Headlight backbleed

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Steve B

Joined
Jan 22, 2012
Messages
892
Location
East TN
Just gathering observations now that I've gotten a chance to do some night riding. My base has quite a lot of light bleed behind the headlights at night, around the edges where the fairing pieces don't meet up, so it's not sealed well. Lots of open gaps there that cause light leakage back in your face. First bike I've ever had that did that. Seems kind of shoddy at this pricepoint and is kind of annoying at night. Anyone else seeing this? What about the S?

Bracing for the "it's a racebike, headlights are a concession for p#@$$y's" onslaught... :rolleyes:
 
Steve B said:
Just gathering observations now that I've gotten a chance to do some night riding. My base has quite a lot of light bleed behind the headlights at night, around the edges where the fairing pieces don't meet up, so it's not sealed well. Lots of open gaps there that cause light leakage back in your face. First bike I've ever had that did that. Seems kind of shoddy at this pricepoint and is kind of annoying at night. Anyone else seeing this? What about the S?

Bracing for the "it's a racebike, headlights are a concession for p#@$$y's" onslaught... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Take it back to your dealer and have them seal it up for you or order some parts, it will be covered under warranty.
 
There are 2 rubber grommets that should have been installed when the Pre Delivery Inspection prep was done. Are these installed? According to my dealer - the 2 grommets were shipped separate from the bike in an envelope, needless to say, most dealers lost them.
 
I have an S and I ride at night often. I don't have any bleeding so you may want to contact your dealer and get that fixed. Shouldn't be to hard
 
George Villar said:
There are 2 rubber grommets that should have been installed when the Pre Delivery Inspection prep was done. Are these installed? According to my dealer - the 2 grommets were shipped separate from the bike in an envelope, needless to say, most dealers lost them.
Click to expand...

Thanks George; I'll have to look again, but as I recall there were a couple of places that looked ripe to have had something plugged into them but didn't. Appreciate the heads-up!
 
I don't ride much at night, but the few times I have I noticed the same issue. I'll have it checked-out the next time I make it back down to my dealer in Cali.
 
Here's a small, grainy pic of what I'm talking about. On either side of the dash, there are sizable gaps where the instrument panel cover doesn't meet up with the fairing very well. There are also a couple of small, rectangular slots, one per side in the cover that let a lot of light out. As you can see, it's as bright as the dash, more so in spots. Not sure if the rectangular slots are where the grommets George mentioned go, or if he was talking about the large round ones that are where the heatsinks for the LEDs are on the S.

Paniheadlightbleedsmall.jpg


Anyone else have this much headlight bleed from behind their fairing?
 
Last edited:
My first post here....just picked up my 2012 1199 base last Saturday.

I have noticed this same light bleeding back on mine today. I am going to compare my bike with another one at the dealer and probably ask about this on my first service.

I agree it is a bit shoddy....at any price point. It's a small niggling point since I absolutely love the bike so far but still annoying.

Mike
 
Well a picture really is worth a thousand words. On my S I have some bleed in those areas too but it is very minimal. Was wondering how bad it was that someone would mention it and now I know.

It looks pretty significant. I'll have to take a pic of mine and check for grommet placement, so we can compare :)
 
Of course you'll get light bleed. They don't have rubber weatherstripping where the lights meet the front fairing. Ducati doesn't typically fit weatherstripping on the sportbikes.

You guys are really reaching now with things to complain about ;)
 
Well, been a while since I posted this originally, but I noticed it then and asked about it here because it was the first motorcycle I'd ever been on in, oh, 35+ years of riding, that did it. It looked like the folks making the fairing outer bits were not talking to the folks making the fairing inner bits, and as long as the holes lined up at assembly no one cared if the shapes and fit weren't close. On mine it simply looked like nothing more than lousy tolerances, since even if they hadn't used a sealing strip they should at least be close. If I bought a $200 fairing off eBay I'd expect that kind of fit, but not from an OEM part on a brand new $20K Ducati. Geez, how hard is it to make the fairing inner the same shape as the fairing outer?

BTW, that pic understates the effect since the headlights were shining against the garage wall right in front of the bike and reflecting back. On a dark night it can get pretty annoying - the bleed is brighter than the dash. Call me a whackjob, but I kind of like my headlights to shine on the road ahead, not back in my face.

Since it's a racebike after all, maybe they were just trying to get us conditioned to cheap Chinese track plastics ;)
 
Steve B said:
Well, been a while since I posted this originally, but I noticed it then and asked about it here because it was the first motorcycle I'd ever been on in, oh, 35+ years of riding, that did it. It looked like the folks making the fairing outer bits were not talking to the folks making the fairing inner bits, and as long as the holes lined up at assembly no one cared if the shapes and fit weren't close. On mine it simply looked like nothing more than lousy tolerances, since even if they hadn't used a sealing strip they should at least be close. If I bought a $200 fairing off eBay I'd expect that kind of fit, but not from an OEM part on a brand new $20K Ducati. Geez, how hard is it to make the fairing inner the same shape as the fairing outer?

BTW, that pic understates the effect since the headlights were shining against the garage wall right in front of the bike and reflecting back. On a dark night it can get pretty annoying - the bleed is brighter than the dash. Call me a whackjob, but I kind of like my headlights to shine on the road ahead, not back in my face.

Since it's a racebike after all, maybe they were just trying to get us conditioned to cheap Chinese track plastics ;)
Click to expand...

Have you compared it to another bike or asked the dealer about this?
 
mikeduc2 said:
Have you compared it to another bike or asked the dealer about this?
Click to expand...

Didn't really have one to compare it to at the time, so I asked here. And I don't ride at night much so it isn't as much of a day to day issue as it might be. Have to take it in soon for the recall stuff and new map (none of which I've ever gotten a peep from Ducati or my dealer on; some nice CRM going on there BTW), so I'll note it then along with the warped front axle.

Don't get me wrong, I like the bike a lot. Just a bit annoyed at some of the silly things they didn't really gain anything from by leaving undone. You can't help wondering about their global QC when you see stuff like this. I'd say whoever was in charge of signing off on the final production needs a German for a boss. Oh yeah; done!:p
 

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