to the adjustable rebound damping on this unit. The Traxxion rear shock price was within a few dollars so I chose the adjustable one. Both units use a 1200 lb/inch spring, while the OEM spring is 900 lb/inch rate spring. Since I had just finished installing the front end, I already had the top shelter off but a few more pieces are removed and bolts loosened to be able to remove the gas tank. I had not looked forward to this part of the upgrade, but it turned out just fine. The tank finally came out but the ’06 wiring harness (or maybe just MY ’06 wiring harness) had a stiff bundle of wires exiting the relay panel over the rear of the tank and it took a bit of work to get the tank out.

Once the tank is out removing the shock is easy. Loosening the right-side saddlebag and sliding it back a few inches made easy work of removing the actuator. My actuator began to labor at 5, and last year it began to labor at one, so I decided to refill the actuator while it was off the bike. I used Honda SS8 (10 weight) fork fluid for the refill. Reinstalling the shock and preload adjuster was pretty easy with everything out of the way.

While the gas tank was off, I followed the advice of others and checked the coolant hose clamps to be sure they were tight. In my case they were, but I loosened a couple, twisted them to make future checks easier, and tightened them back down. I also checked the main ground lug for corrosion and found it to be tightly fastened and clean.

Putting the gas tank back in required some wrestling with the wiring harness but since it came out it was definitely going back in. A little swearing and some silicone spray and the tank was back in and bolted in place and the wiring bundles returned to their proper location.

Somehow, while it was off the bike, I managed to break one of the tabs on the top shelter – I have no idea when or how. I used abs cement and some fiberglass cloth to repair it, and it’s now stronger than new. The gas overflow tray is held onto the tank by plastic “fingers” and when I went to reinstall it every one was broken except one. Of course that delayed things until I could get a replacement from HDL. Got that and I will not remove that piece if the tank needs to come out again – I’ll just remove the hose from it. Another item to attend to while the top shelter was off – I redid the shielding on the cruise control. I used 8 thicknesses of heavy-duty foil and I hope this is better at blocking the 2-pitch noise from the cruise control actuator.

OK, ready for final reassembly…

Goldwing suspension upgrade, part 1

After last September’s Wingstock, where I was able to ride a Traxxion-equipped Goldwing, I had pretty much decided to go forward with the suspension update. The hard part for me was the cost – it ain’t cheap. I finally rationalized that I would spend the money but that I was going to do the wrenching myself. I was going to replace tires over the winter and as part of that I was going to have the wheels powdercoated.

The first step was to disassemble the front end in order to extract the forks. Removing the fenders and calipers was fairly simple and I used a trick I’ve used for a long time – a muffin pan. I put the bolts and nuts in the muffin pan in the order I removed them and wote a note about which side of the bike and where they came from. I didn’t know how long the bike would be disassembled and I didn’t want to rely on my memory during reassembly.

With just a bit of luck, I was able to remove the forks without removing the top shelter. So, I packed them up and sent them off to Traxxion. Surprisingly, I had them back exactly 8 days after the UPS guy picked up the box. I had the rebound-damping adjustable fork caps installed. Having the forks back was great, but I wasn’t quite ready for reassembly just yet. I wanted to replace the steering stem bearings too. Since you have to disassemble the bike to this point plus a fair amount more, doing it now made a lot of sense. I removed the meter panel and top shelter and to give me additonal room I decided to remove the meter assembly as well. I know the rubber hoods on the plugs are a pregnant dog to reseat, but I decided the additional room was worth it. I removed the handlebars, the top triple tree, and finally the steering stem came out. Fred’s maintenance DVDs had entertained me to the point that I was able to replace the bearings fairly easily. The OEM bearings were in fine shape, and were well-greased from the factory. Removing the lower race from the stem destroyed it, so the OEM bearings were tossed. Reassembly was fairly easy, the most important part is to be sure the new races are seated completely. I chose to use a lower torque value than a lot of people used as I think the excessively high torque value will dampen the steering and slow the rate of left-right and right-left transitions. I chose to go with 15 ft-lbs, as that is the torque value for the GL1500 stem bearings and they were tapered roller bearings too. With the stem bearings replaced and the top nut torqued to spec, completing the reinstall of the forks and the remainder of the front end took less than an hour. The axle slipped through the newly-powdercoated wheel/new Bridgestone tire and the alignment was perfect. I torqued the remainder of the bolts and then put the front fender pieces back on. Front end work completed.

