Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128640
softe r and more com pl iant tha n the Swedi sh shoc k , w ithout at t he sa me time sq ua tting excessively under the hu ge torq ue from the desmo V-twi n motor that has y ou always p refe rri ng to rev it right out to somewhere near the rev lim iter before yo u grab the next gear. Yet , altho ugh the FG unit offers just ha lf th e suspensio n tra vel of the Ohlins , cl eve r an d co m p licat ed inter na l valvi ng re su lt s in a n inc re di b ly effec tive shock res po nse . Th is not only all ows you to feel every ripple on the track surface and gives great feedback of wha t the rear tire's doing , it also cuts out most of the pumping th at has the desmo V-twin squ irming and sq uirreling around beneath you , wh ich yo u often get ri ding a Du c at i Superbike . It also m ak es it easier to k eep the front wh eel some what closer to th e ground th an us ual ex i t i ng a turn, IAbove) Bostrom's NCR Ducati is Troy Corser's 1999 machine. Bostrom prefers a significantly steeper steering-head angle for better f ro nt end feel and quicker response. (Right) The powerplant is the threeinj e ctor model of la st year's factory Ducati squad, down roughly 7 hp to the Ducatis of Troy Bayliss and Juan Borja. rep eatedl y w agg l ed th e ba rs in m y hands as t he fron t wheel shook lazil y fro m sid e t o si de under power , in what initially see med to be t he birth pains of a good old-fa shioned tankslapper. B ut , strangely , it nev er got totally term in al, and t he wide spread o n th e h and l eb ar s t h a t B o s tr o m ado p ts a s an oth er rem inder o f h i s dirt track days helped keep the bike o n the st raigh t and nar row. Well , until I brak ed hard for the th ird- gea r sweeper at th e' end o f the stra ight, and th e Du c ati start ed t o weave and street -sweep the racetrack as the weight tran sfer impacted on the radical steer ing g eometry that Bostrom adopts . With the tight e r ( 23 .5 degrees ) of th e choic e of two head angles on the 996 's tubular ste el spaceframe , and wider offset s f or minimal trail (t ho ug h not a n ex ce ssiv e rear ride height , p resumably to improv e tracti on out of turns th e NCR b ik e's riding po sit io n is not t o o extre me , w i t hou t excessive we ig h t on your forearms an d shou l ders) , Bost ro m 's bik e changes di rec tion very fast even withou t getting the rear wheel sliding , at t h e price of straight-line st ability and co m po sure under braking . It 's a tradeoff th at normall y goes against the gr ain for European rid er s who 've ta rm ac -r ac ed fr om th e sta rt and prefer to m axim ize co rn er speed at th e ex pe nse of th e ability t o vary yo ur lin e o r stee r very fas t into a t urn - tho ug h it's worth noti ng that th ere a re several former m otocross stars like Fabrizio Piro vano and Ch ris Walk - er who adopt t h e same steep -rake , sho rt- t rail setup and ride their bikes the same loose way, too. But for the likes of them and Bostrom, it wo rk s. " I realized Ben has a comp le tel y different approach to handling when he to ld m e at Misano how happy he was at last on th e b ik e, becau se for the first time this year he had th e fro nt wheel sli ding, " says Caracch i. " A ft er that we just listened to how he wanted the bik e set up, making changes only when he wanted them. I th ink it's the on ly way w ith someone with as inst inc t ive a rid ing style as this ." Yet even with the dirty track surface - espec ially once I'd blown away a lin e through the dust after a dozen lap s o r so ! - th e NCR Du cat i drov e well o ut of th e turn s, eve.!" if th e la ck of steering da m pe r w ill ge t th e fro nt wheel fl app in g around in your hands as it lift s under ac cele ration ( espe cially if you ' re trying to steer the bike at th e same time). And you have to be prepared to cop e with the sling shot effect of that wh eelspin when the r ear Mi che lin d o es hook up hard , hopefully o nc e you 're st rai g htened up and fl ying right, rather t han still cranked ov er. W ith m y expe rienc e of th e French tires' ab ility to bite back , I w as pretty nervous ab out what might befall m e if tha t sce na rio happened but a good part of why it d idn 't was the one great difference in the NC R bike co mpare d to its '9 9 facto ry racer mode: the rear suspension . Instead of the works team 's Ohlins shock . the NCR team uses an even more so ph istic ated FG unit, th e creation of Italian suspension guru Franco Gubellini , wh os e products pr evi ously appe ared under th e HAT lab el and , fit t ed t o t h e T e a m A l st ar e Co ro na Suz u k is. w o n th e W orld Super sp ort t it le in bo th '98 and '99 . Althoug h , on the Du cati 996 , th e FG uses practica lly the same spring as an Ohlins (22 pounds , versus 23 .1 pounds .). it feels eye I e n because it seems to absorb th e we ight transfer better under ac celerat ion. You c an tell I became a big fan of the FG shock af ter riding with it for the firs t tim e at M agi one , but - says Caracch i - it also has ano t her ad van t age over th e Ohlins , especi ally in a race. Bec aus e of the Ducati 's peculiar arc hitect ure, with th e V -twin engi ne's up right rear cylinder and the ex ha u st pipes exi ting under t he seat th at pass just 10mm away from the rear sho ck in doing so , th is in variably becomes ov erheat ed in a race , with the shock oi l temperature r ising t o 194 -212 degrees F on th e Ohlins , as a result. The FG , o n t he o t h er hand, has been design ed to re sist this , with th e oil temp st ayi ng belo w 140 deg rees F in 86 -d eg ree am b ien t temper ature, so t hat th e shock wo r k s b ett er for lo n g er , and you get im pro v ed g rip and a longer lif e from the rear tire . This was c onfirmed when Bostro m j oined the te am at Hockenheim, inie vv s N O V EMBE R 22,2000 17