Well I rang "Ducati leeds" Told them the story , they said they would look into it and get back to me.
The chap I spoke to didn't give any opinion either way so i'll just have to wait with fingers crossed.
Surely all things being right (serviced correctly and on schedule) if it failed at 14k miles, it can't be fit for purpose, therefore even though it's out of warranty it should still be covered.
I would refrain from any comment of opinion etc on here or any other forum until you have a response (final) from your servicing dealer.
The key is the servicing schedule. It must be done to Ducati spec and i guess they might then consider the claim.
I get so angry with Ducati when I see this, what is it with Ducs going bang like this! Gutted for you, hope they stump up some free parts at least, as much as I love Ducati images like that make my feel gutted.
I would say that because they are so infectious Ducatis tend to be ridden much harder than most other bikes. How many people on here admit that 'they ride it like they stole it?' Your average GS rider rarely sees 5000rpm as he pootles about let alone 10,000. 150 bhp at 10,000rpm out of a big twin = a lot of stress on some parts of the motor compared with a 4 cylinder rice-grinder. I am not saying that Chris has been red lining it through the gears at all - just that the occasional failure has to be expected. Not a major problem as long as Ducati do the right thing and examine the parts and develop improvements as a result. I would be very disappointed if Chris doesn't get very significant help in this assuming that the service history is all in order.
I would put money on the journal bolts failing detaching the conrod from the crank. Heard of a few doing that, occasionally after previous engine work and not using new bolts. I wonder if it has had engine work done in it's life ? The other problem is one shell riding up over the other and forcing the bolts apart and to snap. Either way the root cause is probably around the shell bearing area. I very much doubt the rod failed, it probably got so ugly because the speed involved meant a lot of mashing went on before the clutch came in. Pottering around town at low revs might have been less catastrophic for the motor. I would have a reasonable hope that Ducati would at least part cover the cost if the bike has a service history through a dealer who will fight your corner but i doubt they will be intrigued as to the cause because shell or main bearing failure is probably the single biggest cause of demise on these motors.
Do you often see any modern bikes blown to bits like that? I don't hang out in workshops, but I'd have thought this was a pretty rare occurrence. If it was happening frequently to Ducatis, this forum would be littered with cases (ho! ho!) but it isn't.
I met an English KTM Rc8 rider in France once who was looking startled at parts of his motor on the concrete forecourt of a garage. When i wandered over to see if i could help he said it rattled for a second then went bang much as this Multi did. As they say sometimes shit happens no matter what the bike is.
Hasn't worked that way for me.......I used to push my GS to the limits regularly (full Remus exhaust system, Power Commander [set up on Dyno at JHS], Ohlins both ends, decent pure road tyres.....) but find I have a LOT less need to with the Mutley, I have never hit the rev limiter on the MTS and very rarely push anywhere near the redline with the way it pulls (plenty of Torques as Mr Clarkson would say), meaning I go for the next gear long before the red line (in any case max power is a grand or so short of the redline). Talking riding on our lovely UK roads of course...........different matter on a race track I guess (not done a track day with the Mutley). I have a strong sense of 'mechanical sympathy' so it goes against the grain for me to push anything to 'the limits'. (edit.......I tend to reach the limit of my capabilities before the limits of the bike are reached! lol) In any case surely any engine from any manufacturer is going to be 'over engineered' (for want of a better phrase) to be able to happily deal with running at 'max potential' - the rev limiter's there to stop the engine being over stressed. I wouldn't be that surprised to hear of the occasional 'catastrophic' engine failure from any manufacturer but my impression is that Ducati's suffer this a lot more than other marques. Sadly this is far from the first MTS1200 engine failure reported on the forums.....although I'm sure (hope) still a tiny percentage of engines built. From my uneducated (i.e. no engineering / technical qualifications) point of view (baring extreme abuse in use or maintenance of) an engine would not let go without there being substandard or faulty parts, poor assembly at the factory (or dealer workshop if the engine has been worked on), or there being a design flaw.
Its why the oil is the single most important thing you can buy for your bike. I know we have had this debate on another thread but its why if an expert mechanic tells me its worth paying £10-£20 more for, in his view, a better oil, then i am quite happy to do so.
Indeed............but continuous bouncing off the rev limiter on a dyno isn't quite normal use (vid too dark to see......fan/cooling setup?), how old was that bike, how many miles covered, service history?.....and I bet that bike had seen more than a bit of 'tinkering'...possibly even a track bike? Good point but not quite the same as the OP's situation/circumstances.....quick jaunt on the bike with SWMBO on the back, just 2 years old, Dealer maintained with just 14,000...... An aspect of failures like Chris experienced that's not been brought up yet..........cost, inconvenience etc is one thing but the potential for risk to life and limb in these situations is another!! - instant loss of power or total seize, engine oil everywhere etc - not hard to imagine circumstances where the outcome could be a whole lot worse (at high speed, in a corner, heavy traffic on a motorway, commited to an overtake.............)
I don't think Chris has owned his bike for very long so there is no telling on its previous history or usage unfortunately. I do agree though that bouncing engines off the rev limiter is not good practice. I see friends doing it with their bikes sometimes and it shows a complete lack of mechanical sympathy IMHO. But then isn't that how they set bikes up on a dyno?
Yeah, agreed, there are failures, but not loads of them. My 2010 broke a ring, which Ducati repaired under warranty. I ride my bike hard, but am sympathetic in the sense that I warm it up, don't bounce off the rev limiter, and dont hold it at full revs all the time. When the ring broke we had just overtaken the rest of the group we were riding with to mark a junction. Totally unexpected. The nearest dealer couldn't find anything immediately wrong (n ofault codes etc) so said to just keep riding it. Checked with my supplying dealer once back in the uk and their answer was the same, despite me askig for a compression check. It was only my experience telling me that all was not right and arranging a compression test at my expense that this was detected, and subsequently repaired. I wonder how that might have turned out had I not persued it... I have had an oil cooler spring a leak on my 996, coating the rear tyre. I was oblivious to it until my mate overtook me to flag me down (I thought he wanted to play :biggrin. If this had happened the day before, I would have been in real trouble as we were at the Nurburgring duke63, nice video ! Feel sorry for the owner though. There are some amazing video clips on there. Watch the one of the boss 429 engine blow up, it jumps off the engine stand ! I hope you get a satisfactory outcome from Ducati, even if its for them to pay parts and you pay labour. Mind you, that could be more than a second hand engine...
