What have you done on your bike today?

Ordered a raised comfort seat from Ducati Manchester. About the only dealer in the UK with one in stock. £290 plus carriage, not a bad price. Seat needs to be a tad higher for my legs and hips. It's not bad but could be better. This raises rider's seat height by 40 mm. I'm hoping from past experience with other bikes that this will be ideal.
Thought about doing this from day one but felt the comfort seat looked a bit of a bulbous lump in pictures so I've hedl back and lived with the stock seat to get used to it.
Saw a vid yesterday of a bike with the comfort seat and although you lose the groovy metal "diavel" badge inset into the seat, I think the fatter lines of the comfort seat actually look better when you see it on the bike.

Also booked in at BHP-UK Burnley for a remap. The Ducati map that comes with the Termi pipe has to be Euro 5 compliant for what is a factory type-approved part. I suspected it was horribly lean in the midrange which is holding it back and a bit of online research confirms this. Massive holes in the midrange to comply with manufacturer's emissions regs. The map will correct the fueling and trim the throttle. Not expecting huge overall gains but heaps more responsiveness and smoother low down. The Termi map was a big improvement on stock and the pipe sounds ace but I can still feel flat spots. It's the Euro 5 compliance that's the culprit and spoiling the potential of the DVT engine. A custom map will get rid of that. I won't be changing the air filter. Nelly said there was no worthwhile advantage to be gained from doing so and BHP said the same.
Will post the before and after graphs when it's done. As said, headline numbers aren't the point, it's the filling in of holes and dips that Ducati and Termignoni were forced to leave in. .
 
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Today despite the weather warnings of thunder storms i had a ride out to West Meon for fuel then i had to get some grub shopping!! Not to bad out just grey and cloudy but just right on the bike. I had to get out, i was going stir crazy, nothing like some therapy to cheer things up. :)
 
WAYNE said:
How is the build going? @Laava .
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I have applies delicious red paint to 6 items. 3 of them will need re-doing. I am such a noob. Here are the three things that came out mint…two x rear shock bodies and complete tail light assembly. How I managed to make make a mint job of the hardest thing to paint is a complete mystery. Anyhow, off to the paint shop now with remaining items…
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Laava said:
I have applies delicious red paint to 6 items. 3 of them will need re-doing. I am such a noob. Here are the three things that came out mint…two x rear shock bodies and complete tail light assembly. How I managed to make make a mint job of the hardest thing to paint is a complete mystery. Anyhow, off to the paint shop now with remaining items…
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Looking great, it has to be done right and that is spot on!! :love:
 
Got a chance to try the new seat on the Diavel tonight. What a difference. More comfortable on the arse with the thicker padding but the big gain is the improved riding position. Loads more leg room and it feels like my core is engaged properly now the argos are right so it's easier to ride and boss it. Not sliding forward any more either. I think it looks better too with the flatter seat line rather than that scalloped low-slung bruiser look.

New tyres went on last Wednesday and this is only the second ride I've had since. They'll be bedded in now so next ride those chicken strips will be gone.
Hopefully will get a few hours in the saddle tomorrow to test the seat properly. Getting mild arse ache after an hour with the stock seat. I reckon this one will go all day. Weather not looking great up here tomorrow but I'll do my best 👀 .
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Gimlet said:
Got a chance to try the new seat on the Diavel tonight. What a difference. More comfortable on the arse with the thicker padding but the big gain is the improved riding position. Loads more leg room and it feels like my core is engaged properly now the argos are right so it's easier to ride and boss it. Not sliding forward any more either. I think it looks better too with the flatter seat line rather than that scalloped low-slung bruiser look.

New tyres went on last Wednesday and this is only the second ride I've had since. They'll be bedded in now so next ride those chicken strips will be gone.
Hopefully will get a few hours in the saddle tomorrow to test the seat properly. Getting mild arse ache after an hour with the stock seat. I reckon this one will go all day. Weather not looking great up here tomorrow but I'll do my best 👀 .
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Can you remove the little back rest thingy? Would look so much better👍
 
Fight the streets Fmd said:
Can you remove the little back rest thingy? Would look so much better👍
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I'd like to as I don't like it either, but the back rest is integral to the tail light unit. If I remove the tail light and back rest assembly I'd have to reinstate the original tail lights in the undertray - which would be nice - but that means I'd also have to lose the high-level tail tidy (which I like) because for one thing it attaches where the underseat lights are supposed to go and the number plate would obscure the lights anyway. The only options then for the plate hanger would be to refit the hideous boot scraper thingie or go for a side mounted plate Merkin-style and I don't fancy either of those. So I'm trying to learn to live with it. The tail light/back rest unit is a factory Ducati accessory and you need it to be able to fit the Ducati panniers and their brackets, which is maybe why the original owner fitted it, so it could conceivably come in useful. It's a pity you can't remove just the back rest. I could cut it off I suppose but that seems a bit drastic, and as Roborano said in another thread, it is handy for strapping on a tail pack.

I did remove the pillion pegs this afternoon. Just need to get some black blanking screws for the holes. I had some stainless ones but they're too long.
 
