In fitting, setting up and using the Öhlins Mechatronic SCU, I’ve discovered a few things about it that might just be of some use to anyone else going through the same process. As far as I can tell from the documentation, the Öhlins SCU:

  • Doesn’t access or use the four riding Modes from the Ducati ECU (Sport, Touring, Enduro, Urban). I’m guessing that this is held locally to the Ducati ECU and not broadcast over the CANBus.
  • Only adjusts according to which of the three engine maps is selected. For example, with the Ducati map defaults, Urban and Enduro (100bhp map) modes will have identical damping behaviour when controlled by the Öhlins SCU.
  • What you of course can still vary individually for each of the four riding modes is the level of DTC intervention and the rear preload (referring to the 2010 Multistrada)
  • As with the OEM SCU, the Öhlins unit has a 32-step range of damping adjustments. However, the Öhlins unit maps the 1..32 Ducati settings onto its range 1..17, with the Öhlins 18..32 being new, softer, settings. So the Öhlins settings are coarser but give a wider range of adjustment at the ‘soft’ end of the scale.

The last of these matters not when you’re letting the Öhlins SCU control the damping. When however you want to carry over manual damping settings from the OEM SCU to the Öhlins unit, you need to convert between the two. The Öhlins manual includes a conversion table for some of the settings, but not for all.

I’ve therefore created the table below to give a full mapping. I’ve derived this from the data points given in the manual, which I suspect are simply rounded figures, so the mapping between the two isn’t quite linear. A purely linear fit is thus perhaps a little less accurate than the second-order fit calculated in the last column: the difference however is moot given the likely approximate nature of Öhlins’ figures. You may however find it a useful ready reckoner for converting manual damping settings.

Conversion Table: DES to Öhlins SCU Damping Settings

Conversion Table: DES to Öhlins SCU Damping Settings

Please note that I’m providing this figures for information only – Although I’ve taken reasonable care and thought in producing this, it is, as ever, your responsibility to ensure that you’ve taken all appropriate professional and technical advice before modifying your motorcycle.