[neuregel]

I just bought a ducati 1999 996 bipisto. I had a monster for several years that handled beautifully. The steering on the 996 is a little to tight. Yes.....I know it should be but I don't race at the track nor am i interested to do 130 mph on the freeways. I just want to ride with the guys at work on the weekends in and around town. Ive always wanted a superbike.

I want to swap out the stock showa steering damper with an adjustable ohlins. I believe swapping out the damper would be the easiest best option. Could someone tell me if either of these two from ebay would work?

2001 Ducati 916 Ohlins Damper Stabilizer | eBay

or

2005 Ducati 996 Ohlins Damper Stabilizer | eBay

I called ohlins and they could not help and I know if I call ducati dearlership where I live they wont help unless I buy new on through them.

 

[tye1138]

Welcome to the forum!

The steering dampener dimensions never changed on the 916 chassis, so they're the same from the first gen 1994 model through final gen 998 in 2004. So a newer Öhlins unit designed for the 916 series frames, will fit the whole series, as long as it comes with brackets.

Dampeners are full of oil. When they sit around in the sun, the oil goes bad. When the oil gets bad, the dampener simply doesn't move anymore. The stock dampeners really don't do anything, so your issue is probably a bad dampener vs too stiff. Also, you may have bad steering head bearings, which is why its so stiff to move the front end.

I'd take the dampener off and see if it feels better. If it does, try pushing/pulling on the dampeners shaft to see how stiff it is. If it doesn't feel any better, then its probably time for some steering stem bearings. I'd be wiry of any "used" dampeners online, they may have similar issues to the one you pulled out.

 

[neuregel]

Thanks for the advice. I called the ebay seller's shop and was advised that I could return the part if I run into problems with it. To move things along, I went ahead and purchased the 2001 ohlins damper. Either way Id much prefer to have the adjustable damper then the stock one installed. I will mess around with the bike over the weekend.

 

[neuregel]

Thanks again. I got the OEM damper removed and the steering column was fine no problem with the bearings. The screws for the ohlins damper mount were longer then OEM mount so I had to run over to hardware store. Tire pressure was low, got 39psi in the front and 35psi in the back. Now she rides and turns perfect.

 

[7 Summits]

That's way too much pressure in the front tire. For the street try 33F and 36R

 

[neuregel]

Yup been trying out different psi.....thanks