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Went for a big ride out with Ulysses club today. At one of our stops, this guy turned up in this car. It is aBSA v twin car motor and gearbox. Front wheel drive. It has twin Amal carb rotary valve heads and he has tuned it up from 17-75 HP! It sounded awesome! He has been doing some kind of rally in it as you can tell by the dirt and dust! It has an 8 leaf spring front end with single drum brake and twin drum brake on the back.
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On Friday morning I rode to Shaftesbury where I met up with 3 mates, we rode to Bathampton and stretched our legs with a walk down the canal before continuing our journey. Next stop Tintern Abbey for coffee then Llanthony Priory for lunch (in the cellar).

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Then on towards Hay on Wye

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Turning before Hay through sheep filled lanes to Three Cocks (where I craftily arranged the gang for a photo) it wasn't until after I had taken it I pointed out that I had a photo of 3 cocks!

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We stopped in Brecon overnight (with much food and drink consumed and a good bit of banter too).
On Saturday morning after a hearty breakfast we head west to Carmarthen then North to Devil's Bridge then East to Crossgated then back to base for more well earned food and drink

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The above Arch was built in 1810 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of George the III and is at the entrance of an old hunting lodge The Hafod (summer) estate.

Below is a shot from the top of the firing ranges on our way back to base.

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We travelled home today via Cheddar Gorge.
 
Quite the day today.....

A guy i used to work with (our Junior) came over on his 125Duke, A 71 plate which is slowly dissovling - i think the next time it needs a strip down we'll be using an angle grinder....

So, first on the shopping list of problems was a front tyre with a bulge and a rear with multiple nails in it so a new set of tyres. The rear mudguard thingy had rusted itself partially to the swingarm so had to drill that out.

Then (something he's been wanting to do for ages) KTM deliberately made the restrictor hard to get out of the end can by hiding the bolt inside so had to remove the end cap to get to that (db killer removed)

The above took 4 hours to get through....he got home - went into his house to get his stuff to go to his girlfriends house, bike niked in less than 5 mins...luckily he had a tracker on it so got it back straight away but with a scaffed lock...so ill be seeing that next week...

Then got to my own work - fitted the Domino throttle to the Hyper (the quickest thing i did today i might add) - about an hour.

Then a new guy in the road who i got chatting to a couple of months back had got bike from someone that i quote (started out as a few boxes of stuff) - came over with a chain...took the old chain off...new chain 8 links to short so had to fish the old one out of the bin, clean it up and rescue it (lots of paraffin) and a wire brush. His rear wheel was a, falling off quite literally, about 5ft lbs of torque on the rear axle nut, a circlip that was falling about and a cover that had moved off about half an inch exposing everything and to top it all a sprocket carrier that had a good 5mm of play. I dont " then promptly got out a dewalt impact driver to fit it - "yeah...dont do that", put that down [passes 10mm spanner] - while i was in the garage i could hear an impact driver on and off all afternoon - it was him using it to dismantle and reassemble stuff...!

Ordered another XM2 for the z1000.

Hoovered the house, bath. Sitting here typing this out...
 
It’s not been a good few weeks at SHarper Towers, but yesterday I had a couple of tyres on the BM, so tonight while the kickball was on, I enjoyed having the Peaks all to myself.
I thought the best way to get the moulding compound off of the tyres was gravel

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This is Sir William Hill. (Nothing to do with the bookies)

The ABS warning light has come on, coupled with the traction control light flashing. I’m off to investigate.
 
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SHarper said:
It’s not been a good few weeks at SHarper Towers, but yesterday I had a couple of tyres on the BM, so tonight while the kickball was on, I enjoyed having the Peaks all to myself.
I thought the best way to get the moulding compound off of the tyres was gravel

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This is Sir William Hill.

The ABS warning light has come on, coupled with the traction control light flashing. I’m off to investigate.
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I hope things are improving at SHarper Towers buddy 👍
 
SHarper said:
It’s not been a good few weeks at SHarper Towers, but yesterday I had a couple of tyres on the BM, so tonight while the kickball was on, I enjoyed having the Peaks all to myself.
I thought the best way to get the moulding compound off of the tyres was gravel

View attachment 143675
View attachment 143676
View attachment 143677
This is Sir William Hill. (Nothing to do with the bookies)

The ABS warning light has come on, coupled with the traction control light flashing. I’m off to investigate.
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Hope all is well mate times are sent to try us so hope all turns out well in harpers tower 👌
 
SHarper said:
It’s not been a good few weeks at SHarper Towers, but yesterday I had a couple of tyres on the BM, so tonight while the kickball was on, I enjoyed having the Peaks all to myself.
I thought the best way to get the moulding compound off of the tyres was gravel

View attachment 143675
View attachment 143676
View attachment 143677
This is Sir William Hill. (Nothing to do with the bookies)

The ABS warning light has come on, coupled with the traction control light flashing. I’m off to investigate.
Click to expand...
Wheel speed sensor most likely cocker, sorry SHarper towers are not all fine and dandy at the time being, anything we can help with mate?
 
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