This isn’t a groundbreaking intense project, more a document of my winter refresh of my 2007 1098s. Started off with recent fuel fill up at an Esso garage I don’t normally use. After 1-2miles the bike starts coughing badly. Long story short, contaminated fuel. So tank off to drain and replace fuel filter. Inside of fuel tank pictured showing dirt.
I use a dump churn style fuel filler for my bike and the shit i fish out of the fillers filter is unreal. I only use Shell V Power unless I can't find anything else as well (No better). Common sadly.
So with the tank off I thought it made sense to have it repainted - it wasn’t bad at all just a few swirl marks from exuberant polishing which would probably have come good with a MOP and some compound... but I’d purchased some fairings from a forum member which had some bubbling under the decals which I wanted to fix anyway (again not bad but one of those things that would have bugged me). Pictured is the bike before paint with the original fairing panels.
Yea shell is my closest petrol station and normal go to- but I guess when you need a top up it can’t be helped!
At this stage after some deliberation I thought might as well have the whole bike painted as it would then be pretty much mint.... so stripped off the bodywork. By the way the standard power commander routing on theses is awfull!! Had to disconnect the entire loom to remove the seat panel! I will be making a quick connector to make this job easier in the future.
At this stage I replaced the fork seals but didn’t get any photos. I used the standard seals from Moto rapido (part number pictured). Is anyone using anything else with better success? I hear that these aren’t meant to last that long?
With the bike fully stripped down, I finished off the service. New pipercross air filter, Motul 300V 10w40 engine oil, NGK MAR10A-J spark plugs, Mahle KL 145 fuel filter, Ducati fuel pump seal, Brake/ Clutch fluid. Then wait for the paint work to be finished....
I am really pleased I decided to go for standard paint work as I had toyed with the idea of doing something a little different or 1098r esq.... but I’m glad I didn’t. Paintwork has come out well, it could benefit from a proper polish , but for now I have just treated it to couple of coats of wax. I don’t think the photos show the quality of the paint or depth to the lacquer. It had 3 coats of “very hard” lacquer, so I can polish to my heart content.
Next - wheels off (again) to fit a new set of tyres. I use Michelin pilot sport 2CTs as I normally commute (non motorway) and get decent mileage out of them whilst also being far more capable than me when wobbling round on track days or sporty rides. At least they have always been so on my Gixxers- first new set off boots I’ve fitted to the 1098.
Finally today... a wet and windy ride to get a fresh MOT - now ready for some use! next winters project I’m thinking exhaust off for a full mirror polish. Still tempted to put the standard clutch cover back on also.
