Jerrys worlds

Happy Christmas!

2011-12-25T12:03:00.002Z

Thanks to all of you who have made this year so memorable for the right reasons!

Wednesday Update

2011-12-07T21:24:00.001Z

Things have been happening since Monday:

the Police have been in touch. Initially, the Detective Sargent I spoke to, was reluctant to commit to doing very much, but friends in the Met told me to insist on action, which I did. Forcefully. So the Serious Burglary squad and the Special Contacts group (not some bizarre sex group, but a team dealing with informants) have been briefed with details of the bikes and the reward.

Members from LondonBikers.com and Ducatisti.co.uk have mobilised and are doing a fantastic job canvassing London: Shiver (LB) hijacked the Wednesday meet and was thrusting great wads of laminated posters into peoples hands. People I've met rarely or for the first time tonight are giving their time to help find my bikes. Thanks to everyone who took the posters - words can't convey how I feel - thanks. The most heartwarming sight since I found the bikes gone was seeing Shiver wrapping a poster around a lamppost tonight. Thanks mate.

Oldie and POB_1 from Ducatisti are hitting the area around the garage hard. They know the people and the area much better than I do and are putting posters up everywhere and talking to local contacts.

My buddy, Chris has been to local bikers pubs passing out posters. The reaction everywhere has been very positive - people are all happy to display posters and don't need to be convinced.

And this morning, I spoke to Guy Procter, Editor of Motorcycle News. He was kind enough to re-tweet the link to this blog and agrees that the approach we're taking to find the bikes is an interesting story and is interested in making this into an article. All good publicity.

Thanks for reading. Be safe.

Monday update

2011-12-05T22:24:00.001Z

So, today has been overwhelming. We've had more views here, lots of downloads of the wanted poster and people going out looking in the area.

The dealers are picking it up, from forums, twitter and FB. We're on Ducati UKs Facebook page. Poland and Germany are figuring highly in the stats here thanks to friends in London and all over the world.

Things are moving quickly over the net. It's difficult to keep pace.

In the real world, I've been walking the streets talking to people in the area. I had 100 posters printed today and a smaller batch laminated. I've given out at least 50 to local businesses in the area and talked to many people today; all have been very helpful. There are a few key people in the area who are looking for the bikes. They're motivated by a desire to help - the reward doesn't seem to interest them as much as just being helpful. Amazing. Friends in the Ducati community have been out looking today, handing out posters and talking to their contacts. We've put laminated posters on lampposts around the area.

Shiver from LondonBikers.com has laminated an enormous stack of posters to put all over London. Some of the guys at the regular LB meet at Borough Market have offered to distribute them throughout London.

A buddy who was with the Met Police for years spent the evening with me going into local bar and looking around some of the rougher areas locally. We looked over the garage and he agrees that it's more likely to be an opportunistic theft than anything organised. If this is the case, the thieves may be very local and the posters on street furniture may lead them to get in touch.

Thanks for reading.

Stolen bike update post

2011-12-04T21:31:00.001Z

The response to the loss of my bikes has been overwhelming. Thanks to everyone who has read the posts and printed the Wanted Posters.

I've spent the day wandering around dodgy areas and waiting for the Police, who were late but very effective once they arrived. We found that the garage was untouched apart from the missing bikes. The paddock stands were still in there, which gives me some hope: the thieves don't know that the 998 needs to be kept off the ground to keep pressure off the forks (the seals are very light on these forks and blow if they are stored with weight on the wheel).

There were four stands, worth a few hundred on their own, plus a set of Pierobon stands, which are properly expensive. Also a spare pair of PVM magnesium wide track wheels and disks worth a fair bit (used once). All left behind.

I'm not convinced that the thieves know what they've got: the rarity of the parts, the fact that the bikes are 'known' and that they will be hard to shift. Maybe they just saw something shiny and nicked them.

This evening has been spent with the SOCO (CSI) guys looking at the garage and giving statements. The Police are interested in the rarity of both bikes and gave the thumbs up to the use of social networking to spread the word. The response has been so great that I got my first 'Monetize your blog' message from Google today : ) It's not happening.