Now the real fun begins…

Bringing home the Ducati, part 2

Well, I sure slept well Sunday night and I earned it with a 700 mile day. Today’s ride would be about 300 miles or so, much shorter and pleasantly, the final stretch for home. I lingered around the place, packing slowly for the trip, checking the bike over thoroughly as I strapped on the tailbag. Everything was fine except for a loose screw in the left rear turn signal assembly. I used some blue painters tape to ensure the turn signal wouldn’t depart the bike, and stopped at a small used car lot to borrow an allen wrench. Ah, the wonderfully complete Ducati tool kit strikes again. They were very accomodating and in about 5 minutes had tightened the screw and was on my way north.

The wind had picked up considerably, something I didn’t notice at the woods before I left. Now, thinking about it, of course not. I was at ground level, the wind very well blocked by the forest of trees in every direction. Riding north, out in the open, the wind was merciless. All of my other bikes have a windshield, and of course the Goldwing has a full fairing out front. The Ducati can’t be bothered with any of that, so you are left to face the wind on your own. I began to feel like a bobble-head doll, expecially when passing big trucks. After several hours of this, my neck began to complain about it. Looking over my shoulder before moving into the passing lane became somewhat painful, but necessary.

One thing I will have to address quickly is the mirrors. They provide a great view of my shoulders and not much more. Sure, you can lean right or left to actually see behind you, but since I do my best to keep a good scan going I was moving around a lot. I’m going with bar-end mirrors to solve this problem. Yes, they will widen the bike but more importantly they will provide a clear view to the rear – absolutely essential when riding in any traffic at all. The brand I will probably purchase is CRG, they have a ball and detent to fold them inward when parking or covering the bike – a handy feature. Review to follow.

When I was riding the final few miles home, it got cold. The thermometer said 50 degrees, but when you’re moving at 70+ mph with no wind protection it seems a good bit cooler than that. It was good to see home, and better still to have a nice hot shower and cup of coffee. A long ride, on a reliable machine, is fun all by itself. But, being home is good too. I can see a few changes to the bike – I had plenty of time to think about what they might be and with some miles on it I think I can prioritize the changes pretty well. The mods and accessories phase is underway.

Bringing home the Ducati, part 1

I sold the Shadow ACE and made a deal for the Ducati Monster 695 on the same day. That’s the easy part. Now the somewhat more complicated logistics of getting a motorcycle from Tallahassee, Florida to northern Illinois in the (usually damp and rainy) springtime.

First, I needed to get to Tallahassee. Looking at the calendar, the first opportunity looked to be the weekend of April 4th, and I confirmed with Gabe that the 4th was OK with him. Then I found a reasonably priced one-way ticket on Northwest that connected through Memphis that was scheduled to arrive just before noon on Friday. Now to handle the clothing/gear for the trip. I did some additional reading and found that the Mini-Beta Tailbag by Wolfman Luggage was highly recommended by others on ducatimonsterforum.org so I ordered one. It arrived in plenty of time and has plenty of room for the necessities of the road. Since the flight was connecting and was a close connection at that, I decided to box up my riding gear (jacket, gloves, kevlar jeans, boots, and jacket) and ship them to Gabe’s house so they would be waiting for me. The box arrived on Wednesday, so the gear was there. Spoke with my insurance company, gave them the VIN, and they faxed proof of insurance for the trip home. The logistics were under control.

Now the uncontrollable and unpredictable reared it’s head – the weather. According to the weather forecasts the thunderstorms and rain would be in Tallahassee Friday and would make my trip home completely damp and more than a little miserable. Yes, I’ve ridden in the rain before and will again. I was just not enthused about starting a 1000+ mile trip in the rain. The forecasts started to improve as Friday got closer, but they all still contained possibilities of rain. They were correct.

I landed, a bit late as the flight crew came from Montgomery, Alabama on the east side of a fairly active cold front. Not a good omen, to my way of thinking. Gabe picked me up at the airport, a pleasure to meet him. The bike was exactly as he had described it, clean, well-maintained, and ready to go. We grabbed a bite to eat and I changed into my riding gear, packed the tailbag and strapped it on, and I headed out. I left Tallahassee heading west, thinking I might be able to skip around the southern edge of the front or maybe find a way through. Nope. I got about 70 miles or so west of Tallahassee and ran into rain with the guarantee of drenching rain further ahead. I turned around and found a room at the Hampton Inn in Marianna, Florida. The people were nice and I found a good dry spot for the bike. I hadn’t planned on staying unti Sunday, but the weather on Saturday was miserable with tornadoes in Mississippi and Alabama. Sunday looked a lot better and I was ready to be moving north so I planned a 6am departure. It was very foggy and damp so it was cool on the bike, but soon the miles were rolling up and I was north of Montgomery and catching occasional glimpses of the sun. By the Tennessee line the sun was out and blue sky was the rule. The throb of the motor and the sun on my face and the miles rolling by made for a very enjoyable ride.

