I'm a Ducati newbee but a 52 years old whose been riding since the day of my 16th Birthday. Through a process of a collapsing economy and poor investments I lost everything including my Bike collection and at the end of it I recently bartered and bargained my way onto a 2001 ST4S, I knew it had a few issues to sort and i'm doing the work as we speak. The reason i wanted to add to this post is on the issue of reliability. I have owned in excess of 100 bikes over the years and it seems to me the more you spend the more disappointed and costly the experience can be but its not all about that. Take the Honda VFR800 for instance, universally regarded as one of the best all rounders ever. I bought a brand new 2000 Fi as a commuter and it left me sitting on the side of the road at least 5-6 times in 2 years, regulators on 3 occasions, a gearbox packed up and a week after that the clutch disintegrated. Back in the late 70's I had a CBX, ever have a cam chain snap at over 100mph? with less than 5K on a bike? That's fun. Z1300 that seized its inner main bearing and seized nearly half a ton of bike at 60mph, snapped the massive primary drive chain which burst through the housing having sheared the gearbox drive shaft? GSXR1000 2005 complete electrical meltdown and caught fire. KTM990 adventure, that was fun, fueling so bad that it literally couldnt be ridden in town, a surging problem that was so bad and was in the dealership on a bi-weekly basis and couldnt be sorted, and then a crack appeared in the headstock. A Yamaha FJR 1300 that went through wheel bearings so often I almost bought a bearing factory. A VFR800Vtec that dropped a valve with less than 1k on the clock, gearbox failure followed and eventually I sued for a refund. But best of all is the good old BMW R1200GS, now there's a story. Best all round bike to ride I think I ever owned, but, Gearbox oil seals failed twice under warranty and a week after warranty ran out, they went again another 5k later. Final drive oil seal leaked during warranty and replaced and then failed again in the south of spain, I didnt notice as we had been on the road for 3 weeks and bike was dirty and loaded, the final drive seized (fully loaded at speed and how I kept it upright i dont know) and bike ended up being shipped home (thanks to insurance). Bike was repaired at my cost (final drive replaced) and a couple of months later the ABS failed, pump was gone. Thats a 2 grand repair. Oh yeah and the need to carry a spare fuel sender, I changed 3 over 4 years, all at the side of the road. Of all the bikes I had apart from the BMW the worst was a Laverda Jota, bought it at 15 years old with sod all mileage on it, had it totally rebuilt and would it ever start, occasionally, and when it did would it run for more than 40-50 miles? Never. The most reliable and dependable bikes ive ever owned have funnily enough been good old V-Twin Harley's and a Suzuki VL1500 that I chopped and customized, kept it for years and it never missed a beat. Never had one issue with a Harley and I clocked up massive mileage on them. Also say I had a Guzzi Le Mans that I hacked around on for years when I was a young man and it never had an issue, sold it to a mate who has it still and it runs like a clock to this day. As for Ducati's, Ive mates who have had them and knocked up major mileage and no major issues, they do need more attention to service than Japs but they are piss easy to work on (I'm told) and with a bit of love they are are worthy machine. To ride I have to say there are few that give the riding experience they do, like Harley's they have a soul and personality. Sermon for today over.
Sorry we're loosing you Dave. Cross link ;-) http://ducatiforum.co.uk/f6/multi-gone-never-again-follow-up-10854/
I LOVE my 1200S mutlistrada. I would buy another one in a heart beat. I've never moaned about this bike, but then again I've got a poor memory. Well here are my gripes. *You can never find enough carbon fibre to fit on it. *Red is the fastest colour, but this is contested by a few. *No centre stand (oh that's what makes it a sports model). *Fuel economy I only get 40MPG at an average of 60MPH in London. *It never wheel spins and I can't do stoppies, but I do get a lovely light display on the dash. :tongue:
i had a R1 t reg for 10 years i had 1 breakdown rectifyer thought is was the battery but after wasting cash on new batterry its was the rectifyer
. We look after a whole load of bikes for friends etc and we've repair loads of rectifyers. The issue is the crap connectors that connect to the rest of the circuit. Once these fail the alternator gets really hot and cooks that oil...'orrible. It's like someone has emptied a toaster in yer engine. It was ok when the alternators were outside the engine case.
