[mscuddy]

My old 450RT use to spit ball bearings out of the exhaust pipe, but no gearbox problems.



Must be that silly dry clutch. Didn't CZs have a dry clutch too?



Hey, wait a minute, FIRST POST.

 

[48152]

good thing he didn't crash...it's a crime that they're blaming your friend.

 

[Buzglyd]

A friend of mine had his geabox go south on his FJR1300. He's very thankful he bought the extended warranty.



I had another friend lose his gearbox on his R1 and it was down forever waiting to get fixed.



My Duc tranny is fine so far.

 

[red916]

No problems on my 900SS or my 916......

 

[ducatirdr]

Should have bought a Buell ;-)

What kind of operator error would even cause that kind of failure on a working tranny in so few miles?

I mean bending a shift fork from standing on the lever and being stuck in one gear... Sure.. But locking a tire is unheard of.

We all have abused trannys and know that this isn't from abuse.

 

[37035]

Did they switch to a dry clutch for the 800s? I know the 750s have wet clutches. I'm not sure if they swapped when they bumped displacement.

 

[1747]

somebody said this Duc has some kind of new screw-type slipper clutch. Could that do it? I s'pose it could...

 

[mscuddy]

Re: Should have bought a Buell ;-)

Maybe he was doing the "Ducati Stomp"?

 

[mscuddy]

Well it really screwed your riding buddy.



Bada-bing.

 

[32849]

yeah, what else could explain a ducati mechanical problem except a suicidal rider?

my wife had an 02 900 that had a similar problem, but was unrelated to the transmission. she uses her rear brake in conjunction with her front. (she's an msf disciple) anyway the rear would lock after a time. turns out the pads never disengaged on the disc, expanded from the friction and locked things up back there. total rider error in my opinion.

 

[TEvo]

No, the 620 & 800's and all 2005 ST models use wet clutches.

More info on the APTC clutch used on this model:

http://www.webbikeworld.com/ducati-motorcycles/monster-s2r/

 

[seruzawa]

Never lost a tranny but I've had a Duck eat a valve before.



Word of mouth is by far the most important factor in new sales. Word of mouth trumps any other sort of advertising. Even if it were operator error the dealer would be smart to fix it under warranty anyhow. One story like this can lose a manufacturer dozens of sales.



(sarcasm)

I know I'm gonna be running to Ducati for a new bike first thing now! How reassuring!

(sarcasm off)

 

[sportbike_pilot]

How could this be operator error? I and my ilk routinely abuse trannies in a large variety of bikes (never a S2r tho) with clutchless shifting, wheelies, race starts and high rev downshifts and while we've fried a few clutches and bounced a few engines off the rev limiter once too often at least I have never fried a tranny even when I should have. This seems obviously a case of a defective unit and your friend should contact the Ducati regional rep directly if he or she is getting no love from the dealer.



-sbp

 

[35244]

Sounds like your homey has a dealer that knows his techs can't get it done for the Duc NA reimbursement schedule....hmmmmm. Yup, I'd be all over the zone rep or whatever they call it nowadays.



The instant the warrenty is up, Homey outta do what most Duc fans around here do - get themselves to the local independent Duc shop.

 

[paul]

Your friend should raise a stink. Write letters to Ducati NA, threaten to call the attorney general, the local news, etc.

 

[mscuddy]

Re: Operator..I need assistance

Never, in all my years have I had a transmission "lock-up" and seize the rear wheel. What happened when the clutch was pulled in? I mean jeez, take a look at the modern motorcycle transmission. Pretty indestructible.

It would take some morbid failure like the main/lay shaft snapping (or a gear breaking and getting stuck in the primary) to stop the rear wheel from turning.

Operator problems bah. Sounds like defective equipment, no more, no less.

Next they'll be telling you the mess boys ate the strawberries.

 

[38500]

Well, it could be something as simple as a circlip/washer not properly positioned or defective. That would allow one of the gears to engage what's not supposed to engage. Interestingly, I have read recently an article in one of the mags in which a Ducati tester (at a track) said that his bike had a total tranny failure because of a circlip on one of the traany shafts. Of course at the track another bike appeared magically. I will look for that one article, because i was surprised at the failure.

 

[mscuddy]

Well, every try splitting the cases on an R1?



The shop manual comes with a bottle of excedrin blister-packed on the front. Yamaha workers also like to sharpen the case halfs to a razors edge. I've seen people shave with them.



Nothing like sticking bleeding hands into the parts washer.

 

[3622]

I had my ST2 lock up the tranny once upon a time. Same kind of thing except that it got stuck in 2nd gear. No moving the shift lever. Had to ride it ~60 miles in 2nd gear from 287 in White Plains NY to exit 131 on the Garden State Parkway. Turned out that a small (very small) piece of metal got jammed in between the shift drum and its seat in the side of the case (that's what the explanation was, anyway). The metal was apparently a piece of the case or some other casting that was not cleaned up properly before the engine was assembled. Ducati, to their credit, fixed the problem (3 months out of warranty) for a minimal charge. No fun.

 

[Buzglyd]

Perhaps that's why those wonderful motorcycles from Japan have such crappy resale value. They aren't worth fixing if something breaks.



My friend has 20,000 miles on his FJR and the tranny totally grenaded. Three gears-poof.