I removed it due to aesthetics... I'm starting to think in these winter months it's essential... When I don't have the top box on, the pillion seat gets soaked as well as the mount for the top box... The spray comes all the way up. I have a DIY tail tidy and a TINY number plate, so spray doesn't really have anything stopping it coming up and over... Does that rear wheel guard stop spray going up? Or will it be pointless and by replacing the original tail and number plate with something drastically smaller, have I shot my self in the foot? Here is a picture showing the current rear end of the fatty. As you can see, the number plate is very small and there is nothing in the way to stop spray... Will the guard help?
I did exactly the same as you, and found wet weather winter riding the bike would get covered in salt and road grime So I put the ugly dirt deflector back on and it was much better (still got a bit, small no.plate fitted also) but not half as bad, so I would say the dirt deflector does what it is designed for and keeps all the crap off the bike
Right, no harm in having it on until the weather picks up again then I guess. Just sick of the layer of grit and grime left because the spray goes everywhere lol
I found no difference to the seat and rack mount at all with the rear bit removed. The biggest difference is removing the panniers, they block a huge amount. I also started out with the large rear hugger, but noticed when following others, the water gets thrown right up the sides of the bikes off of it. The smaller sport hugger doesn't cover as much of the tyre, but doesnt seem to hold as much crap either. Might be worth you giveing one a try, just to satisfy yourself. I think its the poor air flow generally sucks the road crap upwards rather than it getting thrown up. With soft sports pads on the front I get a layer of brake dust on top of the tank. Never got that on other bikes...
I'm taking the top box 'mount' off this weekend as the 2 metal bars have a terrible paint coat and have started to rust on in places. So will sand them down and coat them in Hammerite. I have never ridden it without the mount... I don't like the look of it but when the time comes for the top box I'm glad I have the option!
It made a bit of a difference, certainly no grit/muck on the seat, just rain (as it's raining...), but the same amount of grit and crap under the seats.
I experimented a lot with this as I had the same problem. My finding is that the crud catcher over the back wheel makes negligible difference to how much crap gets sprayed up over the back of the bike and the rider / pillion legs. By far the biggest factor is the rear number plate hanger - I guess there's a good reason why Ducati made it extend so far out from the undertray before mounting the number plate. I used to have a superb looking Rizoma tail tidy and mini indicators, but after testing this vs the OE plate mount in wet and dirty conditions I went back to stock. If you trim the number plate holder for length and shift the indicator stalks in I think you'll get the best compromise between looks and practicality. Whether or not you decide to keep the crud catcher on as well is up to you - it makes a bit of difference, but not a lot...
Thanks mate, I'm finding it's stopping crud being thrown onto the rear pillion seat... But I will remove it, the benefits are not worth the uglyness lol. I will leave my tail tide on, I like my Ducati to look the best it can.
The rear of my bike is completely standard and I get crud thrown up into the top box key hole area in bad/wet weather. Also my 2 metal bar top box plate support arms are turning rust coloured. Time to do like 'freshage' and get a proper finish on them :frown: I seem to remember reading somewhere recently that the rear tyre of a motorcycle can not be the furthest rear point of a bike. No idea why.
What do you mean do a Freshage lol? Also, I know what you mean about the bars. I noticed the same so sanded them down and sprayed in hammerite. Took about 30 mins.