I'm knackered this evening. Partly because it's been full on, partly because I've been trawling pubs with the posters. The response from every one we've asked to display them has been fantastic. It must be twenty years since I've been in so many pubs in one evening. All were great places, one left my head reeling and an odd craving for biscuits and chocolate. I was offered drinks in most and a big bag of weed in one. Made friends with a huge Staffie on an equally huge chain. And I met Lee from last night again. He was still stoned and told me that he'd taken two of the strippers back to his place. Great guy!

Before I put this to bed for the night, a final thank-you to everyone who has taken time out of their busy lives to read this story. In a world that can sometimes be very unpleasant, I haven't met one single person who didn't want to help. The fact that complete strangers can offer help and comfort is just amazing. Thank you all - the people I know and the thousands of people that I haven't met yet..

Sad news (for me) - bikes stolen

2011-12-03T20:15:00.001Z

For people who are visiting this page for a second time, I've created an update post here.

I've just found out that asbo and babyR have been stolen form a secure garage in South West London. It was obviously a professional job using a van as babyR had no rear shock.

Please look out for bits of serious bling on the web.

asbo - 998S: Album link

Both bikes are unique. babyR - 749R - has the supersports kit, asbo is a numbers matching 998S with wide-track front and '06 factory gas forks.

If you see anything you think may be from these bikes, please contact me here. There is a reward for the safe return of both bikes, no questions asked. Or the address for the thieves.

The spec - asbo:

Forks: 999RS F06 Ohlins gas with full titanium internals.
Wheels - 16.5" 10 spoke magnesium 998RS Marceshinis - red stripe (in the first pic). Tyres are Pirelli Diablo race spec slicks, completely destroyed.
Disks: 998RS as above.
Swingarm: 998S (road)

Exhaust system: 998RS 60mm stainless full system. The cans are visibly longer than a road exhaust and require the seat unit to be modified.
Rear shock: DU43 998RS
Aluminium subframe
Footpegs: 998RS.
Ducati Corse slipper clutch with hand cut carbon cover.

Fairings: carbon side fairings with race bellypan. Blue Infostrada sticker kit - very rare. Top fairing is fibreglass.
Carbon wide-track mudguard.
Race (carbon base) seat. Small tear in seat material.

Carbon 998RS airtubes
Billet brembo master cylinders; brake and clutch.

Ceramic wide track 998RS yokes - these were produced in very limited numbers. Titanium hardware.
Clip-ons: 998RS, engraved with 6.5 degrees. Titanium fasteners.
Carbon fairing support.
Marelli dash.

Carbon 996RS fuel tank with carbon keyless cap.Tank has Ducati and Ducati Race Support logos.

BabyR: a 749R, 2004 with carbon fairings. BX04 UGB

Gold Marchesini magnesium wheels.
Gilles wheel adjusters.
Billet Brembo caliper.
Floating race disk, MotoCorse braks hanger.

Leo Vince titanium exhaust.
Carbon numberplate holder.
Foam seat.
Ohlins forks, anodised black
JHP slipper clutch and clutch cover
JHP sprocket cover.
MotoCorse foot pegs.

Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to read this page. One final thing: if you're in the London/Surrey area, could you please take the time to print a couple of these: Wanted Poster and ask your local pub to display them.
Next time you're in your local Ducati dealer or bike shop, please take one along and ask the if they would display them in their coffee area or workshop.

Wanted Poster

Txt: 07411 869 898

Many people coming here from Twitter are seeing the mobile version of this page - the layout is rubbish - sorry!

Thanks again.

Rear Shock

2011-11-24T10:36:00.001Z

A buddy of mine has been trying to sell me a '999RS' shock for my 749R for months. Although the standard shock in the bike works well, I was aware the bike squats under hard acceleration. Since I didn't really need it and as the 749RS was taking up a fair bit of my time and money, I was in no hurry.

Last week, he finally offered me a deal I couldn't refuse, so the shock came my way.

