Attila's Radical Ducati Project

Attila's Radical Ducati Project

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Attilauk

Original Poster:

36 posts

216 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
I'm a long time lurker here but I've decided to start posting more frequently, I thought some of you might be interested in my long term Ducati Frankenbike project.
The basic plan was convert one of these:

into something similar to this:

That is the '9 1/2' race bike built by Radical Ducati, the bike I am building will be fully road legal but track biased.

I started by buying this little beastie, a 1999 Ducati ST4

it was in pretty good nick, a little tatty here and there but had a nice strong 916 desmoquattro engine.

Then bits started to arrive including this beautiful S4R Monster swingarm.


Other parts include: a 999 Tank, radical Ducati Monjuic Seat unit, 1098 Forks, 999R Forged Magnesium front wheel, Hypermotard Evo Rear Wheel, 848 Brakes and master cylinders and S4R Monster Rearsets.

Attilauk

Original Poster:

36 posts

216 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
Once I had enough parts I started the strip down, under the fairings were fairly congested and I quickly realised that I would have to change a fair chunk around including chopping the loom up.


I don't have a garage or a workshop so most of my work is being done on my driveway / in my garden.




I couldn't help offering up the new tank and seat to see how much work the rear end will need.


All that framework at the rear was going to be chopped out and a new rear subframe fabricated.
once it was stripped I swapped the swingarm and rear wheel, the original swingarm was an absoloute pig to remove! I snapped 3 sockets trying to get the bugger off.



Then it was time to swap the front end
Custom fabricated (By MADASL Racing) top Yoke on



1098 Forks and Clip ons fitted


And the 999R front wheel fitted



Attilauk

Original Poster:

36 posts

216 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
I had reached a point where my skills were running out so the bike went into MADASL Racing for the fabrication work.

Rear Subframe removed for the tank / seat mockup



Temporary mount tacked together to hold the tank and seat unit


Custom exhaust fabricated, its going to be a touch loud :twisted:






Rear Subframe fabricated and ready to come home for me to get on with it.



Attilauk

Original Poster:

36 posts

216 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
Time to see how much work the loom needs, the ECU will be sitting under the seat.

It sits really nicely in the new rear subframe, some tangs have since been welded onto the frame to hold it permanently. Once I had the ECU location sorted I started to run the loom back out to see how much modification it needs.

Henry helped...



It all seemed ok until I tried to wire in the replacement dash, an Acewell 6556 unit.


Its tiny, the size of a smartphone and absolutely packed with features but the loom it has to go into...
The Horror!


I'm not an electrician and being Red - Green colourblind really makes wiring it up fun, especially when half the descriptions on the bike wiring diagram are in Italian and the dash ones are translated from Chinese! After liberal use of Google I managed to get everything labelled up.

Then disaster struck, I thought I had the dash wired up right but when I was testing all the sensors and switches worked the unit threw a wobbly and bricked on me. After a call to Acewells technical support dept they confirmed that it was fubared, however, they also confirmed that the unit had been incorrectly wired in the factory and they would send me a replacement free of charge! result.

After a few issues with the loom everything was wired up and all working perfectly, headlight fitted too, starting to look like a bike again.

Attilauk

Original Poster:

36 posts

216 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
As the bike is water cooled it was always going to be a challenge to hide the rad and pipework away, so instead I'm making a feature of it. Queue Forge Motorsports and a custom curved Ally race rad.




It looks even better in the metal, and brilliant on the bike.


As we are close to getting it back on the road the bike is now over with MADASL again, we've started to strip down the loom. I've cut a load out of it that wasn't necessary and we will be shortening it as its waaaaay to long.

all wired up as a temporary connection to check everything works before its cut to length.


Battery and reg/rec positions have been finalised and I have settled on a Pipercross air filter.



The dash has been fitted in its final position.



Attilauk

Original Poster:

36 posts

216 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
New clutch pressure plate and samco hoses fitted and the water temp sensor has been removed for modification.



Fully serviced, changed the belts and replaced all of the rotten old external bolts with stainless items.






