Out of hibernation

Fired up the Ducati for the first time since, erm, late November, I
think (needed the plugs heating up to get it to fire). Let it run for 10
minutes on idle and then took it for a blast and fuelled it up.

Fired up the 400 Four (last used that just before Christmas, so it
started easily enough) and set it on a fast idle for 15-20 minutes. All
reeady to go.

The K is with Brian Giles for a full overhaul (valves, FI check, new
head races, all fluids and filters, etc etc). That'll be the thick end
of £700, I reckon, but it's the first bill in two years.

Now, roll on spring and summer.

 

Ah, so it was you who's preventing my RT from being serviced until next
week...

 

Mine, surprisingly, fired up OK. But the choke cable was a bit sticky,
so the first 40 miles were accompanied by rough running around the
mid-range and back firing when coming back onto the power on the exit of
bends.

Seems to be OK now, but I'll be happier once it has had a service.

When are you thinking of taking yours in? - so we can get them done
together. I need to book 4 days holiday before the end of March - which
would be a convenient time to do it.

 

Ah, forgot about that. I'm away for two weeks from 13 March, so you're
looking at early April, really.

 

I've got his loaner R1100R at the moment. That is *easily* the nicest
1100cc oilhead I've ridden. I never got on with Niall's GS, and Brian
had an RS last time, and I thought that was dreadful. But the naked R
is just a really nice working bike.

 

Hmmm, OK.

Need to work out how to do this without costing me too much holiday
time, as we're not allowed to carry anything over from one year to the
next.

 

Yup, that is a nice bike and very usable with the screen he's got on
there. I like that one. Really don't like the RS, though.

 

Are ther no Ducati dealers in Wales? [1] Any why do you need to get them
done togetether?

[1] Hmm, not many. Ducati Bristol have a terrible rep for service.

 

There's one in Wales - all the way down in Haverfordwest [1] - and yes,
the Bristol dealer is shite and expensive.

The plan was to ride to TOG's, load the bikes on his trailer, and get
them both done at the same time, as they both pretty much need the same
service - and he has a trusted indie down there.

 

Footnote:

[1] Vince's mother works there, so that's a pretty good reason to avoid
them ;-)

 

The 1100 was a fine bike. The 1150 would have been even better if they
hadn't stuck Evo brakes on it.

And I continue to despise BMW's recent indicator controls.

 

Well, my score on Evo brakes is 1 for, 1 against so far. The ones on the
RT are fine, work OK and haven't caused me any trouble, whereas the ones
on the GSA had me visit the dealer in Chur several times while I was on
holiday out there.

Given that the GSA had been maintained by a main dealer for most of the
time I had it (and I had to shout at them every time I they worked on
the bike for fucking up something) and the RT has been maintained by
Brian Giles for quite a while even before I got it, I would think a lot
of the problems can be attributed to non-application of rigorous
maintenance. But I still think it's a ridiculously overcomplicated
system for a normal bike.

You get used to them. What annoys me is the third button - even Hardley
with their similar system manages with two...

 

The brakes on my brother's R1150R are more off-on than a classic Citroen's.
David has has the bike for about 7 years, and still doesn't like them. The
ABS is now on its 3rd pump, despite seeing a total of 30 seconds' activation
over the lifetime of the bike. The CAN'tbus wiring makes it extremely
difficult to convert the bike to conventional operation.

To activate the things, you have to reach underneath the switch blocks. To
switch them off, you have to reach underneath the switch block with your
throttle hand. I wrestled with these miserable contrivances all the way to
Bavaria and back, and found considerable difficulty in avoiding unwanted
changes in pitch, roll, yaw and velocity. Anything that causes that sort of
increase in cockpit workload is a major safety issue IMO.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, platypus

Maybe you mean "because of"?

Wisdom among the Pan-isti was (IIRC) to ensure the ABS kicked in
regularly to maintain pump life.

 

That's a bit odd. I've never found that with the Evo brakes. Yes, the
rear brake is a bit sensitive on the RT but not 'on/off'.

Now that's not good. That said, if it's got the Evo brakes then it'll
have the electric brake booster which IIRC is part of the ABS unit (well
the other way around). So the pump is working all the time anyway.

I assume that he has strictly followed the maintenance schedule for the
yearly services because if he hasn't and the pump breaks because it's
been contamined by old (not even dirty fluid), that'll be the
problem. I'm not defending the fact that you really, really have to
change the brake fluid on schedule on these and that the schedule is
quite short but that's a known issue.

Your brother must have a previously unknown factory prototype because
none of the 1150s I know of had Canbus. That was introduced with the
1200s...

Hmm. I guess you must have smaller hands than me then. I don't have the
problem of 'wrestling' with the controls and I don't really find the
indicator buttons that inconveniently placed. The horn button, on the
other hand...

 

It took me a few months to train my right thumb to hit the cancel button
without impacting on other operations, such as throttle control. Now, I
find the Jap style 3-way switch counter-intuitive.

I have the same problem with the horn. I don't use it enough for the action
to have become intuitive. People don't seem to respond in the manner
intended when subjected to a fierce rebuke with the left indicator.

 

Agree 100%. Once you get used to the BMW indicators, you just do the
slightest twitch of a thumb and they work. Ergonomically, taking into
account the plane in which the thumb works, they're superb.

ISTR my old airhead 100RS had an indicator switch that worked in the
vertical plane, as well.

However, having a third button to cancel them is just daft and I'm with
you all the way about the horn button. I *never* manage to hit it in an
emergency.