The Ducati has a small gas tank. On the Goldwing, the tank is 7+ gallons and the Ducati is half that. Not knowing how accurate the reserve light was and also not knowing where the open gas stations were I was conservative until I did some math and figured I was getting 46+ mpg and could go 120 miles and still have a comfortable reserve. Actually, stopping and stretching is good for you and helps keep your attention focused on the road and the other drivers.

I pulled into a gas station just north of Louisville for my last stretch before I got to my destination for the day – my place in southern Indiana. There were a couple of other bikes parked so I stopped by them and we started talking. They had been out riding and were heading for home. The remarked about their 120 mile day and asked me how far I’d ridden. I told them I left Florida early that morning and I had ridden over 600 miles that day. I guess they decided that I had the mileage crown all to myself so we said goodbye and ride safely and were on our individual ways. I made it to my place, brought the bike inside, took a hot shower, made popcorn, and went to bed.

A long day’s ride on a bike that isn’t really made for interstate distances was over. The bike can handle it easily, and it did – the bike ran great all day. The hard part for me was the riding position – considerably more aggressive than the Goldwing or VTX, it places much more weight on your wrists and shoulders. Handlebar risers will help that situation, and I had a set with me just for that eventuality, but had no tools to install them. Oh, well, the long day is done and tomorrow’s ride home is easy compared to today – or so I thought…

Hint: bobble-head doll.

A different direction…

Well, I sold my ’03 Honda Shadow ACE. I had intended to have AFT turn it into a firearms-themed bobber, but I decided to go the Goldwing route. I love to ride and I am certain that the Goldwing will log more miles than a custom bobber would rack up. By opting completely out of the custom bobber project, I decided to sell the Shadow. I hope Dan is happy with the bike – it was in immaculate condition and we agreed on a fair price.

I have been interested in a Ducati for some time, and my visit to the Ducati display at the Chicago motorcycle show was the final straw. I joined the ducatimonster.org and read and read and read. I learned about air-cooled vs water cooled Monsters. I learned about problems that come up more often than others, I learned about exhaust and engine performance mods, I learned about the differences between models. The main thing I learned was that the forum members are knowledgeable, proud of their bikes, and passionate about their choice of motorcycles.

I’ve figured out part of what draws me to this machine – it’s the mechanicalness of it. The trellis frame, the lack of bodywork, the exposed engine, exposed exhaust, the adjustability of the controls, all of it speaks function first, form second.

The result of all of this was that I found a good deal on a 2007 Ducati Monster 695 Dark. The bike is in Florida, which means I will have a 1000+ mile ride to get it home. The problem with the ride home is that I will have to ride through the mountains of GA/NC/TN; what a terrible situation to face. The good part of the ride is that I may have to ride through the mountains more than once. I know, I can feel the sympathy from here.

Wingstock 2007, part 2

Woke up early, went downstairs to the continental breakfast for coffee. One thing I’ve learned is to take the tray that is usually under the ice bucket to breakfast so you can carry two cups of coffee, OJ, milk, and a bowl of cereal back to the room. Mission accomplished, no spills. I look at weather radar and it’s not good news. Rain is moving in so I finish breakfast, pack up, check out, and hit the road. I manage to get away before the rain gets to Elizabethtown, but the respite was temporary. The gps display hints that wetness may be unavoidable, and a quick rainshower proves the point.

I’m at the exit for Mammoth Cave National Park, so I opt to exit here and see what the rain gods have in mind for today. I stop and fill the tank, and take some time to survey the radar and the general gray skies. I decide to go to Mammoth Cave National Park, since I’m so close and I have a National Parks Pass. That decision turns out to be a wet one. I get back close to Bowling Green and it’s raining hard and more rain is coming. I find an abandoned gas station next to an operating one and I take refuge under the awning. A pleasant surprise is that the awning is transparent to XM signals and I can continue to watch the area of rain moving west to east. I get a cup of coffee and a snack and wait out the rain. While I’m waiting, I make some calls and strangely, people that are sitting at desks working are none too sympathetic to a motorcyclist on vacation even if they are getting wet. Laughter seemed to be the most common response. Undeterred by the laughter, I reiterate the motto “biking is better than working.” Although, biking in the rain isn’t a lot better than working, but it is better. Barely.

