I’m Jamie from Nottingham, just joined and thought I better pop in and say hi…
I’m not technically an owner as my '08 S4R hasn’t been delivered to me yet so I’m having to make do with spending hours staring at photos of it and making brum brum noises when the missus is out of earshot.
It won’t be my first Ducati as I had a 999S for a couple of years and I am looking forward to relearning the whole L twin thing. I’ve just stepped off a '98 Honda VFR 800 which was sadly stolen so it should be interesting…
Anyway, enough of me, I have some questions that I hope you can answer…
Where can I get a workshop manual from?
I can’t find any Termis for it so far but have found a place in Italy selling some new Zard slip ons. Has anyone experience of Zard? Much of a muchness or not? Do I need an Eprom and as I can’t find an '08 S4R specific chip will a 998 chip do? I read somewhere that changing the air filter for a free flow item then necessitates other work like messing with throttle bodies etc, true or no?
Any things to look out for with the S4R? Common faults, niggles etc…
Hi Jamie
Nice looking Monster!
Workshop Manual - Colin Darlow - Club Technical Literature Guru should be able to advise on that one.
Termis - Don’t Know - Zards - Not had any myself, but my Girlfriend has an S2r 800 with De-Cat Pipework and Arrow cans on and it sounds glorious. Some days I think it is better than my 50mm 916 system with Termis, but maybe not.
Chips etc. - Try Nelly at Cornerspeed in Kirkby in Ashfield, you may already know him from your 999 days, if not - give him a call.
How was the VFR? I have been thinking about getting one for riding in less pleasant weather conditions.
Steve
Hi Steve. I spoke with Nelly yesterday, he suggested flashing a new map to the ECU, apparently it’s the modern way of doing it. I’ve been pointed at some Termis on eBay from Italy that don’t appear to take 3 years to arrive so I’ll raid the piggy back. I’m not sure where to get a de-cat pipe from though.
The VFR was/is a truly fantastic motorsickle, very, very easy to ride, deceptively quick, stable with great handling if a bit lardy and it gives a Ducati a run for it’s money in the noise stakes. You get some of that deep and very sexy bass resonance when you shut off but with added scream just like Joey’s at the naughty end of the clocks.
If you are interested then I would advise the first 800 (1998-2001), they have the bottom end from the RC45, or 2nd gen or later V-Tec (post '06). I had a '98 that i had restored, new suspension, much powder coating in OE colours, engine strip and rebuild, nuts, bolts, fasteners, new bearings, seals, bushes everywhere etc.
They have a few niggles, the reg/rec is the main problem, mine went twice before uprating it to newer Honda part. The combined brakes is a love 'em/hate 'em thing, I hated them at first, especially when the forks dipped while dabbing the rear, until someone pulled out on me and I grabbed on and stopped with centimetres to spare. You can pick them up for peanuts too, I paid £1100 for mine with 31K miles on, I bought it from someone I knew who had bought it from someone we knew who had bought it from someone we all knew. They can be awkward to work on, the rear plugs have to be removed/replaced blind for example but then you’ll see 170 miles from a tank of fuel easily enough. Do it…
