Early Clutch Failure

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David Rand said:
I’d agree, but unfortunately, that’s not how it’s marketed. I’ve had plenty of high performance products in my life, from cars to hag-gliders. Never had a problem like this right out of the gate. The delay speaks poorly all on its own. Not impressed by a bike meant to impress.
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"hang-gliders"
 
I'd cut out all the manual shifting going forward. You might have babied the engine but all the slipping that happens when you're using the clutch to shift manually isn't really taking it easy on the plates. After all anything short of full engagement or complete disengagement is causing wear at an accelerated rate vs a wet clutch. Stop and go type slow speed stuff in general probably isn't great for the clutch either... I know I'm cautious about not riding my R in that sort of environment.

You also might want to look at your clutch master cylinder/lever. A sloppy install can cause the clutch to fail to engage or disengage completely and that would probably be a better case for a warranty claim if the levers/master are stock. I have a buddy that trashed a wet clutch thanks to a poorly installed lever.
 
BTrain5489 said:
I'd cut out all the manual shifting going forward. You might have babied the engine but all the slipping that happens when you're using the clutch to shift manually isn't really taking it easy on the plates. After all anything short of full engagement or complete disengagement is causing wear at an accelerated rate vs a wet clutch. Stop and go type slow speed stuff in general probably isn't great for the clutch either... I know I'm cautious about not riding my R in that sort of environment.

You also might want to look at your clutch master cylinder/lever. A sloppy install can cause the clutch to fail to engage or disengage completely and that would probably be a better case for a warranty claim if the levers/master are stock. I have a buddy that trashed a wet clutch thanks to a poorly installed lever.
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Thanks for that insight. I've mostly used the clutch just for 1st gear from a standstill, I did not ride or feather the clutch. I've never tried the launch control yet either. I have four bikes so I wasn't using this one for around town stuff. Just highway, canyons, PCH, and the like, and always lane splitting. Not a lot of stop and go at all.
 
Unfortunately it’s a high maintenance bike and these wear and tear items will fail. Some earlier than others. Hope Ducati come to the party and cover it or at least your dealer. I had a Hypermotard and rode it for 10 thousand km”S with a dry clutch and never had an issue but my wife can go through car brakes every 20 thousand km’s .
 
David Rand said:
For a state of the art machine it sure is fragile. What else should I expect ? Ducati USA super slow at responding to warrantee request, bike sitting at shop for a week now. I feel I’ve made a mistake.
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haha sure is. eventually a new clutch master cylinder & slave cylinder... and new fluids ever thousand miles or so that Motul Rb660 works nice
 
Chill said:
Unfortunately it’s a high maintenance bike and these wear and tear items will fail. Some earlier than others. Hope Ducati come to the party and cover it or at least your dealer. I had a Hypermotard and rode it for 10 thousand km”S with a dry clutch and never had an issue but my wife can go through car brakes every 20 thousand km’s .
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If she lets you have a motorcycle you’re ahead, so I would bring up the brakes.
 
Chill said:
I do every time I want to buy another bike
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this reminds me of my favorite Ducati Forum Posted in the Superleggera V4 thread:

Twisted10 said:
Bikes just show up. I dont ask permission. Dont like it, there's the door.
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ducatiforum.com

V4 Superleggera: So Who Is Ordering One?

I bought it to use it so it’s silly to not use it. Yup... except the Superleggera, that should only be used to look at while it sits on display on its motorized lazy Susan use it as a fine piece of art, not as a motorcycle
ducatiforum.com ducatiforum.com
 
Update. Good news. Ducati will do a one time fix for this. Beverly Hills Ducati really went to bat for me here and I appreciate that. Parts are on the way and I will take care of things on my end. I was treating the bike, especially the clutch, very well, but I'm open to suggestions and thank those that made some already. Thanks for your time. If others have a shorter than expected life span on their 916 Aniversary bike, please post here.
 
BH Ducati ordered parts last Friday, waiting on those. They are top-notch and fast. I had them do a lot of custom on the bike already. Danny there is a real Ace, and Fernando the head of the service dept, is super personable and really knowledgeable, PLUS, he has a solid Italian accent which adds dimension to the whole experience.
 
DucatiKev said:


They use wet plate clutches, for some reason
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Electric a whole new animal. The electric Ducati will be masterpiece I'm sure. They've brought the Internal Combustion Engine as far as it can be brought. Electric motors driven by software are far more precise than their ICE cousins. The reason why a dentist drill is electric for example. 1,000 decisions a second in a Tesla. Why they need clutch at all in this engine is interesting. Most electric motors are clutchless and have no need to change gears. I'm no motorhead just comparing to Tesla. Can't wait to see who dominates the electric motorcycle, won't be Tesla looks like, Musk thinks bikes are too dangerous bec he almost got hit... Anyway, I'd bet Ducati brings one that's the leader.
 
Update on my bike. Ducati was super cool about my clutch. Went right to the top I was told. I got calls from a number of reps up the ladder. Really great company. Sadly, the bike is stuck at BH Ducati as hey understandably had to close and parts are coming from Italy and that's going to take some time. I have other bikes ...but at this point I feel like a guy who's got three girlfriends. One is super beautiful, hot, and interesting and the other two are comparably boring and a little chubby. While I'm riding the two, I'm thinking of the one.
 
LOANER BIKE!!!!!

that sucks so bad but someday soon, you will have your baby back to enjoy!

I don’t want an electric Ducati but a twin turbo would be insane

My 2020 V4S test ride scheduled for Saturday was postponed too, nbd

stay well
 
Hi - had loads of bikes with dry clutches, you need to keep them from clogging up with clutch plate dust. Remove the cover, blast out the clutch with an airline, you can also run the engine operating the clutch lever and blowing with the airline. This also helps with the grabiness feeling you get with a dry clutch. Try this before splashing out on new plates. It should last longer than 2000 miles if its not being abused.
 
jordie said:
Hi - had loads of bikes with dry clutches, you need to keep them from clogging up with clutch plate dust. Remove the cover, blast out the clutch with an airline, you can also run the engine operating the clutch lever and blowing with the airline. This also helps with the grabiness feeling you get with a dry clutch. Try this before splashing out on new plates. It should last longer than 2000 miles if its not being abused.
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Thanjs
 

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