Ducati V-Twins

DUCATI V-TWINS

OWNER SURVEY

Handling Alone is Worth the Price of Admission.

Surely there is no motorcycle more specific in design and intent than the Ducati. It's not a multi-purpose or dual purpose machine. A Ducati is used soley for sport; it's made to carry an excited rider down a snake-like road satisfying a lust for speed.

How satisfying the Ducati is can be answered by the owners. Responses to this survey came from owners of 55 Ducatis,

including 16 750 GTs, four 750 Sports, one 750 Super Sport (desmo), 13 860 GTs, five 900 GTSs, 11 900 Darmahs and five 900 Super Sports. Eighty percent of the bikes were bought new.

Fewer than half the Ducatis (42 percent) are used for daily transportation and predictably, even fewer (35 percent) are used for touring. The Duck’s real forte is sports riding and this shows in the fig-

ures—91 percent of the Ducatis are ridden for pleasure. This makes Ducati the most single-purpose machine we’ve surveyed, edging the Honda Goldwing (90 percent used for touring). Sixteen percent of the Ducati owners race on the streets and canyons (a new record) and 8 percent participate in organized road races.

Even when they aren’t racing, Ducati owners push their machines harder than>

any of the other machines we’ve surveyed, even harder than the Kawasaki 900/1000 owners. Twenty percent of the owners ride very hard, and 51 percent ride moderately hard. Of the remainder, 22 percent have an average riding style and only 7 percent ride gentler than average.

As back-road barnstormers, Ducatis don’t pile up the miles as fast as most other brands. The used Ducatis average only 6200 mi. and the new bikes average only 1 1,300 mi. (the highest mileage was 50,700 on a 750 GT), so overall, the Ducatis have covered an average of 10,200 mi. On a yearly basis, Ducatis are ridden from 1000 to 15,000 mi., averaging 5600 mi. per year. Fuel economy figures ranged from 30 to 50 mpg with a 42.5 mpg average.

Ducati dealers are hard to find in many parts of the country, so a large number of owners do their own maintenance. Forty seven percent of the owners always work on their bikes and the same number usually do. The remaining 6 percent sometimes service their cycles and none of them always leaves the servicing for a dealer.

They do most of their own work on their Ducatis but the owners don’t seem to mind. Forty one percent rate the work very easy and 52 percent call it average. Only 6 percent say the work is difficult. As for the valve adjustment, one rider commented, “Desmo valves aren’t as bad as you might think; mostly different. If you are careful and have the right shims, they’re no worse than a Japanese multi.”

Maintenance problems are few on the Ducati and a third of the owners said they had no problems. The same number said they had problems adjusting the valves and the only other problem mentioned by more than 5 percent of the owners is the electrical system, mentioned by 6 percent.

There are eight areas of other than routine maintenance mentioned by 5 percent or more of the owners and 22 percent say their bikes need only routine servicing. The same number (22 percent) had problems with the electrical system. Most of the electrical problems were with shorts or melted fuse blocks (fixed by one rider by carving a new fuse block out of wood and using Radio Shack fuse holders.)

Twenty percent had problems with excessive valve guide wear. Nine percent frequently break the throttle cable and 7 percent do the same with the clutch cable. A fix for these problems, which also reduces clutch effort, is to use a Yamaha Power Cable Injector (about $4) to squirt lubricant through the entire cable until it comes out the other end.

Other problems, all mentioned by 6 percent of the owners include the ignition system, the brakes, the transmission and the handlebar switches (fixed by several owners by substituting switches from any of the big four Japanese brands).

A quarter of the Ducatis have been idle

while waiting for parts and the waits ranged from a week to eight months, averaging 58 days, the longest of any of the bikes we’ve surveyed. In rating the parts availability, 19 percent said they are always available, 46 percent said mostly available, 31 percent said sometimes hard to find and 4 percent said they are always hard to find. These are poor figures, but parts aren’t totally unavailable and in fact, the percentages are only a little worse than for the Yamaha XS 750.

Under hints, one rider suggested, “Learn to think like an Italian.” While you’re figuring out how to do that, some practical hints include using automotive coils with a wider plug gap (.035-.040 in.) for easier starting and better idling (don’t forget to use a ballast resistor or you'll burn up a set of points); on the kick start 860s, use the starter button to operate a set of airhorns; replace the intake valve seals when the carbs won’t stay adjusted as the seals get hard and leak; add grease fittings to the swing arm pivot; loosen the dipstick and the drainplug with an impact driver and a sparkplug socket to avoid stripping them; use the kickstart lever from the 900SS and remove the spring from the right footpeg so it will fold to make kickstarting less painful and finally, if the wiring gets wet and the bike won’t start, disconnect the green wires going to the coils. These go to a relay behind the headlight which grounds the ignition system to stop the engine.