These race shocks have separate circuits for high and low speed compression damping. Essentially, you can tune the suspension to work well with small bumps - race track - and larger bumps - potholes or larger ripples - without compromise.

Ohlins DU 46

The DU46 was used on the 998RS as well as the 999RS and 749RS (there are external differences between the 998RS and 999RS DU46 but the internals are largely the same). Additionally, the Superstock 999S used these shocks too, and this is where you need to take some care.

There are no visible differences between the S shock and the R and RS. However, the valving and the spring are different on the 999RS and the 749R/RS due to the linear rocker/linkage (the 999RS also uses a longer swing arm, so the valving on these shocks are subtly different again).

The spring used with a linear rocker also needs to be stronger than that used with a progressive rocker. The spring on my road R is rated at 120. The spring that came with this new shock was rated at 80. This warranted further investigation, so the unit was sent to an Ohlins tech who confirmed that the valving was for the progressive rate suspension. This shock was originally sold for a 999S or a 999R that had progressive rate suspension (I'm still not clear whether the 999R had progressive or linear rate suspension).

It is possible to use a progressive DU46 with a linear rocker, but the spring must be changed and as a result, rebound must be set almost to the limit. BTW, the two small holes at each of the mounting points are for the potentiometer mountings, which are used to monitor the chocks performance.

For my shock, £140 has bought the linear valve and the time to fit it. The shock will go back on the bike in a week or so. Can't wait!

pic shamelessly ripped from ebay - apologies!

Over 4,000 views!

2011-11-21T08:17:00.001Z

We've had over 4,000 page views now! Amazing.

It's good to see that the blog is read and really interesting to see where you are from: England and the UK, USA, Canada, Russia, Japan, Morocco, Italy, France, Portugal, Germany, Finland, Australia...

Belarus too! Incredible. Thanks for reading and I hope you find the blog interesting.

Engine internals 1

2011-11-20T23:48:00.001Z

So, I've managed to locate a mostly complete engine kit ready for the little RS. I will be posting some of the parts here.

The WSS rules prohibited teams changing the front sprocket for different circuits. So the teams got around this restriction by changing the primary drive instead.

Instead of simply replacing the front sprocket, teams would drop the oil, strip the engine casing off and change the primary drive gear, replace the cover and the oil... If they were preparing for a race, it's likely that they would be rebuilding the motor anyway, but compared to swapping a sprocket... Whatever, the RS part is significantly lighter than the standard part.

The kit part is identical to the 999RS. I have been told that it shares the same number.

When buying these parts, check each tooth: the compression on a twin cylinder wears teeth very unevenly around the gear. It is possible to find that the majority of the teeth are perfect but three or four teeth are completely worn out.

The same sort of wear can be found on an inline 4, but since there are four bangs per cycle, the wear is more evenly spread.

The final picture here shows the flywheel, both standard and the race unit. The generator fits inside the standard flywheel. The kit generator is considerably smaller and lighter than the road unit and generates less power as a result. However, it also takes less energy from the motor, leaving more to propel the bike forward.

Engine cases

2011-11-12T17:56:00.001Z

For as long as I can remember, there have been rumours circulating that the 749RS crankcases may have been painted sand cast rather than the standard road cases.

Sand cast cases are stronger than road cases and can withstand higher revs for longer intervals than road cases.

This weekend, I had cause to look at the cases I bought with the bike. These cases are both factory (see the F0 designation), from '04 and '05. They are both standard road cases - not sand cast. It seems that the teams were happy to run the standard road cases on the early bikes, although they may have switched to sand cast later to reduce maintenance and associated costs.

This means that any 749Rs that have been fitted with the engine kit (heads and cams) have essentially the same motor as the Breil race bikes. There are a few differences, but essentially, the motor - cams, heads, valves, pistons, rods, cranks and cases - is the same.

RIP Marco

2011-10-24T10:50:00.000+01:00

Supersports engine kit available

2011-10-21T16:28:00.003+01:00

I have just found a new, original, unmolested 749RS engine kit - PN 96444404B.

