All manufacturers have skeletons in the cupboard. Ask Triumph about the shaft drives on their new Tiger Explorer, aka Exploder... Honda have their dodgy cams and reg/recs, Suzuki still can't do brakes, or primer, I've heard of KTM engines filling with water...every one of them has something they seem to be unable to avoid, and in that Ducati are no different. And of course the internet acts like a giant magnifying glass where inherent problems are concerned, blowing them up to catatonic proportions when the truth is it's not all that common after all.
How do you mean, "they didn't think of this" - it's exactly what I have on my stock 999. It is just a pity they didn't think of it earlier. I had the Honda rubber on my 400N. It was indeed an effective, cheap, low-tech solution. Didn't look marvellous, but worked.
I thought the whole belt idea was cool and made sense. Instead of having to split crankcases to change a knackered cam chain, you simply replace a cheap belt fairly regularly which is easy to get at. Where it goes to pot is when the cheap belt becomes an expensive belt and needs to be changed very frequently as part of a major and expensive service. Where was that in the original script?
Spot on re belts. When they first appeared on cars with OHC designs (e.g. Ford Pinto engine) they were easy to get at and cheap to replace, and one did not hear many horror stories. Contrast this with the current situation where they are made more and more difficult to get at, allowing dealers to charge a lot for replacement, and they are also made to drive additional items like water pumps, and you have a recipe for disaster with some modern cars (and at the very least creating a requirement for frequent and costly changes). The Ducati approach looks OK to me apart from the price of the belts themselves - at least they are easy to get at and only drive the cams. The easiest option I ever came across, although it did not actually need changing, was on my first bike - a Honda 175; it revved to 10,000 but had a chain between the cylinders (not at one end) held together with a simple spring clip - it could therefore be changed by taking off the rocker cover and attaching the new chain to the end of the old in order to thread it round!
My Honda CD 175 didn't even have a rev counter. But I'm willing to bet that if you'd given it 10'000 rpm it would have exploded.
I was completely put off buying a Pani due its overly harsh suspension settings. Why not learn a lesson from Mr Honda San,make them less track focused and more compliant with maybe a set up guide for the track.Most are ridden on the road only and by men over a certain age in general which doesn't mean a softer design,just more road specific.
They probably are "road specific" for the rest of Europe just not fit for purpose for our roads, they must now be the worst in Europe and getting worse, I notice the council here are slapping some more low grade ready mixed tarmac in to the deepest pot holes around where I live, it's a joke the road is literally falling apart, it looks like a patchwork quilt.
Well, my mate took the ss out for a blast today. It had not been run for four months, but fired up instantly and ran perfectly. Can't ask any more than that....
The fuglystrada would start almost before you touched the button, even after a long lay-off (except for the day I sold it). The trouble was if it conked out - which it did regularly cos the tickover was a bit too low - then it was a major pain to restart unless you had 'the knack'. Part of the reason I got it cheap, I suppose.
Hmm, very odd, as its my understanding the ecu controls the idle speed. My leon would often stall immediately after starting, but re start right away with a little throttle (ran fine otherwise) Middle of last week the temp gauge started going mad between normal and cold, indicating the temp sensor gad died (very common on mid 00's audi group cars. Changing the sensor had the added bonus of sorting the start / die problem. The sensor had not gone far enough out if range to out the light on, but was obviously just rich enough to need a touch if throttle to start. I don't mind the occasional glitch if it costs £7 and takes 3 minuets to fix.... That I can live with, honda accord parts availability I could not..
Just been watching the Superbikes. It's really hard to spot the Panigale - it looks pretty much like all the other bikes, especially the Aprilia. Not exactly mould-breaking design. Mind you, the last time they tried that (999) everyone complained.
Oh dear, you've really got it bad, haven't you. It's just a motorbike mate, a machine, a means of transport. no-one will die if the Ducati doesn't win, your house price isn't linked to it, you have nothing to worry about. Saying that though, I paid less than 2 grand for both my recent Ducatis, so I couldn't give a toss about their residual values...
the average ducati owner is such an old fekker, im fairly sure they'll be some bargains to be had through probate quite shortly.