DUKES ARE SHITE ............can I come back in please as im gonna get another one ? I also like to self harm ..... muchos luuuurve ewan mac boom xx
I bought a 600ss, it was cheap, and i noticed it wouldn't start properly when I went to view it - bought it anyway and had to carry it home on a trailer from 2 miles away. That should have been a clear enough warning to me about this business of Ducati reliability. What a fool I am. I had told myself it was the previous owner's starting technique, the way he pressed the starter - lying to myself just so I could tell myself I had found a bargain! I thought it was supposed to be unreliable, so I expected the worst but was disappointed. (-: The problems were constant , although I pressed the starter button with the rear piston just about at TDC - anmd pressed swiftly with al lmy weight. I mean the problem wouldn't correct itself. It was a bugger to start so I contemplated sueing Ducati right after watching a courthouse drama series, but eventually gave that idea up after watching a film about a man who gave up the busy world to live on an lonely island in a shack, in peace, leaving his job as a corporate lawyer in New York. Then I enjoyed a Sherlock Holmes film, and decided to investigate..... I corrected the old wiring/switches and, pickups. The bike went through plugs, so I corrected the carbs - split diaphragm, float height, sticky choke mechanism, perishing pilot o rings, clean fuel delivery from rusting tank; balance and tune. One day it stopped working as I was riding, so I cleaned up the terminals to the ignition relay...I prepared a bill for Ducati, Bologna; Apparently Ducati still uses metal in the wiring and it corrodes when the bike is left out all year round. Can you believe it? Apparently the new ones don't have this problem, until - after a few years they also get corrosion in wiring terminals unless kept in a heated moisture-controlled garage. Huh, should have bought a new one, is what Ducati would probably say to me! What a cheeky lot they would be! Instead, as my bike does see rain, I went as far as to replace the whole loom, with a hand built one, placing most connections under the tank, except for the rest that I did away with and replaced with hard solder butt splices. Now the bike never blows a plug now, it never fails to start first time, freezing or summer, all year round ridden more or less daily in tough town conditions...as well as A roads, just like my old Norton. Its so uncharacteristically Ducati apparently according to people who expect it to be unreliable, It can't be by design. I should write to Italy and tell them that I have overcome all their shortfallings. But first, having stripped a 900ss engine, I must make a report on what i find though, after I've discover all its faults; E.G. tIs it because the LHS gallery plug is aluminium and should be steel that it backs out - what to save a gram by weight? Kidding - it's OK the weight saving is worth it! What else can I complain about? Plenty not just one, but both the mirrors vibrate; TWO mirrors! Have you noticed the left one is worse than the right? Why is that I wonder? The helmet lock wire has rusted a bit to much for my liking - why couldn't Ducati have used plastic? The obvious design fault is mainly due to the colour which makes it very poor handling even on tarmac when a bull is around. . I changed the tank to blue and the bike is safer all round; it should have been startingly obvious - yes there are bulls in Italy too - I know I've been there; that's no excuse. Now I'm looking forward to a whizz kid design machined by 3-d printing for my next motorcycle. A rainbow coloured one. And I don't care if its not Ducati, so long as the rear-view camera, instead of mirrors, vibrates, and the machine features auto-pilot in 6-speed reverse gears with a pre-programmed choice of uploadable mp3 exhaust notes. I wont bother with a forward facing camera on screen for road ahead; I'll just use Halcyon goggles - which ARE reliable!
Well I didn't I bought one had it 7 years now and it's had some issues but only broke down once A cheap sensor . Fork seals failed last year . Expensive fix . 1 fuel sensor fail . Heated grips don't work . Centre stand rubber on second one So not too bad in 7 years
Not sure what Ducati should use instead of metal in their wiring though as he seems to think that is the problem?
