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BIKES: Ducati 848 EVO Project Bike Parts Install - Part 2
So with a big box full of goodies from Ducati, I aimed the trusty rusty four-door south and headed for Fast Frank Shockley’s workshop.
Ducati 848 EVO Project Bike Parts Install - Part 2
So with a big box full of goodies from Ducati, I aimed the trusty rusty four-door south and headed for Fast Frank Shockley’s workshop. For those who don’t know Frank, he has built, tuned, and raced his air-cooled Ducatis to a couple of Moto ST championships in recent years, and he now builds, tunes, and fabricates parts for racers who want to go fast. He is still an active racer and certainly lives up to his name. Rolling the bike up on the lift, our first order of operation was to take a look at the suspension. As we prepared, Frank told me a lot of people jack the back end of the 848s to help them turn faster, so it was no surprise that he found the rear ride-height adjuster wound all the way out. Lowering the adjuster, he then put it back to a more neutral setting. The idea behind this was that I should just try it like this before we started making any major changes to the suspension, and when we did, we should do it trackside.
Next he changed the oil and filter, dumped the radiator fluid for WaterWetter, and performed a detailed safety check to ensure everything was in order. Brakes were cleaned and bled, and we had plenty of pad life left so didn’t need to think about a change. Then it was time to check out the shiny new parts. A pair of Termignoni slip-ons came out first, followed by a Ducati racing ECU and a beautiful set of Ducati racing rear sets. You have to see these to believe how beautiful they are and the quality of the machine work and finish. A different windscreen came out which emptied the box, and Frank went to work. I had sourced a new battery from Racing Batteries, which saved us a little over seven pounds compared to the OEM item. The pipes took another six and a half pounds off, and losing the mirrors, passenger foot pegs, and license-plate holder slimmed the Ducati down a further 5.2 pounds, for a total weigh saving of close to 20 pounds. If the equation of ten pounds equaling one horsepower is correct, this was not a bad gain, especially as Frank reckoned we should gain around eight horsepower with the exhausts and ECU. While this is not like a full-race tune, any time you add a chunk of horsepower and lose significant weight, you are most definitely going the right way. And these gains don’t sacrifice reliability.
Frank had everything installed and buttoned back up in no time, and I have to admit, looking at the EVO on the bench it certainly looked a whole lot leaner and meaner. The rear sets, as I already mentioned, are purely and simply pieces of artwork, and the detail in the components of all the Ducati parts is first class. The Pirelli Diablo Rosso II tires looked just fine, so with a quick test to see if the battery was doing its thing, Frank applied the final touches: white Fast Frank Racing stickers that looked superb on the flat-black paintwork. He told me they were worth a second a lap, although I think it’s his attention to detail and mechanical skills that will bring the lap times down.
At Roebling Road a couple of days later I joined my good buddy Jim Calandro for a US DESMO track event, and the Ducati performed noticeably better. It just felt sharper and more focused thanks to the recent diet, and the power was crisper and more abundant, with a noticeably stronger surge up on the top end. While I had never noticed any deficiency that warranted attention in this department, the addition of the pipes and ECU certainly made sure I would never want to put it back to stock.
Roebling Road is a beautifully flowing track. No point and shoot here, although there are some bumpy areas and a couple of places that can get the front end chattering if you are off line. The front fork seemed compliant and also did a great job of allowing me to keep increasing my speeds and extending my braking marker in toward turn one without any excess dive. I was still a little out of my comfort zone with the rear end, even though it felt much better, and I easily equaled the lap times I set last year on our Honda CBR1000RR and the year before on our long-term R6. This was encouraging. as the Yamaha had been on race-compound tires and the Ducati is giving away some horsepower to the Honda.
The test at Roebling Road also allowed me to start understanding how the Ducati needs to be ridden. Don’t let anyone tell you there isn’t a learning curve when you first ride a Ducati on the racetrack. It also had me totally addicted to the sound of the engine, especially with the Termignoni pipes in place, and super impressed with the engine’s massive ability to pull off the corners. Roebling certainly doesn’t require a lot of braking, but when it does you really need some good equipment with the speeds the bike reaches on the long, front straight, and the Brembo setup is enough to have your eyeballs popping out of your head. So, loading up and heading home, the parts install and track test had proved very positive with great gains in both looks and performance.
Click the images below to see more pictures of the Ducati 848 EVO - Part 2:
Next he changed the oil and filter, dumped the radiator fluid for WaterWetter, and performed a detailed safety check to ensure everything was in order. Brakes were cleaned and bled, and we had plenty of pad life left so didn’t need to think about a change. Then it was time to check out the shiny new parts. A pair of Termignoni slip-ons came out first, followed by a Ducati racing ECU and a beautiful set of Ducati racing rear sets. You have to see these to believe how beautiful they are and the quality of the machine work and finish. A different windscreen came out which emptied the box, and Frank went to work. I had sourced a new battery from Racing Batteries, which saved us a little over seven pounds compared to the OEM item. The pipes took another six and a half pounds off, and losing the mirrors, passenger foot pegs, and license-plate holder slimmed the Ducati down a further 5.2 pounds, for a total weigh saving of close to 20 pounds. If the equation of ten pounds equaling one horsepower is correct, this was not a bad gain, especially as Frank reckoned we should gain around eight horsepower with the exhausts and ECU. While this is not like a full-race tune, any time you add a chunk of horsepower and lose significant weight, you are most definitely going the right way. And these gains don’t sacrifice reliability.
Frank had everything installed and buttoned back up in no time, and I have to admit, looking at the EVO on the bench it certainly looked a whole lot leaner and meaner. The rear sets, as I already mentioned, are purely and simply pieces of artwork, and the detail in the components of all the Ducati parts is first class. The Pirelli Diablo Rosso II tires looked just fine, so with a quick test to see if the battery was doing its thing, Frank applied the final touches: white Fast Frank Racing stickers that looked superb on the flat-black paintwork. He told me they were worth a second a lap, although I think it’s his attention to detail and mechanical skills that will bring the lap times down.
At Roebling Road a couple of days later I joined my good buddy Jim Calandro for a US DESMO track event, and the Ducati performed noticeably better. It just felt sharper and more focused thanks to the recent diet, and the power was crisper and more abundant, with a noticeably stronger surge up on the top end. While I had never noticed any deficiency that warranted attention in this department, the addition of the pipes and ECU certainly made sure I would never want to put it back to stock.
Roebling Road is a beautifully flowing track. No point and shoot here, although there are some bumpy areas and a couple of places that can get the front end chattering if you are off line. The front fork seemed compliant and also did a great job of allowing me to keep increasing my speeds and extending my braking marker in toward turn one without any excess dive. I was still a little out of my comfort zone with the rear end, even though it felt much better, and I easily equaled the lap times I set last year on our Honda CBR1000RR and the year before on our long-term R6. This was encouraging. as the Yamaha had been on race-compound tires and the Ducati is giving away some horsepower to the Honda.
The test at Roebling Road also allowed me to start understanding how the Ducati needs to be ridden. Don’t let anyone tell you there isn’t a learning curve when you first ride a Ducati on the racetrack. It also had me totally addicted to the sound of the engine, especially with the Termignoni pipes in place, and super impressed with the engine’s massive ability to pull off the corners. Roebling certainly doesn’t require a lot of braking, but when it does you really need some good equipment with the speeds the bike reaches on the long, front straight, and the Brembo setup is enough to have your eyeballs popping out of your head. So, loading up and heading home, the parts install and track test had proved very positive with great gains in both looks and performance.
Click the images below to see more pictures of the Ducati 848 EVO - Part 2:
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