When my local bike shop (Churchill Motorcycles, on the A5 at Potterspury near Towcester) put a new set of tyres on my bike they noticed that the exhaust / catalyst box was cracked just above the weld where the stub pipe for the silencer exits the main box. There was a bit of movement of silencer but it wasn't in immanent danger of braking off. Just as well as I was going to Brittany a few days after this problem was found. Churchill Motorcycles said they could weld it but I left it until after I got home. Once home, I checked out the crack - it looked a bit worse and was showing signs of exhaust gas blowing out of the crack in places. So I had to do something. As the bike was just over 2 years old, the Ducati warranty had run out. I couldn't get an extended warranty at the time of purchase and I was sold a third party warranty for the third year. Needless to say that this didn't cover exhaust systems. My Ducati dealer (Ducati Aylesbury) said they'd seen this before and had managed to weld the crack up with out removing the exhaust from the bike, but they couldn't do it for a few weeks. So I phoned Churchill Motorcycles who said to bring the bike in (that day) and leave it with them and they would do the welding when they could fit it in. I got a call the next day - job done but they decided to remove the exhaust box rather than risk damaging any of the electronic boxes by using an arc welded with the exhaust in situ. They charged £90 which I didn't think was too bad given that taking the exhaust box off the bike can be a bit of a pain. So next time you're changing the rear tyre or cleaning/lubricating the exhaust value, it would be worth checking for cracks in the exhaust box.
Ive had this happen to me 3 time in the first 18 months of having the new bike. got replaced under warranty you should check with ducati as it is a know issue vikram
Another reason to go with de-cat pipework, as its less weight & won't bounce about & flex! Glad you didn't suffer a more expensive bill.
The result will be an obnoxiously loud exhaust. All the silencing on these is in the cat box. If you're 'that type' you might think it sounds great initially but on a long ride it's tiresome.
Thsnks for thst. Definitely don't want it too loud. So if I want to keep the oem exhausts, then the cat has to stay I guess?
Yep, that's the case. With a de-cat link pipe you'd need to go with an alternative muffler unless you want your ears to bleed...
I think that currently it's at the discretion of the tester, thought that's possibly due to change in the not so distant future. Though, with the CAT replaced with a link pipe, it's effectively a straight through system. I reckon any tester would be likely to feel obliged to fail it. The Multistrada, in std trim, is one of the few bikes that still fails noise level tests imposed on some Austrian passes.
I’ve had no issues at MoT time with an EU homologated (decat) exhaust fitted. I get an advisory for a loud exhaust, despite it being UK legal. Andy
It's not much different to the stock one, but sounds better (and a bit louder with the decat). Most of the silencing is done by the big box. You'll need to get a full system to make some real noise.
