Spent most of the day fitting K Tech DDS fork cartridges and rear shock to my 1198 Duc in a bid to stop it handling like a roller skate. Most of the time was spent making a triangular spanner for the fork tops (they don't supply one with a £1K fork kit ) but they do work very, very well.
The rear shock has a By Pass valve and there's no mention about how to set it up in the manual. I've got the comp and rebound in the ball park (just need my bit of twisty test road to dry out for a proper sorting) but I've no idea how to set up the By Pass. Do any of you lot know anything about this?

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If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough.

Normally with a new by-pass you have to get rid of the protesters first!
(know this tech section but could not resist)

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See God, Then back off! Kevin Schwantz 1991

I am so totally shocked that you have to spend so much money on suspension on an already expensive thoroughbred breed to make it handle OK...

K-Tech appear quite helpful, never bought anything off them, but I dropped in as I was passing once and they showed me around and showed me what all the bits were inside a Buell fork (which I had with me) and what they would change and why (all a bit over my head).

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08 Specialized Langster

I think there is that much give in my old bones and body that I don't notice the difference in suspension settings like others seem to ..........................................either that or i am that slow it doesn't matter

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2001 X1 2009 1125CR 2006 Uly X3 2010 Uly a fully Maz'd S1 and a 1991 RS1200 Westwind.

Daft question but is there a Duke forum with a tech section that might have a Mario on it .. ?



Sorry Chief

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"With square conduct, level steps, and upright intentions ..”

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Mithered ta death.
92 MB
96 S2T
98 S1W
00 M2
01 X1
03 P3
10 CR

I've tried that, but a lot of folk on the Ducati Snoring Club, Ducatisti etc, etc don't actually know a whole lot about their bikes, and let Dealers do their work for them - there's another site too, but they won't let me join Feedback from them was nil.

The main problem is that new Ducs tend to come sprung for 2 up riding, so solo riding is very harsh and when you get a shift on, even small bumps bounce you out of the seat. The main problem with the forks was stiction caused by the un anodised components rubbing (the fork oil was very black and contaminated after 2k miles ) I've already resprung and revalved once, but the forks were still really crap. With the new cartriges they are lovely and compliant The DDS shock gives the rear of the bike a very planted confident feel, whereas before, the damping was letting the tyre skip and get a bit chunked up - not any more

K Tech recommend that their forks and shock are rebuilt every 20 hours of use, despite everything being anodised inside - how long do most people leave their fork oil in before getting around to changing it

I'm sure the new suspension is completely wasted on someone of my modest riding ability, but it makes me feel good and stops me having any excuses now

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If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough.

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If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough.

The interesting thing is that you can feel the difference and you knew there was something wrong.

I don't think I have ever owned a bike that I thought the suspension needed work on, apart from when shocks had lost all their damping.

And as for your findings, they say a lot for Ducati quality.

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08 Specialized Langster

It's Showa quality

That's the nice thing about quality suspension, you can actually feel the difference. Like you, I've had lots of bikes with 'normal' damping, and fiddling with the adjusters makes no difference at all - so you can't feel any difference . This was brought home to me when I fitted a AST shock (another quality bit of kit) to my X1. Every couple of clicks made a noticeable difference, but not in the way you would expect . After a couple of days pissing about and getting frustrated, I phone Ronnie (and got a Lady member of Staff who spoke English very well) and it turned out he'd put the wrong instructions in with the shock When I got the correct instructions, everything went to plan and it worked brilliantly (at 1/2 the price of the K Tech shock )

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If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough.

Adam - I have recently fitted a Ohlins TTX rear shock to my Hayabusa. The difference as you say is noticeable. Though when setup to rider weight and front and back are married up. I got mine set-up by Kais suspension who look after BSB, I would defiantly recommend them. Links below.


http://www.kais-ohlins.co.uk/ or http://www.kais-performance.co.uk/default.htm