DesmoDue Diary 2006

[Zimbo]

I wrote a few articles last year on our DD entry, bike prep etc, and it seemed to go down well, so here's some more!
Phoenix is entering a second bike this year in the 583cc class B series. She's riding Max again, of course, the second bike is a 2000 600 monster dark, and will be shared by two riders doing alternate rounds, one of which is me :cool:

So, first, changes to the series. Last year, the first year DesmoDue was run, there was one series for Ducatis of up to 675cc, monsters SSs and Multistradas. The series went very well, but it quickly became apparent that the performance advantage of the 620 over the 600 was greater than the series organisers had realised and the 583cc was dreadfully outclassed on the power front. An attempt was made to address the balance by allowing the carbed bikes to run a big bore kit to 675cc and not allowing the 620s to fit big bores, which helped but the 620 was still the bike to have if you wanted to be competitive. In the end only 3 bikes ran the standard 583cc, and did reasonably well in the hands of good riders, but had no hope of a podium finish.
Interest in the series has grown fast and there was enough serious interest to run two grids this year, so that is what they're doing. 620s and 675cc carb bikes with a lot of permitted modifications are class A, and a new class B grid is restricted to 583cc monsters and SSs with minimal permitted modifications. This has proved very popular, and in my view is what the series should have been originally.

[Zimbo]

So, that background out of the way, on with the story! This year's team consists of Lin (Phoenix) on Max, Doug and I doing alternate rounds on the new bike, named Dessie, and Rob (Slob) as chief mechanic / technical director.
The bike arrived last month, in completely standard condition, fairly dirty and a bit sorry, with a buckled front wheel but otherwise in reasonable mechanical condition. The only concern was an oil leak from the front sprocket area, which would have to be addressed. There's a lot of changes to make and a very limited budget, so the hunt for secondhand spares began at once.
First purchases were a secondhand set of high level Sil cans, and a new set of rearsets from ebay Italy. These were quickly fitted, and the source of the oil leak investigated. We decided it was coming from the alternator cover, a major cleaing session ensued and we made a list of requirements - clipons needed, new grips, a twin disc conversion, new fork springs, possible rear shock upgrade, chain and sprockets, crash bobbins, race bodywork, the list gets longer and longer!

[Zimbo]

The hunt for parts continued, and this weekend we had a team effort to make some progress. First the alternator cover was removed, using a home made puller, the mating surfaces cleaned up and reassembled with Ducati Threebond instant gasket. This appears to have sorted the problem.
Next, the old chain was cut off, and new renthal sprockets installed, 15T front 46T rear. A new Tsubaki X-ring gold chain was fitted too.
Old belts were removed and replaced with new ones, tensioned using Ducatisuite's allen key method. Valve clearances were checked and found to be way out - all clearances are very loose, both openers and closers, and most shims will need to be replaced. I was going to do it myself, but as I have no shim kit and we're going to need so many it was decided to take Dessie to get them done by a professional - we've not decided where yet!
NGK Irridum plugs were installed, and dessie was started up and ran OK - just the loose tappets to worry about!
Next, strip off the airbox and a general carb inspection and clean up. Lights were all removed temporarilly (Dessie is also used as a road bike, so needs to be put back to road legal standard between races) and the old handlebars removed, a pair of secondhand (free) clipons from a 600SS were installed below the top yoke and the controls reassembled, finished off with new renthal grips. Lights back on again and tested.
Front forks were disassembled for new springs, minor disaster as the replacements (from K-tech, monorate 0.9kg) don't fit and will need to be returned, hopefully replaced with some that do fit! We set the fork oil levels / air gap, and put them back together with standard springs for now.
New rose joints were fitted to the rear suspension hoop (from BSL, £14 each, part no JAM10 in case anyone needs any) and were fitted with double nuts to support them, as we raised the rear ride height by screwing them out a fair way - we need the ground clearance!
Airbox had the centre chopped out of it's lid with a jigsaw, and refitted with a K&N air filter.
New braided brake hoses were fitted, clutch and brakes bled, and finally we can ride it for the first time!
Doug and I both tried it out quickly down the road, we're both happy with the clipons / rearsets and riding position, turns in very fast at low speeds now, the front brakes are too weak - we need the twin disc conversion badly, got the caliper already but are still looking for one disc and a front master cylinder, if anyone knows where there's one going cheap!
We do have one problem, the bike won't rev past about 7000 rpm, it feels like fuel starvation, could it be too lean now with the new air filter arrangement? Could just be carb icing I suoppose? Further investigation is required, it was now too dark to do more and we all went home our seperate ways.

Still to fit - recently aquired secondhand oil catch tray and challenge cup nosecone, both of which need painting, lockwiring to do yet as well, shark fin on the swinging arm lower edge, valve shims need doing, get it running right, setup on the dyno and jetting altered to suit, and we're hopefully getting there! First race is end of March, so not much time!
I'm sure Phoenix and Slob will contribute to this thread as well.
For now though, a pic of Dessie as he now stands:

http://www.ukmonster.co.uk/monster/attachment.php?attachmentid=8717&d=1137972920

[Phoenix]

I too knackered to contribute this evening Zimbo on account of late night :eek: However many pics to upload to this of various stages.
P.s - Cheers Zimbo - Slob and Doug - sterling work and a smog from me :mand: