Tank protector definitely needed. Been through loads of carbon fibre ones but now thinking the clear look better, imo.
I don't have a Ducati anymore, but on my Street Triple RS I chose a pad made by a company in Italy called Italpads. They do really nice designs, wait for it, for Italian bikes, along with other makes of course. The quality is superb, sticks well and quick delivery. Some of them have sort of little pads included, very useful to put where boots rub etc. Very individual looking, never seen another one like mine anywhere, and it usually gets comments from other Triumph riders. https://www.italpads.com/en/21-tank-pad-for-ducati Heres mine Stuart
I used lookalike carbon fibre wrap.........got some in a sample sheet from somewhere, black or white was the choice, drew the shape I wanted and cut them out with a scalpel.
I'm thinking about removing mine and replacing with clear, now that I've seen this thread. However, I'm worried about revealing mismatched (i.e. original) paintwork underneath. Which will then involve having to deal with a can containing lots of worms.
Which was one of my concerns. The fallback position would be to fix another same size one (not clear) over the old place.
Never say never but problems are typically when you remove stickers that people have clearcoated to the edge or paint fade. I don't think too many people clear coat tank beside tank pads because of the shape - its too difficult to attempt. Paint fade should come right with some T.cut improving/ restoring the red though a new clear over the top pad would sort that too. A few years ago I thought the CF look alikes were the business - funny how you change your mind...
I think clear are pretty good but also like the quality DP cf ones. I don’t like acres of cheap shit over the back of my tank (or anywhere else fir that matter). Where I removed the cheap cf one on my 748, over the years the back of the cf had rubbed the tank quite badly (the pad was held on with adhesive strips allowing some flex on the single skin cf pad, hence the rubbing). A good time with a dual action polisher and compound and it’s much better. Not perfect though but it’s a work in progress. There are pics of the process and results to date on my thread here: https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/748r-light-refurb-well-it-started-that-way.73113/
