On the contrary, they crash in an entertaining and spectacular manner. In that respect they crash extremely well.
Riding one afterwards however, might be another story.
I do wonder what will happen in relatively minor street crashes that ding the airbox/frame. I would think that would almost immediately total a machine. How long until there are replacement cast frames made in China with a new "home built" VIN for $799 on Ebay?
Take your totalled Panigale, buy the new frame and rebuild it as a home built custom.
This has been discussed before, but if the frame is a the airbox, and Ducati Performance or someone else offers a magnesium or carbon fiber replacement, what does that do to the original frame and VIN? Would you have to turn over your old frame to Ducati and they then issue the new upgrade part with the same VIN?
You replace the airbox support or the swinger. I am sure they engineered these things to break first without cracking the engine casing...
You would hope but I certainly have my doubts about that. It seems impossible to anticipate all scenarios where impact could load the chassis and design the mounting points so that they couldn't break the cases, yet provide enough rigidity as a frame to be effective.
Obviously these are from a different era, but trying to find desmoquattro cases can be tough because any crash that tweaks the swingarm frequently cracks the cases at the back mounting points.
From Ducati's perspective, why not have it ruin the caes too? The bike wouold be totalled anyway, customer just buys another new bike. For the race team everything would be replaced anyway.
BTW, I don't even recognize Kyalami since they screwed-up the track with all those "hosting" areas. Virtully no place to actually spectate any more, unless you're a "VIP" at one the the private viewing areas.
And the format of the track SUCKS.
Give us that long, LONG straight that they had back in the 80's!
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To me me it would be logical to build it like a race car with a carbon tub. On a carbon tub, it is assumed that the car will be involved in multiple crashes over the chassis' lifetime. The corners are designed to break the hardware holding the suspension, gearbox/engine on and if it is a really big hit, the pickup point will break. If this happens, it can be unbolted and another pickup can be bolted in place. It is impossible to design out any possibility of tub/chassis damage but if Ducati wants this bike raced (which I believe they do), it would be very shortsighted to design something that is disposable after every big hit...
Quote:
Originally Posted by sburns2421
You would hope but I certainly have my doubts about that. It seems impossible to anticipate all scenarios where impact could load the chassis and design the mounting points so that they couldn't break the cases, yet provide enough rigidity as a frame to be effective.
Obviously these are from a different era, but trying to find desmoquattro cases can be tough because any crash that tweaks the swingarm frequently cracks the cases at the back mounting points.
From Ducati's perspective, why not have it ruin the caes too? The bike would be totalled anyway, customer just buys another new bike. For the race team everything would be replaced anyway.
Carbon chassis are largely designed to absorb energy so that it isn't transferred to the driver. They are commonly called "crash structures" for that reason. Great for a race team with funds that are sky high. Not so much for a street bike or the hobby racer/track rider.
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I raced karts, then cars for years. I was also a mechanic for a professional Formula Atlantic team while I was a teenager and while going through college. We were one of the factory Reynard FA teams. I agree that in an extreme case all modern chassis are designed to absorb energy so as not to transfer to the driver. There is not a racing chassis out however, there that is designed to be disposable. Sorry if you don't agree but that is reality and they are designed to be able to take multiple hits over the course of the racing season. Very few teams have the funds to be able to throw chassis' in the bin after every substantial hit... I have rebuilt many crashed racecars with carbon and aluminum tubs...
Quote:
Originally Posted by AKDMA
Carbon chassis are largely designed to absorb energy so that it isn't transferred to the driver. They are commonly called "crash structures" for that reason. Great for a race team with funds that are sky high. Not so much for a street bike or the hobby racer/track rider.
To me me it would be logical to build it like a race car with a carbon tub. On a carbon tub, it is assumed that the car will be involved in multiple crashes over the chassis' lifetime. The corners are designed to break the hardware holding the suspension, gearbox/engine on and if it is a really big hit, the pickup point will break. If this happens, it can be unbolted and another pickup can be bolted in place. It is impossible to design out any possibility of tub/chassis damage but if Ducati wants this bike raced (which I believe they do), it would be very shortsighted to design something that is disposable after every big hit...
hard to tell from pics,but it does appear that the airbox-frame survived.
I predict the obligatory "anything will break if you crash it hard enough" reply. Well, unless they are BST wheels because they shouldn't break under any circumstances.
Kawi's, worth more as scrap metal.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrgrn
why don'y you do yourself a favor and put me on ignore
Warning: Panigale's DO NOT crash well
Nate, do you think the frame can be straightened on that one?
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