It finally arrived yesterday. I have no garage so it had to be straight into the porch for a bit of farkling. As usual, what should have been a 10 min job turned into an hour. Optimate and heated jacket cables were no problem as the battery is easily accessible under the seat (better than my Africa Twin). The Barkbusters thought were a different matter. I’ve fitted Barkbusters to my bikes so many times, but this time as I took the crappy OEM Ducati hand guards off, one of the brass collars inside the handlebar came off, slid right inside the right hand side bar as far as the bend and got lodged. My longest screwdriver wasn’t long enough to reach it, my extendable magnet obviously didn’t work on brass and I tried a long metal rod with blutac and then ductape … all to no avail! Right I thought, I’m gonna have to take the handlebars off so I can turn them vertically and give them some good whacks with a rubber mallet to dislodge the collar from inside. This worked like dream, and the collar slid out onto the floor, but as I was putting the handlebars back on, I dropped one of the bolts down through the yokes down into the black hole of the radiator area :-/ It took me 15 minutes of peering into the dark with the torch on my phone to find the bloody thing … and then when I put it in and started tightening it, it cross threaded!#!**#!! Carefully back out and in again and thank Christ it went in fine coz by this time I’ve got beads of sweat in my forehead and I’m cursing like a goof ‘un!!! Next job is to get the screen, front fairing and headlamp off to wire my satnav in, fit the mount and the headlight guard. What could possibly go wrong?!?
Bike looks great and I've had the same issues with the handlebar 'trap' and we've all had that drop into the abyss at the front Good luck for the next few bits!
No tinsel on the RR; shame on you I dropped a nut down between the silencers on my 899. Mag stick, flexible bladder hose cleaning rod with bluetack! All failed. Never did find it. I feel your pain
I am available occasionally on request to ride the D16! I could probably put off a days work tooo hhheelllppp out!
Finally some half decent weather on Tuesday so I got out for a couple of hours to put the first hundred miles on the bike dodging Landrovers, tractors and cow shit on some Devon and Somerset B-roads and lanes. Handling and performance were just as I remembered from my short test ride. The seat comfort was fine and the engine is a peach … very peppy even up to the 6,000rpm running-in limit. The standard tyres are rubbish in real mud though and I really noticed the side stand being too long when needing to jump off for a piss off-road. Gonna need to change both PDQ.
I don’t have a garage, and keeping a bike that I use regularly indoors isn’t a long term solution so I have invested in a bike sized Carcoon and a rigid folding bike shelter to go over it as protection from the elements so the DesertX can live on my driveway. The rigid shelter on its own doesn’t really have enough ventilation, but it does a great job of keeping rain and falling leaves off the bike. The Carcoon has a built-in fan for ventilation and does a great job of preventing condensation … I’ve kept my old ‘66 Mustang in one under our car port for ages and it really does the job. It is a bit of a faff to get the bike in and out of this setup but far better for it than leaving it under a simple cover. I’ve done that with my Africa Twin for five years and the bike has suffered a bit as a result.
A few additional touches … aftermarket side panels … off-road folding mirrors … and Barkbusters + Blizzards for this time of year … Iconic parts mount for my Garmin Montana (easy to tilt upwards for when I’m standing on the pegs off-road), Quadlock phone mount and remote controller for my Keis heated jacket …
Mate was in there having a heating grips software update. Sat on one at the NEC, quite like them but out of my price range unfortunately.
I've had a cracking chat today and held one until tomorrow for final decision and delivery on a March registration. Fair blind part ex offer on mine and just need to see if I can get away without adding the lowering kit, so cocking my leg over one tomorrow.
