848 -> Streetfighter?

[Logos]

So,

The story is, I've spotted a 848 that's a repairable write off. Now I love the look and style of the Streetfighter however I do not love the price of any Ducati full stop.

Wallpaper Wednesday: Ducati Streetfighter Special

I saw this and fell in love with it, and the 848 appears to be the best way to achieve it on a more affordable level (provided the auction goes favourably to me and is a financially viable move), as well as fufill my ambition to create a custom bike (or bastard child custom, whichever is more fitting)

My question is, how hard would it be to take a 848 with fairing damage and turn it into a 848 Streetfighter? (I'll be calling them on Tuesday to ascertain the damage on the bike)

The major differences I've so far found (in terms of geometry) are things like:

Rake Angle
848: 24.5°, 97 mm
SF: 25.67° 114 mm
Wheelbase
848: 1,430 mm
SF: 1,480 mm
Seat height:
848: 830
SF: 840

I imagine the air intakes will also require some sort of attention, a set of triple clamps which can mount handlebars if I take off the clip ons, mounting the headlight, and possibly getting hold of the small housing that the tacho resides in on the SF (as far as I can tell all current Duc's use the same small readout)

Disregarding things like, the Showa forks on the 848, motor displacement etc. I'm wondering how difficult it would be to create a 848 Streetfighter, I'm not after a perfect replication as being a Industrial Designer I wish to inject some personal flair into it.

Please keep the comments constructive.

Terry

[rod]

Just take the old fairings off and see if you can get the Streetfighter bodywork from somewhere like Shift-Tec. You never know most of it may go straight on. You might like to check the location of the battery and ECU on each as I think they're in different spots. After you take into consideration the lower price you'll get when you eventually sell it, and the cost of the parts to really finish it off you might get close to the cost of a Streetfighter anyway.

[kryten2001]

So,


Please keep the comments constructive.

Terry

If the 848 looks anything like the 1198 with the fairing off, I'd say no. The streetfighter is set up to look proper naked - the 1198 (and I daresay the 848) would look like what it is.... A stripped bike that supposed to be faired.

The streetfighter looks gorgeous in person - way more than a faired bike that's been stripped..

Rodr might be right - you might find streetfighter bits bolt on - but I'd be a bit cautious... You might end up with something that looks totally frankensteined. I also suspect you'd be in for a huge amount of work to make it look like a streetfighter though - might end up being very cost prohibitive... And remember, you're likely to want to sell it one day...

[Crashlington]

customs streetfighters usually end up costing lots more that what the original bike would have cost.

[AZAZL]

So,

The story is, I've spotted a 848 that's a repairable write off. Now I love the look and style of the Streetfighter however I do not love the price of any Ducati full stop.

Please keep the comments constructive.

Terry

Terry,

I was running a 1098R without bodywork (being painted) and just a carbon headlight faring with no screen for the mirrors to hang off, for a couple of weeks. I cannot be certain it was due to this alone but at high speed, the slightest road undulation or rough patch would cause the front end to become very very light to the point of being dangerous. This was not whilst intentionally wheelying, but I assumed it was possibly because the fairing design put increasing downward force on the front tyre with increasing speed.

I am not an expert on ducati design and all that shit, I just ride the suckers, but maybe someone else more well versed in the aerodynamics of 300kph superbikes may be able to help here.

[Mex]

Saw this at the Barry Sheen ride last year...

[unicycle]

.

[unicycle]

The 848 appears to be the best way to achieve it on a more affordable level.

You could make it a fighter on the cheap, but would you do that to the 848? As you said, it's a bike to fall in love with.

In saying that, I like the idea of adding some of your own design principles in to the mix, and I'd suggest maybe steering clear of the actual streetfighter design that ducatti already makes.

Depending on the auction price and other repairs, plus the mods it needs to make it your own fighter... I'd guess that your going over the factory street fighter showroom price. On the other hand, you could potentially have a bike that is something wild and individual.

I'm wondering how difficult it would be to create a 848 Streetfighter.

In answering you question; it depends on your skills as a designer, mechanic and your level of commitment in making something different - but hard.
I would suggest the level of personal "flair" as being the pricey part that either makes or breaks the whole deal. If you do it, good luck and I want to see it when your done!

[Ozboy]

So,

The story is, I've spotted a 848 that's a repairable write off. Now I love the look and style of the Streetfighter however I do not love the price of any Ducati full stop.


Please keep the comments constructive.

Terry

If you type this ^^ into a post, then sorry to say Terry, a Ducati is not for you. They are expensive to buy and maintain.

I would look at a Jap bike if you want cost kept down. Just my 2c

[ducmon]

Saw this at the Barry Sheen ride last year...

That is hideous.

[rod]

Ha ha it does. Just looks like someone has stacked their 1098 and can't afford to repair it properly. Which is how streetfighters came about I think...

[Desmo]

My thoughts as well.

[Ryven]

If you type this ^^ into a post, then sorry to say Terry, a Ducati is not for you. They are expensive to buy and maintain.

I would look at a Jap bike if you want cost kept down. Just my 2c

I can say that the servicing costs on Ducatis has gone down considerably, and the service intervals have gone up... However, it's still considerably higher than any other brands.

There's another matter left out. The auction will be on or after the 1/3/2010? Any written off vehicles bought from that day on need engineering approval for repairs prior to ever seeing the pits.

[unicycle]

A perfect example of a "make or break"

[Orson]

Ha ha it does. Just looks like someone has stacked their 1098 and can't afford to repair it properly. Which is how streetfighters came about I think...

"Hey man, nice VTR Two Fif....oh wait."

[Crashlington]

looks like a ducati monster with a 1098 back end bolted to it.

[ducmon]

Not quite. Looks more like a munted vtr 250.

[Mex]

When i was taking photos of it this apparently random guy came up to me and started talking... convo went something along the lines of;

dude "he made a great job of it aye?"
me "ummm, yeah"
dude " i think it looks fantastic, the finish is great"
me "ummmm, been in a smash has it?"
dude "nope, the guy who owns it just wanted a street fightered duke"
me "ummmm, yeah"
dude "fantastic...." *guy walks off*

and for the record the closer you looked the uglier it got, the finish was far from "great" and at a guess its more than likely that the "dude" was the guy who owned it..

[Orson]

Ahhh....that made me laugh

[Logos]

Just take the old fairings off and see if you can get the Streetfighter bodywork from somewhere like Shift-Tec. You never know most of it may go straight on. You might like to check the location of the battery and ECU on each as I think they're in different spots. After you take into consideration the lower price you'll get when you eventually sell it, and the cost of the parts to really finish it off you might get close to the cost of a Streetfighter anyway.

As far as I can tell I'm going off the basis that the 1198/1098/848/SF all share very similar architecture, so I didn't rule out parts not being a straight up bolt on. That said the only parts I was really concerned fitting was the SF's headlight, the only other similar product I could find that I liked was the LSL urban headlight. I basically told myself, (as unlilkely as it is) if the bike is around maybe 10k or so then it *might* be worthwhile.

If the 848 looks anything like the 1198 with the fairing off, I'd say no. The streetfighter is set up to look proper naked - the 1198 (and I daresay the 848) would look like what it is.... A stripped bike that supposed to be faired.

The streetfighter looks gorgeous in person - way more than a faired bike that's been stripped..

Rodr might be right - you might find streetfighter bits bolt on - but I'd be a bit cautious... You might end up with something that looks totally frankensteined. I also suspect you'd be in for a huge amount of work to make it look like a streetfighter though - might end up being very cost prohibitive... And remember, you're likely to want to sell it one day...

I also share your sentiments, despite my best efforts I might end up with a seriously ugly looking bike and en empty wallet, It's hard to tell at the moment as I'm still throwing the idea around in my head. My assumption (and yes it is the mother of all f*ck ups) is that there wouldn't be much difference between a stripped 848 and a SF in terms of lines etc, but again very hard to tell and I am assuming.

customs streetfighters usually end up costing lots more that what the original bike would have cost.

Again, agree, I'm cautious as to end up with a very expensive project on my hands, I wouldn't have such a problem if I ended up with a bike that was 2-3k more expensive than the 848, as long as it was good looking and I had added things like Ohlins etc to justify the expense.

Terry,

I was running a 1098R without bodywork (being painted) and just a carbon headlight faring with no screen for the mirrors to hang off, for a couple of weeks. I cannot be certain it was due to this alone but at high speed, the slightest road undulation or rough patch would cause the front end to become very very light to the point of being dangerous. This was not whilst intentionally wheelying, but I assumed it was possibly because the fairing design put increasing downward force on the front tyre with increasing speed.

I am not an expert on ducati design and all that shit, I just ride the suckers, but maybe someone else more well versed in the aerodynamics of 300kph superbikes may be able to help here.

To be honest, not really sure what to say back to this, other then I'm surprised that the bodywork caused a difference in downforce. That said I wasn't in your position so I can't exactly go and say you're wrong. But defiantly something I ought to put into consideration too.

Saw this at the Barry Sheen ride last year...

Um, wow? That put things in perspective, it's certainly easy to make a good looking bike ugly, I'd be utterly gutted with myself if I ended up with something anywhere nearly as ugly as that.

You could make it a fighter on the cheap, but would you do that to the 848? As you said, it's a bike to fall in love with.

In saying that, I like the idea of adding some of your own design principles in to the mix, and I'd suggest maybe steering clear of the actual streetfighter design that ducatti already makes.

Depending on the auction price and other repairs, plus the mods it needs to make it your own fighter... I'd guess that your going over the factory street fighter showroom price. On the other hand, you could potentially have a bike that is something wild and individual.



In answering you question; it depends on your skills as a designer, mechanic and your level of commitment in making something different - but hard.
I would suggest the level of personal "flair" as being the pricey part that either makes or breaks the whole deal. If you do it, good luck and I want to see it when your done!

As I've said before, after purchasing, modding etc, I could end up with a bike that's more expensive then the SF as it is. The SF is one of the very few bikes I like (mind you a shorty exhaust + bar ends really change it's visuals) So I guess personally I don't mind replicating some of it. But yeah I would hardly be much of a designer if I just copied the same designs someone else did.

If you type this ^^ into a post, then sorry to say Terry, a Ducati is not for you. They are expensive to buy and maintain.

I would look at a Jap bike if you want cost kept down. Just my 2c

The unfortunate thing Is I've been looking into a suitable bike (good looking frame + single sided swingarm + hopefully good factory bits, Brembo's Ohlins etc) to use for a long time for this and nothing has really come up, I considered modifying a Shiver 750 but again I'm reluctant I'll end up with a hideous looking bike and an empty wallet. I can't really find many other bikes that have the same 'stance' and proportions as the SF, the the CB1000R and the Speed Triple do have similar proportions however the motors don't look nice exposed (Yes I'm anal enough to comment on that, but when forking out big money for this I have to be totally satisfied with what I'm buying in all aspects)

Thank you for the advice, and for being constructive, it's much appreciated.

Just for the record, the bike is a 08 model with about 11,000kms on it. So I'm hoping that will devalue the bike under the guise it could also be out of factory warranty. I did also see a 1198 that's been crashed, with about 20,000kms.