Hi All Not long bought my first ducati, 916 biposto and had it serviced by ducati John near Leeds. I am keeping it for the long haul, so I'm looking to invest in a set of tools to do my own maitenance, rear wheel socket, sprocket, oil filter etc etc. The best set I have found on ebay seems to be the hdesa set at around £80, that has the tools for most jobs, but there doesn't seem to be a UK importer and I am wondering if anyone has imported these and how they go on with regards to duty. Also, any advice on suspension as standard setting are hard for the road. I am 11.5 stone so I'm guessing the rear spring needs to be a lighter item as I am not going to be carrying passengers much. Cheers Rob.
With regard to tools, i swear by Halfords Professional tools. You get a life time guarantee with them. You can either buy bits individually or buy a complete set depending upon on what you need. Very often they have them on offer with big reductions so it pays to keep an eye out. If you import something from outside the EU you will get stung. You have to pay import tax, vat plus give the shipping company something extra for collecting the tax. HMRC website probably has the current rates, but usually it works out so expensive it makes it un-economical compared to buying something in the UK. I just bought a generic oil filter adapter which has 1/2inch drive so I can use my 1/2 inch socket set on it. For adjusting the chain I use the spanner which comes in the ducati tool kit. The sprocket nut & rear wheel nuts are pretty big so my socket set didnt have them. I just bought ones made by laser (cheapie brand) off ebay and they seems to do the job fine. Ive found both times ive had a ducati that the stock suspension is very hard. Id recommend the Performance Bikes settings, which are what im currently using on my 996. They test bikes on the local roads to where I live, so it seemed a good place for me to start. Link to their settings here: 996/748 Suspension Setup
budget tool perfectly good. you can replace the well used and broken sockets and ratchets with good stuff. advise going for top quality Allan , and torx bits dont scrimp on the screw drivers ,
Look at the seller UKNorth on eBay they sell a certain amount of Ducati specialist tools and they are a fairly decent price. Their Primary drive puller is £145 as an example and Ducati want something like £300 odd and it looks just as good. Certain products on eBay can be delivered to the UK for an all in delivery price which includes all taxes and import duty. Therefore it is possible to get large items imported at a decent price. Check out toolboxes or tool chests and you will see an example of what I mean as they are typically large items that can be imported for quite a decent sum.
Thanks all, really appreciate the responses. Had realised that such things as the rear wheel socket and sprocket carrier sprocket were large, but also was a bit concerned about the 42mm socket for the rear wheel being made from an aluminium alloy in many cases so it would fail before over tightening. Good idea until you come to free the existing one off and it fails because this has seized on a little! Thanks red998, will check out UKNorth to see what they have, cheers rabbit stew for the suspension link, will tinker this weekend!
And remember Machine Mart have their VAT free days etc... so keep an eye out for them. Only problem i find with places like Machien Mart is you go in there to buy a £4 socket and end up spending £1000`s on a top range tool chest with roller bearing drawers etc, a mig welder, a compressor, all the air tools etc. etc....... (or is that just me?) :lol:
