Allow me to have a rant after a couple of hours trying to reassemble the MTS little bottom fairings.... I started my Ducati life with a 748. Then had a 916, several 996 and a 998. Those bikes were not only good to look at, but a simple marvel of simplicity and engineering for access. The side fairings dropped in 30 seconds flat. Seat unit 30 seconds Front fairing 1 min tank airtubes and airbox, 2 min tops and you are ready for any maintenance operations. They will all go back on just as quick. Then for good measure I bought into the ST range as every day bikes. An ST2 and two ST4s. I really developed a love-hate relationship with that bike. Great bike, but having the side fairing overlapped by the top fairing meant that any maintenance operation had to start with a good 30 min to remove the damn fairing panels. With some practice you probably get it down to 15min, but what an unnecessary complication. Get stranded somewhere with a flat battery and good luck getting a jump start from a car... What kind of moron designs something where accessing the battery requires removing the mirrors? Anyhow, I have now moved up in the world and got a MTS 1200s. I had my first mechanical acquaintance with it in the past few weeks for an oil change, returning to a standard CAT exhaust and doing a general tidying of central stand, exposed brackets, brake servicing, etc.. Time to put her back together and... There does not seem to be a way to remove the rear cylinder manifold with the engine in the bike. One of the nuts cannot be accessed by a spanner as the frame spars are in the way. No access from the top with all the wiring and I would dread to start dealing with that. No access with a long reach rachet / socket from the back cos the manifold is in the way no matter how you cut it, even with the shock removed. Fitting the cat back on will not slot in with both manifolds in place. You have to fit the CAT and manifolds at the same time. The little fairing underneath the engine cannot be refitted with the central stand in place. There is about 5mm of clearance needed for the bolt to fit through. Not a lot but enough that you have to remove the stand and off course battle with the spring to refit. Now the bottom fairing is finally back on and the centre stand too and I have fiddled about 1 hr to put brackets back in place and the mini side fairings and still did not succeed. And the MTS is an open bike, supposed to be very easy to access.... Yeah right! So Ducati - I love the bikes, I love the brand and don't actually have any other bike brands. But designing for mechanical access should be a feature of a Ducati and I am afraid that things have only gone worse since the absolute genius masterpiece that was the 916. My dear Ducati mechanics, my heart goes to you for putting up with that... Rant over.
100 % agree. Just done a chain and sprockets on a monster 796, only to find that to remove the front sprocket you have to remove the footrest bracket. Which also supports the sidestand and swingarm pivot. No common sense, 5mm scallop in the footrest and the sprocket would come off no problem. Or a dvt multistrada where you can't get part of the belt guard off the rear cylinder or easily access the belt tensioner pulley nut. Car engineers. Pah.
I fully agree with you regarding the ST4 fairings, having owned one. Even JHP said I could reduce the service cost by £60 by removing the fairings before a service, because they knew what a ballache they were to remove. I have never had a modern Italian bike (i.e this century), but in my experience every one I have ever owned contains areas of design genius and at least one absolute design stupidity. The difference between Italian bikes and Japanese or German or modern British is that those design flaws are not eliminated at the prototype stage or the next year's model. Guzzi big block cam chain tensioner where you had to remove the altenator, front engine mount, and front casing to adjust is a case in point. It took them close to 20 years to fit a self adjusting version! Ducati 750 f1 where you need a screwdriver to remove the rear seat fairing to access the toolkit!
You're not supposed to maintain it silly, you're supposed to hand it back every 3 years and buy a new one.
Yep, I’m not sure why they’re over complicating the simplest of jobs. I changed the heel guards on my Pikes Peak the other day, and to get to one of the bolts, you need to remove the rear brake lever, which then results in the spring pinging off, which is then another nightmare to get back on. Luckily I managed to loosen it just enough, to get to the bolt without taking the whole thing off, but it does seem a bit bizarre. And looking at the oil filler cap on the V2SF, it looks like I’ll need to dismantle parts just to get access.
