I previously posted up about the fairings I bought from Racers Edge. They are a fibreglass race fairing. Three main characteristics of race fairings are:
- They’re made of fibreglass, not ABS plastic, so they won’t shatter if or when you come off. Fibreglass is also easier to repair than ABS plastic.
- They have a sealed bellypan. Most racing regulations state that your bellypan must be capable of holding fluid – you don’t want oil leaks spilling out on to your rear tyre, or on to the track!
- They have larger air ducts, which allow you to fit the higher flow race air tubes for additional performance.
Oh, they’re lighter, as well! And, they can be made to look pretty good, if you get a decent paint job, and apply a few stickers. Here’s a video I took, showing my Ducati in track form.
I use the Ducati 848 for both road riding and track riding. I bought a set of track fairings for it, mainly as “insurance”. Track fairings are much cheaper to repair than the OEM fairings!
When I change from road to track and back again, I strip the bike down, and give it a good clean. This is a video I took with the fairings off.
Oh… that dog’s not dead – that’s his favourite past time – sleeping!
Today I was planning to do the “Loop The Lake” cycle ride. It is 85kms, and is one of those charity bike rides. I was planning to meet up with some mates, then ride over to the start, do the ride, then cycle home again. It’s been a bit of a tradition for me – I’ve done it each year for around the last 6 years. All up, it would have been around 110kms from start to finish, given the ride to the start and back again.
As you can probably guess… it didn’t happen. I woke up with a stomach upset, and decided to go back to bed again. Thankfully, the upset was fleeting, and by around mid-day, I was fine again, and rearing to get out on two wheels.
I’m still not happy with the sound I’m getting after my reconstruction project. It sure is LOUD, but noise isn’t everything. It has to sound DUCATI. At the moment, it sounds somewhere between a Harley and a drag bike…
So, I decided to take the plunge, and ask more questions from people in the know. There’s a really good community of knowledge out there, I’m finding, the trick is to know where, and who, to ask!
I stumbled across a cool site the other day – http://alphainventions.com/ .
Essentially it displays a feed of new blog posts, one at a time, for your viewing pleasure. It’s quite addictive!
When you find a blog that interests you – just hit the “pause” button, and spend some time reading through it. What has amazed me is how interesting people are – whether it’s someone in Kansas starting a new blog, or a right-wing “ceo”, or someone involved in women’s cycling, or photos, etc., etc.
I recommend a visit if you’ve an hour or so to kill!
I posted up some videos of my mufflers on YouTube (need to post the link here, and will do so shortly).
Someone posted a question about my fairings. These are track fairings, and from a mob called Racers Edge. You can see them at www.racersedge.com.au . They’re a small operation, but the fairings are very good quality. The spray painter mentioned that he thought they’d been well finished, and looking at the final result, after spraying, I’d have to agree!
I seriously only thought there’d be two parts to this story. The modified mufflers sounded much better than stock – in the garage. However, I went along to Eastern Creek Raceway on Saturday for another trackday, and had a chat to a number of people there about the sound.
Some said that they sounded great, and all said that they were an improvement over stock. However, some said that they were a much higher pitched tone than the Termignoni pipes, and made the bike sound like a cross between a Ducati and a Jap twin. On the track (I always wear earplugs, by the way), they sounded good, but not awesome.
In the last post, I had just bought the stock 1098s mufflers. Now for the deconstruction / reconstruction.
Stock 1098s Pipe (1 of 2, of course!)
The first thing you notice with these mufflers is that they have a series of rivets around the front (engine) end, and the rear end (the exhaust cap). I decided to attack the front end first. The rivets drill out quite easily – the only thing to worry about really is that you don’t use too big a bit, and enlarge the holes.
Stock Mufflers
The stock mufflers on the 848 /1098 are not that bad. Some reviewers have commented on the noise they make – a nice deep rumble. For the road – I like them. I’m not really one for upsetting the neighbours…
Stock Ducati 848 Exhaust System
For the track, though, they’ve a few problems. Firstly, they are too restrictive. The stock design is such that the gases travel from the engine to the rear of the muffler, then back to the centre, then back to the rear, and out. On the way through, they pass through a catalytic converter, which further restricts gas flow. Clearly, something needs to be done about this!
Stock
The stock exhuast system on the Ducati 848 is made from stainless steel. Stainless steel is great in that it doesn’t rust, but it discolours with heat, and the stock surface is porous and seems to attract all kinds of dirt and road grime.
I’ve read on some forums these posts where people have pulled their systems off, and then laboriously buffed them until they’re shiny. Very shiny. If you’re into bling in a big way – this would be the way to go.
I decided I was after something a little less labour intensive, and perhaps not quite so shiny. That’s when I started reading up about a popular coating for exhaust systems – ceramic coating.