The rain eventually clears out, but leaves the roads very wet. I head out, the next major town is Nashville. Most of the ride to Nashville is uneventful, but as I get closer there are some storms moving from the south between Nashville and Knoxville, so I opt for a warm lunch and the time should allow the storms to move across the route. Lunch was good and the storms are now north of my route. Knoxville arrives on the gps right on schedule and I turn south towards Chattanooga. The terrain is becoming more hilly and mountains are visible. This is why I came down here – to ride in the north Georgia mountains. Continuing south, I can see some storms moving towards the northeast near Canton, my destination. I decide to stop and top off the tank, and take my time so that the storms can move through.

It didn’t quite work as planned. I was dry until I was on highway 20 heading for Canton. I got behind a log truck running about 30 mph and that slow speed gave the thunderstorm plenty of time to wet me down. The truck and the rain worked in perfect concert so that when I got to the hotel, my pants were soaked. My jacket, helmet, and gloves kept my upper body dry, but my jeans were soaked.

After a last-minute route change and two days of dodging rain, I was there. The trip was over 800 miles, and was the longest one-way ride I’ve taken. I learned about dodging weather, the importance of a warm and waterproof jacket, the fact that stopping for a while is often a lot safer than pushing on, and that a visit to Mammoth Cave National Park will cause you to get wet (100% of the time, in my experience).

I met up with John at the hotel, mrprez on the GL1800 forums, and we had dinner at Cracker Barrel. We decided to take a ride tomorrow on a route he’s familiar with, so the next adventure awaits.

Wingstock 2007, part 1

Wednesday rolled around, warm but not overly so. I really didn’t have a lot to pack – just some clothes and toiletries. I had some last-minute changes in the route and decided on an overnight stop in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. The route was uploaded to the gps and everything was ready to go. Shut the thermostat off, turn off the water valve in the laundry room, bike outside, close the garage door. Go back into the house, check that all lights are off, doors and windows shut, then turn the alarm on and shut and lock the door. Oops, forgot the bluetooth earpiece for my cell phone – unlock the door, turn the alarm off. Find the earpiece, and go through the alarming and locking stuff again.

Finally, everything loaded and ready to go, bike warmed up. Put on jacket, insert earbuds, put on helmet, put on gloves, make sure everything is zipped and velcroed. Reset the tripmeter, check the clock, and we’re off. I quickly found out that the voice prompts from the gps will make it damn near impossible to listen to XM, particularly when the gps thinks you should turn and you decide not to turn. It will want you to turn around and reroute at every opportunity and will tell you over the audio that you need to turn. When you don’t it will say “recalculating” and then start the process over again. I stopped and figured out how to turn off the voice prompts. At last, music without interruptions. Except that the earbuds are getting really uncomfortable now. My helmet is a new Nolan N-42 3/4 helmet, and the foam around the ears is in a different place than in my Nolan N-102 flip helmet. There isn’t nearly as much room for the earbuds that the other helmet had, so I stop in Joliet to cut some foam off so they aren’t as long. It is better, but still not as comfortable as with the N-102. Oh, well. I am NOT going back home to switch helmets.

Headed south now, listening to XM channel 7 (70s music) with the occasional change to channel 6 (60s music) and making good time. Near Layafette, Indiana (GO PURDUE!) the nexrad shows some rain ahead. Suddenly, I’m in the middle of a rainshower but the rain is supposed to be AHEAD of me, not ON me. Oh well, I guess it rains even if the nexrad says not. I duck under a gas station awning to wait it out as it looks to be moving through at a good clip to the east. I bought gas and a snack, and headed out. Unfortunately, even though it wasn’t raining now, the roads were wet and the spray kicked up by other vehicles made it seem like it was raining. Finally, the road dried off and I did as well, a few miles further down the road. Rain showed up again near Indianapolis, this time it was the leading edge of a wide area of rain. It was drizzling a little so I upped the pace to get ahead of the main body of rain and was largely successful. About 10-15 miles south of Indy the roads were dry. The skies stayed gray but there was no more rain. I crossed the Ohio River at Louisville, and headed for Elizabethtown. Arrived around 5pm, found dinner and checked into the hotel. After a hot shower and some checking into tomorrow’s weather I called it a day.

I really had not planned to use the newly activated nexrad weather radar on this trip, but I guess it really wasn’t my decision. it worked very well, and once it’s been on for a while it will show the movement of the precipitation. Knowing the direction and rate of movement, you can make a decision to wait, reroute, speed up, etc. to try and avoid the worst. Yes, people have ridden motorcycles for years without radar and done just fine, but since weather is so much more a factor when on a motorcycle than in a car, I think that the additional information can be used to make the ride a safer one. Perhaps less wet as well, but in my mind the real benefit is safety.