Not even been a week owning the bike and I have issues! I am struggling to get the bike into neutral. I know that ducatis always have false neutrals etc but mine wont even engage neutral at all unless the engine is off and ignition on. Left work last night and changing gear was very stiff. It goes all the way in gears without too much issue just changing down it wont do, very stiff. Clutch seems fine, pulls with very little release from lever. Is it a hydraulic problem?
Has any work been done on the clutch? Try bleeding the the clutch, check you stack height ect. Had the same issue when I changed my plates.
:tongue: I'm just peeved as bike is due MOT tomorrow Thanks guys, I'll start with the simple things first.
I fitted a new slipper clutch to my 749 last week and had problems getting it into neutral. Took it to the dealers as I couldn't work it out and it was down to having two sprung steel spacers instead of one and this was causing the clutch pack to drag and not engage neutral. The first thing the dealer did though was check the steel spacers from the pack on a flat surface as these apparently are known to warp and cause the clutch to drag and stop you getting neutral. This would be the first thing I would check.
I'm starting to think it is the clutch that needs bleeding. I always thought that the clutch was very very light, especially compared to the 750ss. Can I confirm that it's Dot 4 that I need? Don't have service manual at hand.
Bleed the MC first through a nip if it has one or the banjo. This is where the air is likely to be...
All bled on Saturday....and then needed bleeding again today! Hopefully have it sorted as I don't think I got all the air out before but clutch grab point has changed, it's so much closer to the point of lever release! Boo! Quick question, how heavy is the clutch lever supposed to be? My SS was proper heavy but the 749 doesn't compare. It is firm but doesn't make my hand ache like the SS?
I had strange clutch issues at the start of this biking season on my 749 of a similar age so some of this may apply. My symptoms were two fold. First off if I was at the lights in first gear with the clutch pulled all the way in, over a period of maybe 5-10 seconds the hydrolic pressure would be lost and drive would engage until the bike stalled. After a bit of thinking/googling I thought it must be air in the system so I bled it repeatedly from slave and master cylinders with little or no success. There are a lot of aftermarket slaves on the market promising lighter clutch pulls, and I thought maybe the original seals had finally given up the ghost so I changed the slave cylinder for an aftermarket Oberon one at a cost of £92. This made the clutch pull lighter but didnt cure the problem. Then I snapped the master bleed nipple off, so I replaced the master cylinder (I went OTT and purchased the very nice IRC forged one from Nog http://www.solocorse.co.uk and did the break master at the same time - got to say, great service and lovely workmanship) and this cured it, but cost £450 ish. However over the next couple of rides I had a similar clutch problem to you occur. Getting it into neutral was a pig. Easy when not running, but almost impossible when running. So I took the clutch plates out, only to discover they were shot, ie the fricton material had all but gone. I replaced the clutch plates and disks with genuine Ducati items and this cured the problem totally (£170). Now my clutch is lighter (as is the wallet) and the thing shifts gears as it should. Then I went a bit silly and put a JHP clutch cover on so I could see the movements of the plates. Should of done that first! (£115). On adding up the numbers I came to the conclusion I should avoid clutches and buy an automatic next time. An £830 spend on a bike worth £3k or so to solve a single issue isnt sensible. Any right minded person would break it for parts on ebay. I would suggest if you believe that you have bled the system well the next thing to do is take all the clutch plates out. Lay them on the ground in the order they are removed so they dont get mixed up, and check for wear. Check the basket too. If the plates have worn really big indents into the basket this can cause similar issues, but to be honest on mine they have worn the basket by a few mill with no obvious issues.
Solo Corse I'm ALWAYS updating it Nelson so its work in progress, so I usually have more than you will see there....
