vectormatic

@Mechbuilds Love the mad engineswap

Not to mention pushing fans away, I've had no problems with the Ducati myself (save for a design criticism on the rubber band drive), but having seen the criticisms of the Fiat 500 in terms of colour, and the same issue on the lambo, im putting the lego hobby on the back burner. While i love the looks and complexity of recent licensed sets, there is no denying that quality is going down, and im not happy with paying €370 for those kinds of issues. They already pushed my out of lego star wars with the ridiculous pricing, and now technic is getting ruined by subpar designs and poor production quality.

Perhaps an odd question, but do we know whether it features an engine, and what type?

Nice one @agrof, i dont know if i have the rubber 2 stud thingy in my spares, if i run across one ill definitely give it a try!

Either way, as i posted above, the other side of the body offers the space for a 20z-12z connection between engine and gearbox, which also helps to speed up the engine a bit. IMHO this is a perfectly servicable fix for the problem. Im considering whether it is possible to change the stepper mechanism to use one of those rubber 2L thingies rather then a rubber band, im not sure how durable those things are, but its bound to be better then the rubber band. Also, does anyone have any bright ideas for the rear shock? comparing pics the bike is sitting just a tad high at the rear, and i would prefer a bit more stiffness in the suspension, so a repositioning of the rear shock is in order i think.

As soon as i saw the rubber band used to link engine and drivetrain, i knew something had to be done The engine now rotates quicker, making first gear look frantic and second gear non-sluggish (i think second gear is now the speed first gear was, thinking about the gearbox) Ive eliminated one rubber band and capped off the original drive side of the crank with the large flat gear for decoration, on the other side, using the tan 20z gear has the benefit of looking vaguely like those round housings in the side behind the fairings on the real bike. More work remains to be done, but this just had to be fixed ASAP

@BrickMonkeyMOCs @agrof I was thinking of swapping the drive to the other side of the engine, and using the 20z/10z gear combo, with the 20z on the bottom axle. This will put another big tan disc in place of the half thickness gear, preserving that detail, and it will make the engine run at higher RPM, hopefully this wont cause too much friction, but it should look cooler, and will make the engine run at a significant RPM even in second gear. The gear change fix would be interesting too, i wonder how it would affect the feel of the lever. Im also contemplating some aesthetic mods, looking at the side profile it should kinda have the long wide panel rather then the short one (the one with the ducati corse sticker). This might fix on the left flank, although the gearshift lever might interfere, on the right the current stepper mechanism blocks it. Im also thinking the exhaust curl and rear mudflap require some changes, and the rear shock could do with a bit more mechanical advantage, i feel like pushing down on the bike in the middle shows a soft rear.

Depends entirely on why they have the V4 in the panigale, from what wikipedia tells me, the V4 was introduced because the superbikes regs specify a 3 or 4 cyl engine, so think of it as a homologation special, but in larger numbers. The baby panigale still uses a V2, rather then a lower capacity V4. Ducati has had a V4 for ages, with the desmosedici, but they still stuck with the V2 for their road bikes.

haha, that 8051 does indeed look likje something out of the 90s now :P My 42036 now looks rather scrawny and toy-like as well, will you be giving the 8051 some upgrades? I just cant get over how good the new shocks and brake discs make the thing look, completely next level

@agrof that sounds like an interesting idea. I think the gearchange is excellent as it is, but i dont agree with the use of rubber bands in technic sets, they deteriorate over the years, and while i can reassemble and play with my 20 year old technic, im pretty sure the same cant be said for anything that uses a rubber band. I just finished building it, so i figured id give my first impressions: The good: Im amazed they managed to put a gearbox in what is essentially the same dimensions as 42036, the bike feels a lot bulkier, but the width is the same, the wheelbase just a tad longer, the height just a tad more. The gearchange is excellent, the effect of the gearbox is easily seen. I also love the new parts, the fatter rear tyre, the brake discs, the use of the Chiron brake hub, it all brings so much more realism to the bike. my modded 42036 still looks like lego, this ducati could from a distance pass as a scale model. I will absolutely buy extra pieces of the new parts to pimp up my other bikes. The stand is a nice inclusion, but i wouldve liked a normal kickstand on the bike itself, i understand these racing bikes tend to not have those, but it wouldve made moving it around a little less cumbersome. The bad: as i wrote before, im not terribly impressed with the "build a plate with arbitrary holes from axles and connectors" method used to hold the sides of the gearbox/engine. I think they introduce to much flex, and especially in drivetrains this leads to extra friction and defects. I also think the use of a rubber band to drive the engine is completely inexcusable, especially considering these bands are easy to get lost, and will probably break over time. From what i can tell one can easily swap in two 16t gears on the opposite side, which will be my first mod to this bike. Im also not a big fan of how the "head" is attached, this is always going to be an issue on bike with fixed headlights, but i wouldve prefered some liftarms over axles. Conclusion: Im quite happy with the ducati, it does have its issues, but those seem fixable, and it really lifts technic motorcycles to a whole new level.

So has anyone thought of a way to eliminate the rubber band in the drivetrain? I can understand using one for the 90 degree stepper for the gearbox, but rubber band drive straight off the crank? Im now halfway through the build, and i love the single sided swingarm, i think the gearbox and its operation is quite cool, but the building techniques worry me, the whole "slew of connectors on a few axles" thing give enough flex and impreciseness that i can easily see some gearboxes ending up with enough stress that drive will be less then smooth. To test the gearbox i had to already flex the frame a bit since there was enough friction on the crank that the rubber band drive was slipping... Im loving the new parts though, im definitely ordering a set of shocks, discs and that rear tyre for my Desmosedici-fied 42036, although the swingarm needs a serious adjustment to fit that fat tyre.

Really makes me wonder why lego changed those parts, one would think that making your technic model function worse by introducing higher friction gears is a no-no

I think you are in a small minority in that regard. Ive thought the same about the speed champions lineup before, clearbacked stickers offer easy colour changes, making it an option to buy the same set several times, lego could even sell "tuning packs" for those cars, allowing you to turn a road-going Ferrari into a GT3 version, but i think the market for this kind of add-on kit will be tiny compared to the normal sets.

The same can be said for the bugatti, the gearbox is correct, but the shifter padles are hooked up the wrong way around (which i believe was spotted and fixed quite easily by the community), either way, the bugatti didnt have a sticker saying what was up and down, and considering the overlap between AFOLs and people actually driving a chiron, not many would notice or be seriously annoyed by this, on the landrover the sticker being wrong is quite more serious imho. If i may ask a question to those who already built their Sian, how is the colour consistency? I just watched the Held der Steine review, and pretty much his only sticking point is the fact that colour consistency, even between the same parts is pretty poor

I bought mine for a pretty good price, ive already made a deal to move it on for that same price, so at least im not losing any money. Ill be more critical of sets like these in the future though, i can see myself bothering with all sorts of rebuilds and fixes for the Sian, but im not buying big sets just for the technic build without serious vetting, it seems like these 2000+ part monsters are really stretching the limits on technic, and for some reason tend to always contain some flaws which just shouldnt be there.