The kit includes cams, heads, 57mm ti termi system (end can is confirmed as ti, pipework is not confirmed), ECU and air filter.

I can buy it as part of a package I'm looking at. Price is around 7,000 euros - to be confirmed. Please contact me at 749rsblog@gmail.com for more details.

2011-10-20T23:30:00.005+01:00

So, for the last few weeks, it seems like all I've been doing bike-wise is looking for RS cams.

I've been talking to people all over Europe to find 4Y cams in any condition. Race teams, dealers, collectors. I'm told that supply from the factory dried up in 2005 and even Caracchi couldn't find them. To put this into perspective, it's possible to find new 998RS and 999RS cams relatively easily. These 749RS cams are the proverbial.

Then I heard about a dealer who may have had a few RS parts. There was no information about what was available or the condition - new, used or worn out. The package contains many small engine parts: blanking plates, gallery plugs, ti bolts, circlips, secondary timing housings. And sets of brand new, never opened cams.

Straight from the factory in their original Corse packaging. V == vertical head, O == 'orizonal, A == aperture (inlet), S == scarico (exhaust).

This cam clearly shows the steep ramps which opens and closes the valve. The valve is opened and closed much faster than in the production motor. The duration is also much longer than the standard R cam (itself a worthwhile upgrade to any testastretta motor) although the lift is identical to the homologated cam to comply with Supersports regulations.

The photo on the right illustrates the lengths the factory went to in order to reduce weight on the bike. These parts are the cam cover retaining screws and the cam retaining bolts (parts 14, 15 and 16 in the parts catalogue below) and are reproduced in titanium. Interestingly, only one set is supplied in the kit: the horizontal head retains the production material. I believe this is also the case on the 999RS.

All the small parts come in Ducati Corse packaging. Cool, in a really geeky way : )

On a general note, thanks for reading my blog. It's a fascinating journey and it's an honour to be able to share it with so many people all over the world.

Breil Launch

2011-10-14T08:11:00.004+01:00

2004 was the first year the 749RS was raced. The factory had previously campaigned a pair of 748RS's in WSS with Casoli and Xaus aboard.

Testing for 2004 began the previous year, with the specification of the bikes being fixed at the end of '03.

Since Ducati removed the original press release and pictures from their site, I have been looking for high res pictures of the Breil bike and finally found some on my old laptop and from the web.

Press release from ducati.com

2004 will be a testing year for us and we chose to have just one rider for the development of the 749R. We are entering the championship for the first time in three years, with a completely new bike, the 749R. We have to see exactly how competitive we are with these Supersport championship rules but we will make every effort to make the bike competitive.

We tried to include into the production bike all the features that we thought it would have needed directly for racing and most probably the 749R is the most advanced twin-cylinder bike ever built in the company. It’s an ongoing process for us, we will keep developing the bike throughout the season.

Racing is in our DNA and the 749R is in our sportsbike product range so in a way it was a natural decision for us to go Supersport racing. Our fans were waiting for us to race the 749R, so here we are and we will try to do the best possible this year and develop the bike further with the aim of running a two-rider team in 2005.

Claudio Domenicali
CEO Ducati Corse

This picture clearly shows the titanium belt adjusters, race radiator and cooler, kevlar oil lines and oil pressure sensor. The clutch cover is carried over from the 748RS.

Potentiometer to record shock performance.

Race term system. Note the lack of road fixings.

Testing

2011-10-08T06:23:00.000+01:00

There is little information available on the subject of the 749RS outside of race history. Looking for information about the bikes development, I found some articles around testing. All rights are acknowledged. I have contacted all image copyright owners and requested their permission to re-publish here.

The factory built bikes for testing late in 2003, ready for racing in '04. Lanzi tested the RS at Valencia in November, then again in December, sharing the track sessions with the MotoGP teams.

These pictures show that the specification of the components on the bike were already largely set in '03. The kit is clearly visible: the one-piece fairing, race fairing support, Digitek dash and race loom. The Dzus clips for the rear seat support are present and it must be assumed that the front supports are in place.

