I was drooling over a 999R at the local Sunday morning bike gathering and one thing that caught my eye (no, not all the beautiful carbon!) was that the rear ride height seems to be higher that my own 999S. I've checked the rear ride height adjust and its set according to the "stage 2" suspension setup instructions from an (can't remember the name) archived website. Does anyone know a reference measurement taken from two points (swingarm + subframe) ? '03 999S.
I wouldn't necessarily read too much into your observation. Raising the rear ride height used to be a quick fix to make the bike turn quicker. Had it been a 748 you were asking about, I'm sure I have the information but sadly not for a 999. Andy
The fact is most Ducatis from 1994 to 2012 utilise the same engine mount holes and swing arm pivot location. Add in the same geometry from the head stock and you have pretty much covered all ducati bikes from 748 916 996 998 749 999 1098 1198 for it to be possible for the overall geometry to all be exactly the same, its just a matter of set up! The ride height tool from a 748 998 etc era fits exactly the same on a 999 and therefor you can use the datum that came from ducati which means you are in a known quantity rather than random numbers from everywhere. the tools are still available on Ebay and stuff and the consistent information is also out there too, so you know whats low and whats high. no charge!
Got a link? (For ride height tool) my ebay foo must be a bit off as I got no hits for 916 ride height tool :/
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DUCATI-8...29692X874039Xbbc630034528560e1018a0d633c1123b as I said any ducati that era...
the tool is the same and same hole centres, but you might need slightly different sizes bushes for the frame. google it FBF do them still Dan Kyle... etc etc that SES are in the UK ...
Cheers for the info Looks like theres non on ebay currently and I contacted SES who have said they out of stock and considering not making any more :/ as they are a slow seller. Bugger. Anyone fancy these I suggest they contact SES , enough numbers may get a batch made. Their ebay store is here sesraceproducts on eBay
This reasoning is 100% correct, the datum tool bolts to the engine that is bolted to the frame that holds the sub frame (all fixed engineered Angles. the measuring tool bolts to the engine, attached to the frame that carries the pivot rocker for the suspension. Unless you have changed the pivot rocker the ride height datum tool will put you back to standard geometry and you can fine tune from there! It is not something you can just take a tape to and if you do unfortunately we might be reading about an accident some guy had on a bike instead of helping
late to the party sorry. Its all been covered above. The standard road bike specifies the (initial setup) ride height as being set with a eye to eye measurement of 285mm on the tie rod. This of course works on the basis that you are using stock linkage and shock length. It then says to use the bottom of the reflector on the numberplate hanger as the common point for datum reference measurements as your starting point. That hardpoint point can be anywhere as long as it's constant. it's no different to you putting a fixed bracket in place somewhere on the subrame and measuring to it knowing that it never changes (on your machine). There's no initial measurement from frame hardpoints on any of the 999 roadbike family. Its all done on the tie rod, and then it's all down to the correct spring and preload based on the individual. The website you're referring to is the section8 superbike setup that was doing the rounds. http://web.archive.org/web/20050311225127/section8superbike.com/749-999suspension.htm The ride height tool that is being talked about just gives you a fixed datum point to take a measurement from, nothing more. In the case of the said tool, it just bolts into your footpeg hanger mount points. it doesn't really matter where it lives in the Z axis as long as it's a fixed datum. If you really want to start a burning torch and pitchfork party ask for clarification as to whether the reference dimension and point for the ride height tool should be Euclidean or Geodesic. Always good for an armchair race engineer debate. And once you've sorted that out go and try explaining to car people that ride height and preload are two very different and unrelated things and look a the utter confusion on their faces. From the 999 workshop manual:
