Jackof53trades
11-17-2022, 06:47 PM
Hi everybody,
Sorry, this will be a bit of a rant at first. Detailing my experience so far.
TLDR: I think this bike is bad, but I'll stick with it for now. Does anybody have recommendations for front brake pads?
I got my lil duc (mini monster) last month as a training tool for my big bikes. I put 115 miles on it so far: a couple of miles around town to break it in, 2 canyon runs and 1.5 trackdays. The first trackday was fun. I wanted a baseline before I put parts on and was scraping footpegs absolutely everywhere. The second was cut short by my leaking fuel tank.
I'm a reasonably competent mechanic and I've worked on my actual Ducati 848 ,refreshed my Ninja 650 and plenty of cars. That said, this bike is the worst thing I've had the displeasure to work on. I expected to work on it but this was worse than expected.
The ride to wrench ratio is appalling. It's sitting in the garage disassembled right now because the gas tank is leaking and Kronik racing won't respond to me about it. Patiently waiting before I just go get gas for my TIG welder and fix it myself; like everything else on this thing.
Issues and gripes that I've already ran into in its short life.
-Engine mount bolt sheared. I actually measured them to be 120mm and 150mm. Making my 110mm bolts too short.
-Many bolts stripping on first removal.
-The shock disassembled itself on a ride. The shaft un-threaded from the top eyelet.
-Sloppiest shifter in the world. Constant misshifts. Linkage from new rearsets was also not good. Currently fabricating my own shifter for GP shift.
-No grease in front forks at all, leading to alot of stiction.
-No grease in any pivot points. Swingarm, Front/rear axles. Evidence of wear already.
-Rear wheel is a complete PITA to put back in. Tolerances on this are terrible. The cush drive was already showing signs of wear. My ninja with 33,000 miles of which 9,000 were hard canyon miles and 2 trackdays had less wear.
-Throttle cable was too long for the VM22. Had to shorten and modify it myself.
-Rear sprocket's little riveted aligner had a clearance issue bone stock.
-The shaking and rattling is unbearable. Fabricating the lower mount now.
-The front end is the worst. It's bouncy and doesn't give alot of feedback. I changed the fork oil to quality, heavier weight ones from RaceTech but hardly a change. The brakes are so weak. Granted it makes no horsepower stock but still, the bike really struggles to stop. Changed the fluid and a Ducati Brake line, no change. Can't even stoppie or lock up the front.
That said, I have some hope that the bike will become enjoyable enough to ride to suit my needs. Once I'm done basically rebuilding it from the ground up. I wanted a Kayo but cost and street legality...
It was fun to go full throttle all the time for the first 50 miles at least.
To my last point, does anybody have recommendations for front brake pads? I'm hoping better brake pads will alleviate my woes on the front end. Grom brake pads seem different and searching didn't seem to help. I'm looking for a sintered pad.
Thanks,
Patrick
Sorry, this will be a bit of a rant at first. Detailing my experience so far.
TLDR: I think this bike is bad, but I'll stick with it for now. Does anybody have recommendations for front brake pads?
I got my lil duc (mini monster) last month as a training tool for my big bikes. I put 115 miles on it so far: a couple of miles around town to break it in, 2 canyon runs and 1.5 trackdays. The first trackday was fun. I wanted a baseline before I put parts on and was scraping footpegs absolutely everywhere. The second was cut short by my leaking fuel tank.
I'm a reasonably competent mechanic and I've worked on my actual Ducati 848 ,refreshed my Ninja 650 and plenty of cars. That said, this bike is the worst thing I've had the displeasure to work on. I expected to work on it but this was worse than expected.
The ride to wrench ratio is appalling. It's sitting in the garage disassembled right now because the gas tank is leaking and Kronik racing won't respond to me about it. Patiently waiting before I just go get gas for my TIG welder and fix it myself; like everything else on this thing.
Issues and gripes that I've already ran into in its short life.
-Engine mount bolt sheared. I actually measured them to be 120mm and 150mm. Making my 110mm bolts too short.
-Many bolts stripping on first removal.
-The shock disassembled itself on a ride. The shaft un-threaded from the top eyelet.
-Sloppiest shifter in the world. Constant misshifts. Linkage from new rearsets was also not good. Currently fabricating my own shifter for GP shift.
-No grease in front forks at all, leading to alot of stiction.
-No grease in any pivot points. Swingarm, Front/rear axles. Evidence of wear already.
-Rear wheel is a complete PITA to put back in. Tolerances on this are terrible. The cush drive was already showing signs of wear. My ninja with 33,000 miles of which 9,000 were hard canyon miles and 2 trackdays had less wear.
-Throttle cable was too long for the VM22. Had to shorten and modify it myself.
-Rear sprocket's little riveted aligner had a clearance issue bone stock.
-The shaking and rattling is unbearable. Fabricating the lower mount now.
-The front end is the worst. It's bouncy and doesn't give alot of feedback. I changed the fork oil to quality, heavier weight ones from RaceTech but hardly a change. The brakes are so weak. Granted it makes no horsepower stock but still, the bike really struggles to stop. Changed the fluid and a Ducati Brake line, no change. Can't even stoppie or lock up the front.
That said, I have some hope that the bike will become enjoyable enough to ride to suit my needs. Once I'm done basically rebuilding it from the ground up. I wanted a Kayo but cost and street legality...
It was fun to go full throttle all the time for the first 50 miles at least.
To my last point, does anybody have recommendations for front brake pads? I'm hoping better brake pads will alleviate my woes on the front end. Grom brake pads seem different and searching didn't seem to help. I'm looking for a sintered pad.
Thanks,
Patrick