Back on The Bike
Having spent all week filming motorcycles it was awesome to finally come home and finally be able to ride one. Of course like the professional road racers I watched all week, you don’t get very far without a good crew and in my case that’s the gang at PI. While I was out of town the boys at ProItalia sorted out the mechanical issues with the Ducs. Turns out that the master clutch cylinders on both my bike and MotorMilt’s needed to get replaced. Thankfully both were warrantied. I think it goes without saying but I’ll be throwing down for the extended warranty option before my warranty runs out…
Getting back on the bike after a couple of weeks off was a bit odd as usual - the normal ebb and flow of riding felt far less familiar than I would have liked and a bit more forced when I left this morning but eventually I got into the flow of things and found my rhythm. By far the greatest shock of the day was how much of a difference the new master clutch cylinder made to the bike and experience of riding. In many ways it felt like a new machine. The disengage point is now literally only a few millimeters away from a fully extended clutch lever - this location is no where near where it had previously been located. Only a few weeks ago I was having to drastically pull the lever back to the handlebar and then some. Now short shifting is the name of the game and the order of the day. I suspect that what this really means is that my clutch cylinder had been going bad for quite sometime and it was only the last few rides that made it completely apparent. The downside to this fiasco is that I feel like it’s going to take me a few rides to physically get smooth with where the disengage point is again. It’s that different. Night and day almost.
Eventually I made my way to The Rockstore for breakfast - actually because I was up so early I was just the 8th bike to pull into the parking lot this morning - before I hit Latigo Canyon on the way back home. Having a working clutch made all the difference in the world. Most importantly it brought my Duc back to life. It allowed it to breath again, in that visceral, exciting, emotional, extremely enjoyable way that simply has the ability to take your breath away at any moment. The kind of sensation that I’ve been craving all week and missing for too long. So even though I was seriously slower and less extreme than the road racers I watched all week, I felt incredibly lucky to once again be able to feel the rumble of a Ducati twin and the sheer throw-you-back into your seat sensation that a liter bike can provide on an amazing beautiful canyon morning in LA.
Rails, Part II
Yesterday was a day of days and today was not. Feeling pretty good about life I decided to head up to Ojai and Route 33… To be fair most of my morning was pretty amazing and I suppose at this point I could wax on poetically about my bike but in all honesty I’m not really in the mood. While there are a number of things that I’ve come to accept while owning an Italian beast - namely extreme ergonomics, an extremely hot seat and amazingly imaginative character - reliability and dependability are not among them it seems.
For the second time in less than three weeks on two different bikes I came to a stop light and found the clutch unable to engage. Thus had I not been on the front brakes nothing would have prevented the bike from going on it’s marry way regardless of our modern day traffic laws.
So either, A) In the last three weeks I’ve become completely inept and retarded when it comes to shifting a modern sportbike, B) there is a design flaw on both Milt’s ‘04 and my ‘05, or C) It’s August and as is the case with most of Italy, these bikes simply want to take the month off.
I say this in jest , but in all reality I have no good answer. Just a throbbing wrist and the knowledge that on both my bike and MotorMilt’s I’m unable to shift effectively.
I have to say I’m completely frustrated. While there are certain things on these bikes that clearly have no business being on a racebike - namely the speedo, the mirrors, the gauge cluster, etc. - a transmission and a clutch seem rather required. One would think that of all the parts on the bike that the factory would ensure could work correctly these would be among the top of the list.
Luckily for this blog I’ve had a few beers and enough time to calm down, but come on folks how fuck’n hard it is to build a decent transmission and clutch system? It ain’t like this is new technology here - clutches and tranny’s have been around for quite sometime - and there are no paddle shifters here… In many ways I’m at my wits end… I feel compelled to ride these bikes because when they’re on they’re amazing - more than amazing, they’re astounding - to the point where you simply do not know where fact stops and fiction begins. I truly doubt that a Japanese Inline 4 could do the trick. But when they’re off, like today, you stand in awe that you could so easily fall in love with such a temperamental beast.
All of this makes me wish that I skipped english lit in high school and took autoshop instead.
