Hello peeps. Just bit the bullet n purchased a 1098 streetfighter...after many hours reading most of the posts here. Was going for 848 but thought, what the hell. You only live once. Had zx10 beastie before so looking fwd to the grunt of the 1098. Been off ducatis for many years...last being a 916. Might need some advice along the way from you guys so just saying hello. Ps. Any ideas on best place to get a rear pillion seat...before the wife notices there isnt one?
Welcome, great choice of bike. It should have the pillion seat with it, I got it with mine. Failing that, this is a bit pricey, but here you go - DUCATI 848 STREETFIGHTER PILLION PILLION SEAT ASSEMBLY | eBay
Welcome - I bought an SFS last October, fab bikes - you'll enjoy it! Where's the pillion seat gone - you mean it's missing?
Fecked.. Blank display. The last I heard Ducati told me they had reconsidered a previous decision to reject a goodwill request to replace the panel at reduced cost out of warranty (£600 for the unit, + diagnosis, fitting and flashing = best part of a grand) and that I would be receiving an email shortly from another department to get the matter resolved. That was a moth ago. Since then, silence. I shall contact them again this week and give them a chance to respond before giving chapter and verse on the forum.
I'd like to know what this turns out to be, if you actually find out. If Ducati do change it for you, I doubt it'll be investigated. The dash will probably just go in the bin. Is the £600 for the dash with the discount taken off?
The dash display is just blank. It was perfectly all right when I laid the bike up for winter. Went to ride it in early spring, turned the key and the dash was blank. The idiot lights work, the immobiliser flashes and the LCD back-light is on. But the LCD display itself is completely blank. No streaking or missing pixels, just gone altogether. Its never had an impact or any sort of physical abuse and there has never been any sign of damp ingress. A new panel is £603 full price including VAT before discount. For a goodwill request to be considered Ducati require a diagnosis from one of their own dealers which is fair enough. Most will charge a minimum of an hour's labour which varies from about £70 to £95/hour. And if the dealer isn't literally right on your doorstep (and my nearest is 40/50 miles away) the bike can't safely be ridden to them, for you, the bike or your license because there's no display - no rev counter, no speedo, no temperature gauge, nothing - you really are riding blind, so you've got to transport the bike to them which means in my case hiring a van as mine is too small. That's £60 plus fuel and time. Call it another £100 Then the process starts where Ducati consider whether your case is worthy of goodwill assistance. Whether they accept or reject your case for assistance with a subsidised repair cost, either way you've got to get the bike back to the dealer a second time for the unit to be fitted. Another £100 in van hire and diesel. Its not a plug and play job you can do yourself, so I'm told, because the unit needs to be flashed on a Ducati computer to get it to recognise the master key so the immobiliser will work and to transfer the approximate mileage from the old unit to maintain service continuity. Call that 2 hours labour minimum (so I've been quoted) and you're up to £900 plus transportation. It is not a cheap fix. And will the new one fail after another 15000 miles? The bike is an obsolete model. I don't know whether they are still manufacturing non-service parts for them. I have contacted just about every auto-electronic repair specialist I can find in the country and all but one of them have said the units cannot be repaired because the components are unobtainable. Scorpio electronics are prepared to take a look but he was doubtful anything could be done. He'd had trouble with Ducati instruments in the past and didn't hold out much hope because of anti-tamper design and unobtainable components. S/H units are non-existent. And they would need to be the right year and model. A SBK dash is no good and an S model unit is no good on a standard bike and vice versa. And then it will display the mileage from the bike it came from which needs to be corrected: £75 plus postage from an independent electronic specialist (if they can do it) or another £100 at Ducati dealer so you might as well get them to fit it in the first place. At least then you're covered with the company if that unit fails. I won't condemn Ducati or comment on their customer service until I have their final word on what they propose to do. But I am still waiting and have been for over a month. If they can't help me the bike will have to be moth balled for this year at least. When I do know I'll post up the full details which I trust will be positive news of a sympathetic hearing from Ducati, the matter resolved and my bike back on the road.