Other pictures show the race shock present. The bike here is clearly running on slicks - was this permitted in '03 but not '04? The race bikes used Pirelli Supercorsa Pros. It's also good to see a 749RS in Ducati red. Breil must have been brought onboard as a sponsor early in 2004.

Valencia December 2003
Crash.net article

Italian Lorenzo Lanzi has concluded the latest test for the factory Ducati 749R, the bike that will mark Ducati Corse's return to the World Supersport arena in the 2004 championship, with a significant improvement in lap time.

The 22 year-old from Cesena, who was out on track for three days in MotoGPcompany, improved his quickest time to 1in 38.9secs at the end of the day, after fitting a softer tyre. This was not far off the times recorded by the best Supersport riders in the Valencia championship opener earlier in the year.

Lanzi used the Valencia outing to make a major step forward in the 749R's development curve as he notched up a total of 194 laps in the three days, the equivalent of over 750 kms of track time.
The engine mapping made on the Ducati Corse dyno after November's test at Valencia proved to be extremely useful as Lanzi knocked four-tenths of a second off his previous best time around the 4.005 km circuit in perfect conditions.
"I'm pleased with the progress we have made since the last test," he declared. "There has been a lot of development, we know where we have to work on and the direction we have to take."
The Ducati 749R's next test will be at Phillip Island, Australia from 13-15 January 2004.

Phillip Island,13th January 2004
Ducati Corse Press Release:

Lorenzo Lanzi crashed out today on the first day of testing at Phillip Island with the Ducati 749R Supersport. The Italian, who was lapping on track with the Ducati and Petronas Superbikes, flew off on oil deposited by Troy Corser (Petronas), but was unhurt.
By then Lanzi had completed a total of 17 laps, recording a time of 1’38.39. The bike was repaired in the afternoon, but the Italian was only able to complete a few more laps due to the windy conditions.

2004 Valencia
Lorenzo Lanzi made further progress today on the Ducati 749R that he will race in this year's World Supersport Championship, notching up considerable development mileage on the brand-new Factory bike.

22-year-old Lanzi set fourteenth quickest time in 1'39.83, almost a second ahead of Ducati Corse tester Vittoriano Guareschi (1'40.70), who is also present at Valencia to help speed up the 749R's development curve.

Lanzi and Guareschi focussed on suspension and general set-up work in collaboration with Ohlins technicians and although they were not amongst the front-runners, both riders were able to give major feedback to Ducati Corse engineers that will be useful over the next two days of testing.

Frame update - MT

2011-09-19T20:18:00.000+01:00

On stripping the deep powder coat from the mystery 'RS' frame, we found new markings on the inside of the frame, just above the foot peg on the right side.

The logo to the right of the picture was identified by the people at Ducatisti as being from the Italian frame manufacturer MT. According to their (limited) site, they pride themselves on producing very clean MiG welds, which stood out for me when I saw the frame for the first time.

The marking 178 1.A is a generic Ducati part number, nothing special. The date is obviously the date that the frame was produced.

Another buddy at Ducatisti contacted the Ducati factory for me in order to find out more about the frame. What we found was interesting: MT made a few early 749R frames. My 749R - babyR - has one of these (dated 28/11/03 - a Friday, just days before the mystery frame was constructed - the next Tuesday). My 749R was one of the first imported into England and may have been in the first batch that left the factory. While I don't know exactly how many frames were made by MT (yet), I do know that not all 749R frames were made by them. Later frames do not have the MT markings and are likely produced by Ducati or their usual frame manufacturer.

As stated below, the frame is the same weight as a 'standard' 749R frame and has no clear differences apart from the quality of the welds. The tubing must be the same and there is likely to be no measurable difference between a frame produced by MT and any other 749R frame.

The factory is currently trying to find out more about the 'RS' frame, but so far, they're as clear as I am. Not very.

Random news

2011-09-17T22:35:00.000+01:00

Nannellis bike is now with Toine at Biggelaar for an engine refresh.