2 years work so far and its starting to come close to being a rideable bike again, I'm hoping to have it ready for shakedown tests before autumn really takes hold. Fingers crossed it will be painted and finished ready for next summer...

Attilauk

Original Poster:

36 posts

216 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
Reardy Mister said:
How much was the donor ST?

I really like the concept, the parts added and the way it was shaping up, until that seat and rear section was added. To my eye either the swingarm is way too long or the seat pod is too short and it sweeps up way to high and steeply. Or am I judging too early? Anyway, good pics, top effort for doing it in the driveway, I feel highly inadequate just looking at challenges it presents. Styling is subjective so pay no notice to me!
Cheers, the Donor was £1250, the bikes have become quite popular as project bases now so the value of them has gone up a bit since.

The seating position is the same as a 916/748, it throws your eye because the seat unit is much slimmer than the 916 and doesn't have the underseat exhausts, plus I have the ride height wound up to maximum to make it easier to work on. The styling might not be to everyone's tastes but its shaping up the way I want it and that's the entire point of a custom build smile

Attilauk

Original Poster:

36 posts

216 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
sc0tt said:
Good work but that welding on the rear subframe looks a bit special.
Its only temporary, all of the frame welds will be ground back smooth to match the original welds eventually, its pretty low down on my list of things to do at the moment though lol

Attilauk

Original Poster:

36 posts

216 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
RemaL said:
Rich never knew you was on PH mate. Will have to pop over the see the porject. Cracking pics and I know these lot love a good project.


Looking Smart and catch up soon

And as for long time lurker stop it. get posting. We have a great bunch on here even the old grumpy one's are nice in real life wink
I've been a member for years bud just haven't posted much, give me a shout we need to catch up

Attilauk

Original Poster:

36 posts

216 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
Prof Prolapse said:
I love a good project thread.

I think you're brave attempting it in the garden. That would do my head in.

I hope you have a good Gazebo!
Cheers, to be honest the bike does spend most of its time over in a friends garage now its at the electrical stage (witchcraft I tell you) however most of the work was done in the garden.

Attilauk

Original Poster:

36 posts

216 months

Thursday 3rd September 2015
quotequote all
RemaL said:
Will do mate. Fancy a blat over Wales soon? you do still have a a road bike?
I'd love a blat over Wales but the Duc is my only bike at the moment I'm afraid mate, I sold the Speed R as I wasn't riding it.

Attilauk

Original Poster:

36 posts

216 months

Friday 4th September 2015
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Dick Dastardly said:
Great thread. I wish I had the skills (and time) to do similar.

Have you done anything like this before, or does your day job require use of similar skills? I often think about having a go at something like this but I've never picked up a spanner in my life and exist behind a desk, so I wouldn't have a clue where to start.
Cheers, I'm a civil engineer but I've always messed around with cars & bikes, this is the first major conversion project I've done though.

Attilauk

Original Poster:

36 posts

216 months

Monday 7th September 2015
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Yazza54 said:
I'd have thought this wouldn't be a massively difficult conversion, is a lot of the Ducati stuff interchangeable?
Mechanically yes, the swingarm shares the same mounting points as the S4 Monster and the ST4 are basically the same bike under the skin, the forks needed a different diameter top yoke made (I could have machined out the stock one but it would look bobbins) and the bottom yoke shimming out. The 999R front wheel is the same brake geometry as an 848 so the brakes matched up lovely too. The Tank / Seat unit needed all new mounts made up though and the electrics are all change as the dash is completely different...

The big stuff was fairly easy, the difficult stuff is all the little bits and pieces, lights / battery / coil pack / reg rec etc. all need new mounts and hiding the wiring loom is going to be a real challenge.

Attilauk

Original Poster:

36 posts

216 months

Monday 7th September 2015
quotequote all
Superhoop said:
A Michelin Macadam - I'd recognise that lump of wood anywhere, a mate had one a CBR 600 in the late 90's, he sold the bike, but it's probably still on the same tyre now - the thing just wouldn't wear out!!
It was an old Maxxis of some sort, I think the early Maxxis tyres just copied other manufacturers tread patterns so it probably is a copy of the Michelin...