Blown front suspension already?

Hey guys, new guy here with a recently purchased 12' 1199 Panigale ABS base. I brought it to my local dealer here in Beverly MA (cycles128) for its 7500 mile service and after I dropped it off the called to tell me my front forks are blown... I find it hard to believe that after 7500 extremely easy miles the forks have no rebound at all. They first assured me that they were covered under some kind of campaign/extended warranty from Ducati, however that was not the case the next day. He said the bike was too far out of warranty and could not be covered? I called Ducati NA to see if I could get any coverage at all and they simply said no. Any suggestions ? is this normal I have searched but did not find anyone having similar issues. Thanks!

Very well known issue. Marzocchis suck ass on this bike. They may be great forks when they work but majority of them do not. You're probably SOL but u can buy those forks used for 300-400ish or invest the money into a proper upgrade to any aftermarket suspension, whether it's cartridges or forks.

my '12 came with defected rear shocks brand new, there were no rebounce, then 500 miles later and the front was replaced as well
it is possible that your shock were entitled to a recall, and the previous owner never did the work, pursue them to see if that was the case

Thank you!

I have a 2013 and the front right fork has always leaked when I dont ride it everyday. Ducati said there was a recall but not for my production range. Lame.

are the 899's showa's a direct replacement?

195HP said:

Hey guys, new guy here with a recently purchased 12' 1199 Panigale ABS base. I brought it to my local dealer here in Beverly MA (cycles128) for its 7500 mile service and after I dropped it off the called to tell me my front forks are blown... I find it hard to believe that after 7500 extremely easy miles the forks have no rebound at all. They first assured me that they were covered under some kind of campaign/extended warranty from Ducati, however that was not the case the next day. He said the bike was too far out of warranty and could not be covered? I called Ducati NA to see if I could get any coverage at all and they simply said no. Any suggestions ? is this normal I have searched but did not find anyone having similar issues. Thanks!

Click to expand...

Perfect opportunity to get better front suspension... either forks or inserts.

I plan on doing Ohlins inserts eventually,

Good luck

I heard the Bitubo cartridges and rear shock(complete) were a very nice upgrade. And reasonably priced.

Yeah, Ducati got screwed by Marzocchi suspension.

double0 said:

Very well known issue. Marzocchis suck ass on this bike.

Click to expand...

Pre-'14 forks suck, mine ('15) are flawless

195HP said:

are the 899's showa's a direct replacement?

Click to expand...

Not quite; you'll need to source an upper triple from one of the Ohlins-equipped Panigale models which means also changing clipons, since the upper tubes of the Marzocchis are 57mm in diameter vs the 53mm of the Ohlins. If you go aftermarket in clipons, you'll also need a steering damper mount.

The Showas are also a bit shorter than the Marzocchis in overall length, so you have to be careful not to muck up your ride height. I put some on mine and was surprised to see that. Wasn't a deal breaker for me as I could get in range of where I was already, but it would depend on how much you have your forks extended. Forgot the exact number, but you lose about a centimeter in fork length (not travel).

Glad I made the switch though; nice to have damping again and have a good choice of clipons, which there is in 53mm (not so much in 57). Plus the BPF's are super easy to work on for tweaking. I asked my dealer to look at my Marzocchi's when I had my 15K service, but they said they were OK. Think I may take them back by and leave them for the Ducati rep to look at as they are definitely not OK. Compressing a bare fork off the bike, the Marzocchis and the Showas were night and day different.

just get the ohlins dude.

My '12 base model 1199 had blown seals on left fork <4k miles. Dealer I bought bike from replaced them free as it was a safety hazard and they wouldnt want that liability

Went through 4 sets of forks on my 2012, ended up with Ohlins cartridges which followed me to my 2013 and now my 2015 1299.

The Marzocchis look good on paper (reading about the specs and materials used) but do not perform. I have limited rebound adjustment in mine (but not bad enough to get warrantied). My old MV Agusta Brutale 910S had issue with the Marzocchis too. It would go from minimal rebound damping to extreme damping within a half turn.

I'm going with new internals... Just after the money tree sprouts some leaves again... I cropped that ...... short the last few years.

They're not horrible fresh out of the box, and they are very light, but they just don't have much range of adjustment to begin with. A forum member posted a dyno sweep test of them years ago:

http://ducati1299.com/ducati-1199/3046-marzocchi-fork-cartridges-oem.html#post46452

It'll be interesting to see what they spec on the base model in '16, what with Marzocchi being defunct. I expect the Showas will likely find their way onto the 1299. Or is it the new V4...

Wow amazing customer service from Ducati! They just agreed to cover the forks!

keep the new/repair forks on the side for when you sell the bike, buy some Ohlins FGRT, they are pretty amazing.

jyli19 said:

keep the new/repair forks on the side for when you sell the bike, buy some Ohlins FGRT, they are pretty amazing.

Click to expand...

This is exactly what I did with my third set of Marzocchi's. Instead of Ducati installing them under warranty I asked them to install the FGRT 203's and TTX shock instead (which I purchased from Kyle Racing) They just gave me the OEM's in the box.

Long story short, could not be happier with the Ohlins.

195HP said:

Wow amazing customer service from Ducati! They just agreed to cover the forks!

Click to expand...

Glad to hear that; good on Ducati! I plan to give them the same opportunity on my Marzocchi pogo sticks. Will report back when that's done. Everyone's right about the Ohlins being a better final alternative of course, but we shouldn't have to buy forks or cartridges due to a faulty design, which that one appears to be.

<shrug>

16k miles and my Marzocchis are fine. Some of us just get lucky I suppose.