Chris, who shipped the bike back from Italy for me was stopping at Biggelaar on the way back to England and we took the decision that it was best to take the opportunity to have Toine gauge the condition of the bike (he has built a 998 and my other 749R Supersport motor).

We found that the motor needed a refresh: because the bike had been run without valve springs (they are very weak and just hold the valve shut, but the motor can gain a percent or two more power) the cams needed replacing. While the motor was apart, Toine found that there were a few unique parts inside the motor.

The gearbox is unique to the 749RS. It is a 4 dog box like the 999RS but has a unique first gear and mounts to the engine casing in a different way to either the 998RS or the 999RS. The alternator/generator is slightly different to the 999RS, having the same sized housing as the road unit but smaller windings - similar to the 999RS generators. The 999RS requires a spacer to mount the generator - the 749RS generator being deeper, does not.

Also of some interest is the choice of cams used in this motor and all engines run by Caracchi. Rather than using the 749RS/Supersports cams, the team used the 504 inlet cam together with a 749R exhaust cam. The 504 has similar lift to the 749R and RS cams and duration between the two. It's possible that the revised cams gave the engine greater flexibility throughout the rev range rather than the peaky, long duration Supersports cams, maybe the power is produced at lower revs with obvious implications for engine longevity. Something to investigate.

Thanks to my friends at ducati1.de, I have more photos of the RS.

The Breil bike is shown in some detail at www.ducpower.de. This site has the well-known publicity shots from 2004 but also has more detailed shots of the bike with the fairing off. The Breil motor clearly shows the titanium belt adjusters used on the Caracchi bikes.

The Caracchi bike was raced in matt black (2006), flat white (2007) and a red and silver scheme in early 2006. ptiteducat captured the bike at Magny-Cours:

Also, ducati1 has the best (unattributed) picture I have seen of Easton riding the Caracchi bike.

Easton had some interesting moments on the bike. Phil Jessop told me that Easton commented that the bike was not as powerful as the Lloyds/Riders/JHP bike he campaigned in BSB. If the WSS bike had been running the 504 cams at this time, he would have been 10-15bhp down compared to the Y4 equipped motor.

A few more pics

2011-07-11T21:49:00.000+01:00

As well as using many parts unique to the 749RS, the little bike shares many parts with the 999RS.

Motors are marked like the 998RS, 999RS and 1098RS with F04, F05 etc to denote the year of manufacture (2004, 2005 etc.) and a serial number: 05 in this case and 007 in the lower picture. The teams would log hours against a motor and rebuild with new engine cases after 400km, although, since many Corse cases are sandcast and stronger than production cases, their life may be prolonged by limiting revs to 11,000 rather than the race 14,500.

Inside the motor, there is a mixture of R and RS parts. The gearbox is Ducati Corse, just like the 998RS, 999RS and 1098RS. The crank, rods and pistons are production R, as are the The rockers and (titanium) valves. The cams have identical lift compared to the road bike, but have far greater duration. The heads are 4-way CNC machined. At the time, there were very few 4-way CNC machines in Europe that could create the very accurate

The flywheel is identical to the 999RS item and is massively lightened. The alternator is much smaller than the road item, needing to produce less power than the road item. Again, it is 999RS.

This bellypan is interesting. The sponsors logos indicate that it was used in 2006.

Inside the fairing, it is possible to make out Nannellis name above the heatshielding, but in the bottom corner, the tam has written Easton. This bike was built by Carrachi for Nannelli in '06, but when Chili crashed in WSB, Nannelli went to World Supers and Stuart Easton took Nannellis seat on this bike.

Nannellis '06 bike

2011-07-11T14:21:00.000+01:00

I've been negotiating for a 749RS since December and this weekend was the time to collect the bike.

It's Gianlucca Nannellis World Supersports bike from 2006 - 2007. Carrachi was the only team running the 749RS in 2006 and Nannelli was the only rider for '07. Carracchi is the son of the C in NCR and the bike has many non-standard parts machined from billet ti.

