New Member 1199 ,hi To All. Rear Shock Bolt Broke!?

This is the kind of thread that is invaluable on this forum, I only wish that recalls/modifications had happened sooner. I am really sorry to hear about your loss in this way Ryan.

 

Ryan,
I am very sorry to hear of your loss which appears to have been caused by inadequate quality control or design specification of a critical safety item on your father's bike.

I am shocked that Ducati do not appear to be taking this more seriously, especially since there appear to have been a number of similar cases reported on this forum alone.

Is there sufficient evidence available now to escalate this further, direct to Ducati, to press for an urgent review of the root cause and subsequent action to recall and replace any parts that may be identified as defective?

 

litigation can be a costly business

 

Re:- damper mounting, possibly all Panigale models.
The rear linkage is a conventional shackle/twin shear arrangement for all 3 links but the front linkage is in single shear and so I hope any sideways (left/right while sat on bike) movement, particularly angular, of the damper during use has been carefully examined during design. The Sato mod makes perfect sense (as long as it is rigid/sturdy enough) as it effectively upgrades the front damper fixing to twin shear.

 

To all - thank you for the condolences, it is amazing the support that comes in even when the person concerned is unknown - I really do thank you all.

I have emailed the senior crash investigator in charge to get the correct positioning of the bolt as well as its dimensions to make sure we are talking about the correct ones. Fingers crossed I can have this information tomorrow.

Also I have checked the VIN number against the listed recall one, my fathers 1199 was built nearly 4000 bikes after the last VIN recall number. Which is also a little worrying.

Chops if you would like to get in touch with Tim@Ducati UK that would be brilliant - maybe now Ducati would take notice, if you need my contact details I can PM to you?

 

Scary reading. As others have said, you certainly have my sympathy.

Does this affect only 1199's? Or is it something that could be an issue with the last gen of Ducati superbikes?

 

It's very specific I believe to the panigale series due to the way the shock bolt is only supported at one end, in the earlier series bikes the design was much more 'conventional' with frame support either side


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Thanks for the reply. I always adopt a zero risk no expense spared approach when it comes to structural repairs or mods so I'm still gonna change the bolts anyway.

Got my winter hack delivered yesterday so I'm putting the Ducati into hibernation in a few weeks time.

 

this ones most worrying, theres no build dates or frame numbers!

RM/2015/021 DUCATI 1199 Panigale S, 1199 Panigale R, 1199 Superleggera & 1299 Panigale S rear shock absorber may fail causing loss of control of the machine

 

That is the Ohlins shock itself. I know mine has already been sent back to Ohlins and stripped/checked.

 

I'll be honest, this is a worry for me.

Obviously the worst has already happened with Ryan losing his father, that's incredibly bad and hard to put in to words.

From the perspective of a possible new owner (me) I'm literally a week or so away from committing to a Panigale, this is making me now think twice again.

Surely on machines putting out 150bhp +, all aimed at fast riding, nothing can be left to chance.

Why on earth would you design something where the riders life literally hinged on the strength of a single bolt, one that has previously proven to snap?

Surely Ducati could easily cnc 1000's of the sato style support brackets for pennies?

My question then would be whether the sato style support bracket would actually safely fix the likely occurrence of a suspension failure?

If so I wouldn't buy a panigale without one personally and it'd be the first thing I'd fit



Whilst the design of the panigale is without question beautiful, it needs to be functional and safe.

Take a conventional motorcycle suspension set up;

Would a bolt snap leave you in exactly the same scenario?

or would the shock have a better chance of staying upright whilst being squashed between the swingarm and underseat?

 

As said earlier, it would be good to get an official response in place @El Toro @Rob. Internet forums are renowned for inaccuracies and drumming up unnecessary hysteria, I don't believe this forum fits into that category.

Here's the DVSA current status:-
DVSA - Vehicle Recalls

 

Im not sure any of those cover the bolt failures that have happened....

This is bolt (screw?) to swing arm:


All sorts of odd little niggles that should have been picked up by now and corrected:


This is swing arm pivot by the sound of it:


This is the rear Ohlins shock problem:

 

+1 for getting an official response, I hadn't thought too much about it until I took my shock out to get it reworked and really looked at the bolt. It's only held in at a relatively low torque figure also due to where it goes into.

For those that are worried, if we could put together a group buy for Sato brackets I would be interested, however I can't believe no one else is interested in making one... I would feel more comfortable with the load spread across 3 points for sure


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Agreed, given the circumstances I would say it's highly plausible that legal teams are looking at this.

I'm not out to slate Ducati, and being honest I still want a Panigale so badly.

It didn't help that all of 2 hours ago me and the family were overtaken by 2 Panigales just West of Paphos in my ford focus hire car......my god they sounded awesome.

Even so, it's something that really needs addressing and further information given.

 

Don't we have some brilliant engineer types on this forum?

Surely they could come up with something British engineered and less gold looking than the sato.

It's only an idea, and of course up to the person / company involved, but as opposed to profiting hugely from it, maybe a certain amount of proceeds could go to a charity focused around bikers and their safety?

Again just throwing things out there

 

If it was me I simply wouldn't buy one if I had lingering doubts over its integrity. Riding a bike with mechanical doubts is not my idea of fun biking. It's bad enough riding with reliability doubts, let alone structural failures. There's a mountain of quality bikes out there, including other Ducati's.

If you can live with the doubts after fixing the known issue than of course you should go ahead and get one. Plenty of owners on here with no issues at all.