Thank you all for sympathising. After pressing send, I just thought that maybe I was just turning into an old git. Maybe we all are. But the head scratching of this nonsense is certainly not helping middle age baldness and grey hairs. 1098 is a bit transitional. I have one and some of it still has the good heritage. You can see however early recruitment of morons. One of them went to designed the seat unit assembly and made sure that you could not remove the Reg plate holding bracket without having the whole unit completely taken apart. Of course fiddly rubber nuts were favoured over Dzus as well. Clever for a machine to take to trackdays... Another one went in accounting and penny pinched 50p on not having quick release fuel taps making removing the tank that much more problematic.... Now, I think that you, and all that mentioned car engineering hit the nail on the head here. We are only supposed to buy a new one on finance every 3 years indeed. The legend does not live on from this though. Now, I am wondering if the ST4s was a lesser devil you know with its fairing compared to the MTS... But most older bikes are now falling into the ULEZ restrictions. Seriously, I wish we could bring back the 80s / 90s and not have all that lark. Happy day all
Wait till you get to the Panigale. In an attempt to speed up fairing removal, the fairings screws will rattle off themselves as you ride along. Nuts, screws and plastics will shed themselves to save you time.
I'm still bemused at the work required just to change the plugs. Having given up, for now, on changing the fork oil.
It is really amazing how our « Throw Away » society model has been applied to automotive goods that are worth tens of thousands… Increasing profit every year cannot be the right philosophy to « save our planet ». Still, the same people seem to advocate both. Idiocracy, here we come…
I wonder if you ride 6k miles per year and pay Ducati to do all services when the cost of maintenance eclipses the cost of purchase in the first place....... In fairness, big service intervals have increased and our desire to replace heel plates with bling versions isn't servicing.
My daughter had the catalytic converter sawn off her Honda Jazz whilst parked overnight in a well lit street in Richmond, Surrey. The reciprocating saw was used to sever all the connections to the Lamda sensors. Naturally I got the job of replacing the catalytic converter. The new Lamda sensor has a flying lead with a 2 pole male connector on it. The female connector which leads to the ECU to tell the injectors when the gas is hot enough, weak enough/ lean enough to put the right mixture into the inlet manifold is attached to the firewall between the engine and the passenger compartment. Because of their location and the entirely restricted access I am convinced the engine has to come out to connect the male and female connectors. After 3 hours of struggling I went with hard wiring it. There are loads of examples of moronic design in the car world e.g. to replace a headlamp bulb on a Renault first remove the front wheel, then the inner wing plastic etc etc.
Like I said. Goods, even the very costly ones, are no longer designed and produced to satisfy users needs, but to generate increased profits for share holders through corporate guidance. More, more, more. Like a bunch of greedy kids on Boxing Day. And that is exactly how we are headed in a wall, head first… Slightly off topic here. After the end of WWII, as you remember, the US injected great amounts of money into destroyed European countries. That was called the Marshall Plan. The idea was to sponsor the reconstruction of Europe and part of it was the delivery to French farmers, of millions of first UK built (Coventry) then French built (St Denis) Ferguson tractors. Eventhough this was the early stages of setting capitalism in Europe, these tractors were built to last forever, and to be very low maintenance for their owners. Amazing pieces of machinery. My 1958 FF30DS (for Fabrication Française 30 hp Diesel System) is still working for me like it was new. Built to last! What a wonderful feeling…
Yeah, over a 30 year span… Our kids will see how that worked out in, say, 50 years, when « business models » won’t matter anymore, having been replaced by the « law of the strongest ». Again. I know, I can be very pessimistic and sceptical about the near future of humanity. My wife hates it… Call it professional deformation. Or PTSD. Your choice.
And people who do not have a « make do and mend » mentality and associated abilities will suffer the most when the shit hit the fan… That’s worrisome because, as you mentioned, this the vast majority of westerners nowadays.
They’re shooting themselves in the foot, to have to take the rear wheel out to fit a DP carbon chain guard ( for example ) is just a pita and for most, without the tools, just won’t bother. I gave up years ago fitting aftermarket parts let alone my own servicing..
Look at the rigmarole involved fitting a system to a v4 pan. when trying out new 1pc suit in shop, i sat astride a new thruxton r. Now thats a nice bit of kit. Looks simple to work on too. Plus its quality looked impressive. Ducatis have poor build and materials quality by comparison. In my view. Esp for a 25k+ bike. The engine may be terrific, but the rest is built to a price for profit. Not quality.