The bike has been fitted with new fairings but is pretty original otherwise. The original fairings are obtainable and they're on their way.

The bike is fitted with the original Akrapovic exhaust (and comes with part of another - pics to follow). Many teams who tried the original Termignoni system found the Arkro better. Certainly the welds on these systems are flawless.

This bike illustrates just how special the little race bikes are. Although many parts are shared with the 999RS, there are many 'standard' R parts left on the bike. Note the use of titanum fastenings wherever possible. This enabled the teams to get the bike down to 160kg, although the cost may have been prohibitive.

The yokes are 749R, but the steerer tube also allows for fine adjustment of the steering angle in addition to road/race. It is possible to really stand the bike on its nose.

In terms of the motor, this bike runs wider 999RS cam belt pulleys and custom titanium adjusters (the clutch cover is 749R Kit).

(Note the carbon (kit) airtubes and the plastic homologated breather catch tank. The air scoop (mounted to the radiator) is the same as the 999RS, as are the rad and oil coolers. The oil lines are covered in kevlar and have quick release pins to hold the line onto the rad for quick changes.

On the left side of the motor, we can see some of the detail of the cooling system. The changes here are pretty obvious and include 999RS parts (for example, the blue connector on the vertical cylinder).

Also visible is the second timing pickup, just above the clutch slave cylinder. This provides more accurate information to the race ECU, allowing the motor to rev higher and the ignition to be more precice.

Moving backwards:

The seat supports (unique to the 749RS) are accessed through holes in the carbon seat. Hex Dzus fasteners locate in the pillars: they require holes to be made in the seat covering.

The bike uses titanium fasteners wherever possible. Here, the tank securing bolt is reproduced in titanium.

The rear cowl is secured with 'standard' hooped Dzus fasteners locating into 749R kit plates.

Every kit part has factory part numbers. This is not always the case on the WSB bikes and could be to satisfy the more restrictive Supersports rules.

2011-06-10T17:43:00.000+01:00

Two quick updates:

I've bought this 749 RS frame and found that it has no frame number (and never had - it has no machine marks). This has lead me down some interesting paths.

Apparently, Corse personnel go to the factory and ask the production frame number man to reserve a number of frame numbers. These are usually consecutive and are in exactly the same format - produced on the same machine - as road bikes. 998RS and earlier frames were stamped and 999RS stickered.

We think 998RS frames were not produced by Pierobon, but by Verlicchi. This has to confirmed and it will be interesting to see if the welds are similar to the 749-RS frame or have the model designation on the headstock.

749RS Frame

2011-05-29T13:39:00.000+01:00

It really exists. After seeing many kit 749Rs, I heard rumours of a 749RS frame, or at least one marked as an RS.

Here it is. I will post more photos when I have time, but this is the best evidence yet of a real RS. As you can see, the designation is stamped professionally and deeply into the headstock. The frame has been heavily powdercoated and will need to be stripped to reveal the frame number on the other side of the tube. Ducati stamp their numbers onto a flattened part of the tube. If we find a number, we will be in contact with the factory to find out more.

There are no visible differences between this frame and a 'standard' R frame other than the designation on the headstock. 998RS frames were built with a lighter, stronger tubing. It will be interesting to compare this frame with the weight of a 'standard' R frame.

The frame is on a bike that was built by the GSE team around one of their 999RS motors. It can be traced right back to Ducati Corse, but it's likely to have had some history before then as a race frame or even just an unused spare.

It is certainly an R, having the two footrest hangar mountings.

Race kit parts

2011-02-15T23:19:00.000Z

As discussed previously, in order to turn a homologated road bike into a race bike, the factory provided a race kit.

The kit was mostly fitted by race teams, although a few bikes were converted by Ducati Corse for factory supported race teams.

Many parts are common to the 999RS race bikes, although others - the cams, heads, seat unit and frame brace for example are specific to the 749R race kit.

Top fairing, ecu support. Item 12 is the race ecu; 7 is the race dash.

