Bike broke down last night, 749. Clutch lost all pressure, and then completely went. so I could not engaging gears at all.
It seems it might be the slave cylinder.
Not much to say really, except these bikes are temperamental. Was speaking to the breakdown guy and he could talk for ages about the reliability of japanese engineering. duke’s on the other hand, like Lancia’s and Alfa’s and other things Italian, he said, were terrible.
I like my bike but its a bit of a headache, and doesn’t really leave me reassured. I posted a couple of days ago as I was planing to ride to stansted tomorrow to catch a flight. If I didn’t have the foresight to take the bike for a spin last night then it would inevitably have broken down on me tomorrow on my way to airport.
So whilst I like it, I think it has to go. It needs belts replacing, circa £160 inc. and possibly now a new slave cylinder, c£90.
Anyway, no real point to this message(!) just my musings.
But consider if you fancy a ducati,
a) then other things being equal, a japanese bike will prob serve you more reliably,
b) you, like me, might have that undertone of ‘will it *even * get me there’ doubt each time you fire up and
c) you can be reassured they look good, but you pay the price for this from yoour wallet and stress.
Get it fixed and sell it. If you can’t rely on it then its of no use to you unless you want it as just a sunday bike.
I am familiar with italian ownership, I had an Aprilia RSVR for 7 years. I moved it on because it kept breaking down and I was pouring a lot of money into fixing it. They are better than Ducatis reliability wise but eventually the Italian side catches up with them.
not being funny guys, but that 749 is six, seven years old?
How many other bikes of that age would be running with no problems whatsoever? My CBR600 - a paragon of reliability if you believe all that crap - had rotten exhaust headers after 5 years.
Your average modern Honda is massively more reliable and durable than your average Ducati - your much less likely to experience the mechanical and electrical woes that come with Ducatis.
You can skimp on servicing with a CBR and get away with it (so long as there is oil in the engine) - you can’t with a Ducati.
My old 1998 CBR powered hornet hack has done 50k plus miles, been ridden in all weathers and has had bugger all attention barring oil changes - and it has never let me down (touch wood). Can I imagine it’s Ducati equivalent e.g. a Monster 600 surviving the life it’s had? No chance - the engine would probably have gone pop/electrics given up the ghost ages ago.
To be fair it’s different horses for different courses - Ducatis are great bikes and do a lot of thing brilliantly - they just don’t do the everyday transport thing that well.
I had this issue on my old 900ss. I have a terrible memory, but if think its the pushrod bearing in the centre of the clutch pressure plate (right hand side) It sticks and then spins the pushrod itself. The other end of the pushrod is on the left side of the engine (as you sit on it). This le=ft hand end has a rubber seal. As the rod spins, it wear out the rubber seal against the housing causing the loss of pressure. Dont replace the seal without replacing the clutch plate bearing. Pro-Twins in Godstone are the only people I ever found worth talking to. They gave me some much info. They were even able to advis me of other worn parts when I sent them image about the clutch!
I’ll go along with that. Tbh, I don’t think a dry clutch is suitable for everyday transport. I have dry on all my Ducatis and wet on the big ktm. I town, the dry is not at its best.
In my experience, Ducatis need a little more attention than the average bike to keep them at their best, but every ride is special. Owning them is not as expensive or as arduous as people think if you keep on top of the maintenance.
I owned a cbr6 for years and never really got it. Had a faser 600 for a while. What a piece of crap. No good for London at all. The first time I rode a Ducati was something else. They don’t suit everyone, but neither do all jap bikes.
Earlier this week I bled the clutch, as it (ok, maybe my fault…) had not been touched for 2 years. The initial fluid was greyish black and sludgey. It eventually ran clear with new fluid and the clutch bite returned to the lever. So I am hoping its just this, but apparently there is an issue with the 749 that an lead to the front sprocket flinging gunge into the slave cylinder.
So I still have to road test it - locally, should it breakdown again! - but for now I am hoping it was a bit of air and poor fluid.
But I am still not convinced old fluid and some air bubbles is enough to render the whole clutch unworkable? Anybody care to comment on this assumption?
Not being funny ninja, but Ducatis have been running the same electrics as kwakas for maybe ten years.
I know many Ducatis that have done more than 50k with no problems at all. In fact, it’s often the bikes with very low mileage that give problems.
The funny thing is, I’ve had more problems with my ktm than my 998 monster. Every time it’s refused to start, I jump on the Ducati, fire it up and ride off.
I don’t want to make this seem too strong, but I hear a lot of bullshit about Ducatis being unreliable, expensive, blah, blah, blah… from people who’ve never owned one. It gets really boring after a while and is the reason I hadn’t posted on this thread before.
I totally see your point Jerry, and you are in a superior position to comment on this than me - but it’s just the impression I get after having read years of buyers guides/advice in magazines on buying a used Ducati.
To me Ducatis are connoisseurs bikes with everything that implies - whereas I like the more utilitarian qualities that you tend to get with Jap bikes.
I had my bike serviced. I noticed within a day or so that the fluid was grey. I had the arsa as I thought the guy hadn’t changed it. I changed the fluid and with a day or so it was sh1tty again. It failed as you mentioned. Take the pressure plate out the clutch and check that bearing, dry clutch = 10min job
Yeah - I understand that they have made a lot of effort in recent years to strengthen components, lengthen service schedules and sort out electrics - and so my criticisms will become increasingly out of date - I’m speaking as someone who admires the marque - and over the years have toyed with the idea of getting a used M900/916 - it just seemed to me on the basis of the advice available that you could often get away with buying a cheap used suzuki/honda etc with minimal service history and wring another 50k out of it - but you couldn’t with a Ducati - but as you say - things have improved and so these days a recent used Ducati is a much safer bet than something built in the 90’s.
No offence - biking would be seriously diminished without Ducati
But a lot of them don’t seem to be riders
Remember last time I came with you to the Ducati meet at Box Hill? The only Ducati in the car park was yours and the rest of the guys had come in their car :w00t:
I must admit, there were a couple of grey clouds in the sky, although no rain.
- excellent! I dunno about the value of service history. You could buy a bike that has been owned and maintained by a proper enthusiast, but has no service stamps, or buy one that has been ‘looked after’ by a dealer or specialist and buy a dog. You really need to talk to the owner and get a feeling as to their understanding of what they have done/paid to be done.
Re an old monster - the aircooled bikes are good value and pretty simple to maintain yourself. The 916s are good value at the moment - a lot of people scared of committing to cheap Ducatis!
One thing to bear in mind: the 748/916 through to 998 bikes were designed for racing: everything is designed to be swapped in the shortest time possible, often under race conditions. They’re not that hard to work on if you know one end of a spanner from another. 749/999s are another matter, but still not as bad as getting the fairings off a nonda.
Thanks Jerry - have wanted an M900 since they came out but since I generally by used have been too scared to chance it - I definitely aim to own at least one Ducati at some point as my biking career won’t be complete without experiencing a Ducati. ;)
