[murry]

Thanks for stopping in,

I want to get the most bang for the buck with my first performance upgrade and I'm leaning towards a lightened flywheel. Any advice would be greatly appreciated and please, feel free to disagree.

thanks,
murry

 

[s4_randy]

Murry,

I've got one in conjuction with an STM aluminum clutch and basket on my S4, and I absolutely love it. I can't remember exactly how much rotating mass it removed, but it feels much lighter, especially in the corners.

As far as the first mod is concerned, I'm not so sure. I would say "bang for the buck" would probably be sprockets (although I haven't done that). Does the 800 have a dry clutch? If not, that would add to the difficulty/cost of the upgrade.

Pipes are generally an early mod, although not much of a performance gain.

 

[murry]

Randy,

Thanks for the reply. The 800 does have a wet clutch. So my next question is, which basket and pressure plate should I buy for a wet clutch. I messed up by saying that this would be my first peformance upgrade. I installed a 14 tooth front sprocket last week and your right, it probably is the most bang for the buck. I don't want loose any more up top nor do I want to increae my highway r.p.m. more than I already have, so I'm going to leave the sprockets alone for now. I noticed you have STM products on your bike. Are you happy with those? I would love to hear from guys with Nichols products too.

Yeah exhaust, I do want to install high pipes on my bike. For the noise and the looks, but if I can get a higher performance gain for 75% less money, the flywheel it is.

You mentioned that a wet clutch would be more expensive to upgrade than dry. If your talking about something besides the oil and extra labor let me know. I'll be installing the parts and I'm going to install them during my 3000 mile oil change and I think the parts cost the same. At the rate I'm riding it won't be long, I've been riding for three weeks and I've logged 1500 miles.;D

Thanks again Randy,
murry

 

[s4_randy]

I don't have any experience with wet clutches, so maybe some of the other members on the board can help you out with that.

I was only figuring the cost of the oil (and related mess) when I mentioned additional cost.

 

[MarkV]

murry i believe your 800 already comes stock with an aluminum clutch basket... my understanding this was included in the newer 800 and 1000 engine designs upgrades. the aluminum clutch basket dropped about three pounds over the steel clutch basket to improve the throttle response. so that won't be much (if any) gains for you there. and if you want a dry clutch just trade the 800 in for a thousand (in other words it's not worth the effort).

sounds like you've already done the sprockets... the flywheel won't get you any power but they'll quicken throttle response significantly. if you're hamfisted with the throttle that won't be good but if you aren't it'll be a hoot. i went with the nichols flywheel in my 900ss... it's a hoot to ride but took a bit of adjusting to.

if you really want to improve how the bike brakes, accelerates, and handles overall... save your nickels and dimes and buy some light weight wheels. wheels have got to be the best overall mod to a bike.

 

[murry]

Thanks for the reply MarkV.

It would be great if you could give me some advice on wheels.
size...type....brand....ect.

murry

 

[MarkV]

how much do you want to spend and how light do want to go? heaviest to lightest... coincidentally cheapest to most expensive; cast aluminum (alu) 3 spokes, cast alu 5 spokes, cast magnesium (mag) 3 spokes, cast mag 5 spokes, forged alu, forged mag, carbon... names i see the most frequently are pvm, marchesinni, marvic, bst, and dymag. dymag got a bad rep for while in the states... so bad that dymag denies a certain individual was ever a rep on their website. cast has been the traditional way... dymag did carbon way back when but seems that bst is trying to market it again... current rave are the forged wheels.

see this for weights... http://speedzilla.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=15526

if you get a chance do a search on www.cowin-tech.com/ducati for wheel topics or info by LJ or Shazaam! he did a good write up on some of the benefits and drawbacks to wheels... from what i've read it seems the general opinion that lightest doesn't always mean best on street apps... but that may change if you've got the $ for bst. you gonna have to do some shopping and leg work...