Control kit. Footpegs are 999RS

Engine and gearbox:

Fairing kit. Note the heat shielding - 12. Some bikes (Lanzis included) extended the shielding to the nose fairing to protect the ecu. The 749RS fairings retained the upper vents while the 999RS vents were closed. It is said that the vents aided stability at high speed but that some of the WSB riders preferred the vents closed.

Air intakes. Note the standard airbox.

Note: standard rear subframe with adaptations for dzus fasteners :

Water cooling kit:

Oil cooling kit:

The Ducati 749RS

2011-01-19T17:37:00.000Z

Welcome to my 749RS blog. This blog exists to catalogue the information I gather about this rare and unusual bike - the Ducati 749RS.

Terminology

Throughout these posts, I use the term 749Rs to mean 749R in the plural and 749RS for the factory designation. Kit R means a bike fitted with the Corse supersports engine kit.

Background

Other people have documented the Ducati 749R elsewhere, but it's worth reviewing some of the history of the R as a background to this work.

The 749R was released in 2004 as a limited run, numbered homgulation special. The factory created the bike to be used for both Superstock and Supersports racing. The 'standard' R had many unique parts: rear shock, rocker arm, cams and followers, crank and pistons as well as externally visible items - lighter wheels, carbon fairings and top fairing supports, magnesium cam covers. These were mostly intended to improve racing performance. Superstock has very strict rules governing the modifications allowed to a bike: essentially, the bike should be very close to something that you or I could buy in a showroom. Supersports allow a number of modifications to engine and suspension internals, but externally, the bike must look like the showroom model: wheels, brakes and frame and certain other items (airbox etc.), must be production items.

I currently own a Ducati 749R that was built by JHP alongside their BSB Supersports racers. It is fitted with the Ducati Corse engine kit and other Corse parts. It's a very, very special bike and a pleasure to own and ride.

The first thing to know about the RS is:

there is no RS.

With all other models; the 748RS, the 996, 998 and 1098RS, there was an officially produced model that was sold by the factory as the ultimate race bike for that model. For the 749, the R was the race bike. It was not possible to buy an RS from the factory that had been built only from RS parts.

The SuperSports rules specified that the race bikes had to be based on production parts and, although it was possible to buy an R built with RS parts directly from Ducati Corse, the top yoke still bears the identifying number and R designation. Ducati took an R from the production line, walked it over to the Corse production line and fitted the race kit to it. Interestingly, despite including data acquisition, race water and oil coolers and showing no road lighting or emission systems whatsoever, even the race catalogue is simply entitled Spare Parts Catalogue for 749R Model Year 2004.

Kits, kits and RS's

Prior to investigating the RS, it was commonly accepted in the 749R community that there was one factory-supplied kit for the 749R - the Supersports engine kit.

This kit took an R motor from around 118bhp to over 135 at the wheel. It comprised new cylinder heads, heavily revised cams, an exhaust and ecu. It cost around £6,000 at the time and required a great deal of money and expertise to fit and have running correctly.

Since starting this investigation, John Hackett at JHP has confirmed that there was another kit supplied by the factory. This one cost at least £22,000 and extended the engine kit to deliver:

wiring loom
twin pickup ecu
lcd dash
high capacity airtubes
race fairing support
two piece carbon fairing
revised fork internals
race rear shock
race radiators and oil coolers similar in appearance to those used on the 998RS and 999RS
race gearbox

Additionally, a telemetry kit was available. Part of it can be seen in the picture at the top of this page as a small additional rod behind the front fork leg.

The cost of the kit was added to the price of the base R: to go racing, a team would have to buy a bike - £14,000, add the £22,000 kit and build it. From my experience of the supersports engine kit, it is one thing to build the motor, but something else entirely to get the most out of it. To get to the grid could cost over £50,000.

Most of the 749RS race bikes were fitted with this kit by race teams, however a few factory and factory supported riders were supplied with RS bikes directly from the factory. Practically, there is no difference between a factory supplied bike and a customer bike fitted with the kit, however, once the bikes left the factory, they were often further developed, within the rules of the race series.