There may not be many Ducati dealers, but they do fairly well according to the owners. Twenty six percent are very good, 45 percent are good and 22 percent are fair, so 93 percent of the Ducati dealers are doing at least a reasonable job. No dealers got a poor rating and the remain-

ing 7 percent are very poor.

Do Duck owners modify their bikes? Is the Pope Catholic? Individual owners did everything from changing the coils to installing nitrous oxide injection and only 7 percent said they left their bikes stock. Thirty one percent changed the exhaust system (most adding Conti mufflers), 22 percent changed or modified the carbs, 19 percent changed the coils (usually to Bosch or automotive coils), 1 5 percent installed quartz-halogen headlights and the same number replaced the handlebar switches with Japanese units, 13 percent changed the handlebars, 11 percent put on a smaller mirror or an extra one, 7 percent each changed the gearing or did internal engine modifications (cams, pistons, etc.) and 6 percent each rejetted the carbs, replaced the electrical system, changed the handlebar grips or had the cylinder heads modified or ported.

The sporting instincts of the Ducati owners show in their choice of accessories. The most popular add-ons aren’t fairings or saddlebags, but air filters. Forty three percent of the owners changed air filters (usually K&N or Uni), 31 percent added fairings (usually sport, not touring models) and 26 percent switched tires. Nineteen percent mounted aftermarket shocks, 15 percent added a pack or tank bag, 9 percent added a luggage rack and 6 percent mounted saddlebags. Thirteen percent added no accessories.

Only four products were rated as especially good accessories. Conti mufflers got four raves and one rider complained they are too loud. Three riders each like S&W shocks and K&N air filters and two riders are impressed with Dunlop K-81 tires.

Reliability of their machines isn’t much

Ducati Owner Survey

of a problem for the Ducati owners. Only 11 percent of the bikes broke down and stranded their owners, placing the Ducks well up on the list, just behind the Kawaski 900/1000 (10 percent). Melted

fuseblocks, ignition problems and broken throttle cables were the most common causes for the breakdowns.

Best features? There’s no argument here. Handling tops the list of the Ducati’s attributes with 87 percent of the owners calling it a best feature. One rider said, “I’ve let some friends take her for a spin. Soon I won’t be the only one in town with a Ducati!”

Other favorite aspects of the Ducati include the torque and the smoothness (35 percent each), the brakes (22 percent), the looks (“. . . picking up girls, turning heads, having people in Ferraris giving you a thumbs up.”) at 19 percent, the uniqueness (15 percent) and the power (13 percent).

The owners also like the sound (11 percent), the feel (9 percent), the fuel economy (7 percent) and the gearbox, the reliability, the quality of construction and the responsiveness (6 percent each.)

There is less agreement on the Ducati’s worst features. Twenty percent don’t like the electrics, 15 percent say it lacks comfort, 9 percent each complain about the quality of finish, the controls and the sidestand and 6 percent each don’t like the noise, the footpeg position when kickstarting, the lack of dealers, the low speed handling and the cold starting characteristics. In addition, there were a few comments highly critical of the Ducati distributor, Berliner Motors.

Nothing was the most common answer to “What would you change if you could?” with 15 percent of the owners saying to leave the Ducatis just as they are. Thirteen percent each want better electrics or a more comfortable seat, 11 percent think the switches could be improved, 9 percent each want a better riding position or better brakes and 6 percent each want a larger fuel tank, improvements in the shocks or better quality control. One rider said, “If it had a driveshaft, I’d keep it forever.”

After all the individual comments on plusses and minuses have been counted up, the Ducati owners almost unanimously agree on one thing. Ninety six percent said yes, they’d buy another Ducati. This places the Duck near the top of the list in owner loyalty, behind the Suzuki GS750 (98 percent) and the Yamaha XS750 (97 percent). Sixty percent said they’d buy another of the same model with the rest hoping to move up to one of the faster Desmo models.

What do the owners think of their Ducatis? “The only bike of any make that draws an instant crowd when its in a crowd of other bikes.” “the only production racer I can buy as a stock bike” “. . . a thick cut above Japanese clone-bikes” and “if only every road were curved.” 18