Lagging On The Weekend Ride
So for the first time in over a year I’m seriously lagging when it comes to writing something about this past weekend’s ride. I guess I’ve hit that crazy part of my year when time starts getting chopped up… Thankfully this past weekend’s ride was one of those trips that just slaps a smile on your face and reminds you why you’re out riding in the first place. After yet another long week at work it was awesome to finally get out into the canyons and away from all the business of the real world. I’m always a bit amazed at how you can get up on a Saturday morning feeling worked up about the past week and by the end of a good day of riding feel so relaxed - almost as if you never had to deal with any chaos…
So the big news of the weekend is that I cross 2,000 miles on the new Duc. Seems like just yesterday it was at zero… The downside is that for some odd reason I’ve got some sort of clutch issue going on. While at speed everything is cool, but any slow movement - say under 10 mph - and she simply does not want to shift out of first gear. It’s rock solid and fully engaged no matter how far back up bring the clutch in. Potentially more dangerous is that a few times over the weekend she’s crept forward even when I had the clutch engaged. Neither of these thing get me really excited… Soooooo… Even though the 6,000 mile service is a ways away, it’s time to bring the Diva back to Pro Italia for a check-up.
I’ll try to write a bit more later, but here’s some picts…
All The News That’s Fit To Print
So I guess there’s never a dull moment when you own a Ducati. MotorMilt got a chance today to talk to the service manager over at ProItalia about my bike. Unfortunately my worst fears have been realized. The news was not so good. Apparently while riding during our trackday with the CLASS folks I managed to uncover a manufacturing deficiency in my bike that according to PI is not all that uncommon for ‘04 999’s. As it turns out, the pistons in my bike’s engine somehow made it through quality control process without anyone every realizing that instead of being perfectly circular they were in fact oval. This allowed a small portion of oil to pass up around the pistons and into the air filter. Chances are that this has been going on for awhile, but apparently trackday and the higher rpm’s I was tossing at the engine elevated the circumstances. So basically I guess this is what you get with an Italian exotic. Lots of excitement and lots of downtime… Oddly enough people told me that this would happen with a Duc - not this specific problem mind you, but ’some problem’ - and I didn’t listen. Several folks have already mention the fact that this probably wouldn’t have happened with a Japanese bike. Like, no shit. As if I didn’t know that… I’d highly doubt that anything this odd would happen with a CBR or a RC51, but then somehow neither of those bikes would speak to my soul nearly as much as the 999 does, so I guess that’s the rub… I find it a bit odd that on one hand I’m extremely pissed that an almost new bike with slightly less than 2,000 miles can suddenly have a piston problem and yet on the other hand it somehow seems to fit perfectly with what I expect from a Duc. So go figure. Thankfully it’s all covered under warranty and there will be no new engine break-in once PI gets the new parts from Italy or NJ or where ever Ducati North America is storing their parts these days. The downside is that it appears that all riding is a no go for at least the next two weeks if not longer. It seems I’m at the whim of the postal service now….
Sweet.
Better Fasten Your Fairing Fastener
One of the scarier stories I’ve run across over on the Ducati.ms Forum, apparently some guy in Spain was doing 145 mph when his fairing popped ripped as he was riding down the road because he didn’t properly fasten the fasteners. If it was just this one particular incident I’d consider it odd, but the fact that people over on the board are actually suggesting that this has happened before to more than one person sure makes you wonder. The likely cause it sounds like is under tightening the bottom belly fasteners on the 749 or 999 models. Having taken the fairings off my bike several times for various reasons, I can certainly understand how someone could think they’ve tightened the belly screws down, only to find out that they haven’t. It’s one of the poorest designed parts of the bike. Now I’m wondering if the quarter turn fasteners are a good idea…
Here are a couple of picts, if you want to see them high-rez just click on them and you’ll go to the forum thread…
Working on the Ducs
Both MotorMilt & I got a little wrenching in today - Nothing major mind you - It was mostly extremely basic stuff. Right now we’re both nearing our first service with the new Ducs - The dreaded 600 mile service - And as luck would have it the local Duc dealer seems to have a horde of bikes in line waiting to get serviced. So with our appointment a few weeks off we carved a bit of time out of our day and set out to top off the oil levels and clean the bikes. As I said nothing major… Of course while I was at it and had half the fairing off I couldn’t just let the bike go basically untouched, so for the first time I started playing around with the stock footpeg/brake lever positions. It’ll be interesting to see how that affects the coming rides. It obviously wasn’t something I had to screw with but seeing as how I could and I’ve always been curious if I had stuff like that in the right position for myself, I thought why not. So hence the change. We’ll see if it makes a difference. That aside, it was truly enjoyable to spend some quality time with the bikes away from the streets. Reminded me that I really don’t do that often enough. There’s just something magical about playing with your tools and your machine. No doubt many others out there feel the same or Craftsman Tools and all the major beer labels wouldn’t do so well. And again I was seriously impressed by the product design that the Ducati boys back in Bolognia have done. It’s a very slick install job under those pristine fairings! Compared to my BMW days it seems much more logical, go figure. So now I’m thinking that perhaps I’ll try to carve out a little cash to throw down for a fancy clutch cover simply for the sole purpose of more wrenching!
